Monday 8 August 2011

Not all bliss, you know

Real life does intrude somewhat into the idyll.

The other night, halfway through heating up the oven for a roast chicken dinner with the Lovely Son, I realised that the glossy nearly-new oven had given up the ghost. Nothing; no lights, no heat, nothing. Pot roast it had to be. I'm still eating leftovers.

Last night I broke a filling*, and now have what feels like a gigantic crater in my mouth. I have an urgent dental appointment tomorrow lunchtime, and will also shop for clothes pegs so that my washing can dry on the line that the LS put up for me the other day, (and triggering massive downpours of rain ever since). I have a feeling that my pegs, in the nice little bag that I made for them, are still hanging on the back door in Newcastle.

The drains had to be repaired too, after the surveyor had reported sinister cracks. The nice Lady Vendor booked the work to be done through her insurers, and two cheerful brothers arrived this morning, and began to tear up the small concreted area (another Project for improvement next year!) between house and garden. Thus:


It looks a bit like how my broken tooth feels..... No, I'm not taking photos of the inside of my mouth. I'm sure you would have wished me to, but no.

Some unavoidable damage was done to the old handmade terracotta tiles in the boiler cupboard, which used to be the outside loo. What a shame.


Then the Brothers Cheerful re-lined the drain from the boiler out to the neighbours' drive with fume-laden resin, using a high-tech system from Germany, requiring a strangely low-tech retro-looking machine. Thus:



Pure Flash Gordon, I think!




The dust was incredible, the generator noise almost unbearable, and it looked like this when they went home:


It will all be put right tomorrow morning, when the cats will have to be prevented from making catty little paw prints in wet cement. Unless I let them.....

*no, sillies, on a wasabi pea, not the chicken.



12 comments:

the veg artist said...

Just teething problems! (Ha ha - I didn't mean to be punny!)

Susan said...

It all sounds very exciting to us ! (not the tooth) & hooray for clothes pegs + laundry hung on the line
xoxoxo les Gang

Arthur Ransome said...

Oh yes, do let the cats make their mark. Years ago my Bramble ran over a door I was painting on the horizontal (it wasn't that wet, so she was OK) and I went over the pawmarks in gold paint - it was lovely.

Pam said...

Ho, hum. Et in Arcadia ego. If ego were problems with drains. And teeth. And pegs. All sortable - though teeth not so easily, maybe.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, you even made semi-disasters seem like adventures; Somerset air must really be highly therapeutic ...... and good one, Veg Artist! OllieV

Debbie said...

Lovely to read of your new life down south. You are a real 'glass half full' kinda gal - always cheerful and humorous despite what is happening to you!
Hope they sort the tooth out tomorrow.

Rose H (UK) said...

My dentist told me to ram some sugar free gum in a broken filling until I could get to see him - it did help a lot.
You could ask one if your lovely friends to pop around to your old abode to see if the pegs are still there....
Everything'll be fine tomorrow - honest.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad that the drains have been fixed (we've been watching too much Sarah Beany!!). If you can't find your peg bag let me know - I just happen to have a very posh one lying about cluttering up the studio (from my Debbie Bliss knitting project). Good luck with the dentist - at least you don't have to go back to Newcastle - when we moved here, we had to wait for 18 months to get a local dentist, and had to go back and forward to our Falkirk dentist. Little paw prinys in the concrete would be a nice talking point in the garden!!

love those cupcakes said...

Hasn't that machine appeared on the telly? I'm thinking Dr Who. With the Cybermen.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure I've seen a similar machine but can't recall what it was for. I hope the tooth is fixed pronto, we don't want you in pain do we? I think you should let the cats make their mark.

Marcheline said...

Well... on the happy side, once these things are fixed, you'll be good to go for a nice long while! Nice to know there are folks who are experts you can go to for each of those problems, instead of having to deal with them all yourself.

Rock on!

jabblog said...

These things are sent to try us and don't they just? Never mind, it'll be plain sailing from now on! (What do I know??)

Related Posts with Thumbnails