It’s green – it must be grass!

Green here also!

..and from here!

At least the Veggie patch isn’t…any more!

So only the fences to be painted and it should be finished next week – final photos to follow.

So Oliver and chaps have started with great deal of vigour and plant clearing skills. After the first two days we were left with a distinct lack of greenery and a great deal of footballs.

Veggie Patch wiv’ footballs

…and the other corner of the garden now has…….A DIGGER !!!

My next Christmas pressie

The drive  and front of the house have also had a bit of a bashing

The upwards Drive

Betcha the postman was’nt happy!

Next update to follow at the end of the week. Have fun!

Use me!

Dear Happy campers,

Autumn is normally when Gardeners look into the garden to prepare for Winter, for us non-gardeners it is slightly different.

For many months over the last couple of years we have looked out into our garden going “Christ O’Mighty – what an overgrown mess!” and shutting the patio door rather quickly and running off to the TV room.

Veggie Patch not!

As the photographs detail we are not wrong, we presently have a garden which houses a great deal, plants, trees, many footballs from next door and a sun dial, but the question is always ‘Just where are they!’.

So something needed to be done.

Me and the Missus pondered this question over many evenings over a great deal of wine – erm nothing new there!, I here you say, but finally we managed to organise for a brave (if mis-guided) gardener to tackle both the front and back of Leonard towers.

The front’s a mess too!

His brief was ‘simples’. Take the crappy overgrown plants/stones/weeds/triffids out, plant a nice patio with a matching path and provide some green type grass stuff to go in the middle.

My lemon tree

As I write this Oliver and this ‘crack’ team of green-fingered chaps are tackling this task, with mucho gusto, spades and a nice little digger!.

Updates to follow over the next week or so to show you their progress – but as the sun shining I’m off to ask nicely if I can have a go on the digger. Cheers!

So firstly there was a false dawn with the tiles arriving – in mid April, I had thoughts of spending the easter break wandering lonely like a cloud (in my dressing gown) within the completed kitchen space, gracefully spending each day quaffing enormous volumes of red or white scoop (wine!) and ending the evening slowly trying to focus my eyes on the new unit lights before the internal shutters came down.

So that didn’t happen – and it was not just that my dressing gown was being washed, but the fact the tiler turned up two days late and managed to complete a pretty poor installation job – not only did he forget to channel the extractor fan cables behind the tiles but he also forgot to make sure the tile edging matched. It was at time like this I need my dressing gown, big time.

Therefore he was back on the first Friday bank holiday to try and put right.

When the tiler returned we also had the builder back to start the grouting of the tiles, double trouble, and within minutes we had the electricity problems effecting the every heartbeat of any family – the Internet and Sky TV……ahem.

Due to the bank holiday the electrician was on the A1 near Biggleswade and was not likely to return until the end of the weekend. So crisis planning went into affect with the girls going shopping and the fridge freezer plugged into an upstairs socket!

By late afternoon afternoon a new set of electricians had turned up to confirm a ill-placed piece of tile grout had shorted the kitchen sockets. The offending grout was removed and service was restored.

…and now it’s time for some herbs….

Herb dem'

So the second problem is mainly around the hosting of this here blog – changing web host providers is not something I have done before and so when my existing provider wanted me to purchase my own piece of computing real-estate for a Kings ransom – I told them it was time to part company, but the transition of the website was a little bit harder, something to do with MSSQL databases and DNS records (eh?).

All sorted now as you can see – and I emerge from this experience humbled with more knowledge (like most experiences).

More updates to follow !!

Finally - non broken tiles

..and this means the boys are back tomorrow to start the final piece – it should be ours by the end of the week.

A tile - get in there.....

A new project will beckon over Easter !!

Good progress but a lack of tiles and a broken extractor fan have halted any real progress

But since the last time the lights have been done

Lights !

and look good – here’s and artistic shot.

..note the empty wine glass...

Due to the lack of tiles we got bored and started to move things back into the kitchen

I am told the microwave is not staying there....

including the radio

and the Joesph Joseph stuff arrived…..more of in the next post

...nice...!

The Granite

and the star of the show

Should be fun

Very happy with the tap – as impressive as functional

And to finish shiny Granite – tiles and final works to start next week – we should be normal by the weekend. Have fun.

Units are now placed in their final positions

The Laundry Room is coming along

Pull out larder

..and the rest of the kitchen

Plus we have sinks……

..the tap will be changed !

...a waste disposal unit

And an extractor fan…whats not to like  !!

More updates to follow.

Looks like a kitchen

The bad news from the installers on Friday was the floor is not level and from end to end there is a difference on 47m/m. This is unfortunate as I always fancied a snooker table….

Walking uphill....

The rest of the kitchen is ready for install on Monday

So progress should be swift – more updates to follow.