parents and cupboards up

Following some adventures based around the misunderstandings between Mssrs Rawl, Black and Decker about exactly how long a millimetre is and therefore what size an eight-millimetre masonry bit is compared to a Rawlplug designed to fit in an eight-millimetre hole the cupboards were finally mounted, though I'm now a lot less confident about their ability to not fall off the wall now that I've seen their mountings. Two fittings per cupboard with three screws per mounting an inch apart from each other should be reasonably strong providing the Rawlplugs and brickwork can maintain a steady relationship and not fall out or crumble away. Of greater concern was the method by which the cupboard-based portion of mounting attached to the wall-fixed bit: each had a couple of little prongs on which the entire weight of the cupboard must rest. Though slightly curved and cupped for strength the material of which the mountings are made has been demonstrated to be relatively easy to bend, flexing slightly against the slightly uneven wall as the mounting-screws were tightened. The mechanism of attachment also permits slight left-right movement unless the up-down-in-out adjustment is adjusted so that left-right movement is disallowed by the trapping of the wall-bit of the mounting inside the rim of the rear of the cupboard. Unfortunately the cupboards are now a few inches north of their previus position and the right-hand northmost cupboard now spans a curvier section of wall than previously and could barely be tightened enough to be able to be screwed in close enough to the wall to be safe. Also, I don't know whether or not it's that the wall-portion fixings are now screwed in tighter to the wall than previously but the bottom of the back of the cupboards were floating an inch away from the wall they were meant to be touching. This will perhaps be solved by the re-introduction of heavy tins to the interior of the cupboards but will doubtless be a cause of deep mistrust of these cupboards for a few weeks to come.

As I had to pop to Homebase to get additional Rawlplugs after a couple were compromised by the slightly-too-narrow holes drilled by my allegedly-eight-millimetre bit and to get a fatter #3 screwdriver after several screws had their crosses stripped by the application of too much weight and torque through #2 screwdriver-points (not helped by the trememdous pressure required to get the screws into the Rawlplugs inserted into gaps slightly too narrow for them until they were re-drilled slightly wider after wrenching the Rawlplugs from the holes) I was unable to pop to the station to collect parents and direct them to their hotel, though they really should know their way around by now. As both sets of parents will be about this week it is not permitted to show favouritism to any one set by allowing them to stay on the sofa bed (though the added deterrent of the disruption of the plastering and improvement-work meant that both sets were happy to install themselves in Travelodges offering cheap rates. Their train from Peterborough took a disturbingly short just-under-four-hours to arrive, irritating in that it takes about six hours to get to the further-north centre of Lincolnshire due to the need to wait on several platforms for slower localler trainlets. After a few hours withdrawal to their lodgings to unpack (and probably snooze in father's case) they turned up to a fully-becupboardèd kitchen area in which some welcome-foods had been prepared.