Celebration...

A self- indulgent blip today, by way of Closure (?). No more grumbling :-)

Back in August 2012 we decided to increase the size of our kitchen, in order to accommodate a breakfast table.
Our visitors all gather in the kitchen and it seemed sensible to increase the size. (And possibly a fun thing to do... Hmmm?).
We went through many iterations before deciding how to proceed for the best, and finally employed a building company in September 2012. They (somewhat optimistically) promised that the entire room would be finished and habitable by Christmas Day 2012. (Hard to believe (!)... But bonus!).

It would be fair to say we had Severe Misgivings from Day One, but they said they were covered by an insurance company, so before we signed anything I checked out the insurance company, who assured me that all was ‘bonio fido’.
(I didn’t realise at the time how many times I would need to speak with them!). Thank goodness for them anyway. And please, if anyone is embarking on an extension, do check that your builders are insured, and for what exactly they/you are covered!

By November 2012 we had paid a truly frightening amount of cash up front (which the insurance company assured was within the realms of 'normal') and had packed our stuff away, ready for the build. However, despite promises and excuses, nothing had happened. On contacting the local council ourselves, we found they had not even heard of our project regarding permission and regulations. We were pretty stressed, and getting nowhere, but the company was full of reassurance, they were 'confident it could still happen by Christmas', ‘or a few days after’.
So we (with cautious optimism) employed a plumber for the ‘pipey bits’.

After a half-hearted and grossly incompetent start in Feb 2013, the company faffed around and eventually made a spectacular and final disappearance (along with our money) in June 2013. A long and legal process followed, thank goodness we are both the kind of geek that keeps paperwork and makes notes of exactly who we spoke to and when, and what they said, because it was ALL required. Everything! Now that was quite a stress in itself. (Especially as our plumber went bust in the meantime, also taking our ‘up front payment of half of his bill’ with him. We didn’t have the energy for a small claims court case, so happy holidays, on us, to him).

In terms of 'levels of stress', obviously illness and bereavement are top of the scale, and what we were experiencing was not that. We were grateful every single day that our worries were ‘only stuff’. During the time of the ‘have we lost all this money?’ stress, we also lost a parent, a dear younger cousin (suddenly) a young neighbour (suddenly) and our best four-legged pal. Bless them all.
So we knew what real stress felt like, and ours really was 'only stuff'.
At the time I also had a suspected ‘little brain bleed’. Joyously, the scan proved that I didn’t have anything further to worry about (except the ‘little brain’ obviously).
I think stress contributes hugely to the odd health scare.

So... Early this year (2014) some Good Builders arrived to put right the damage. They had to take down everything that the Bad Guys had done, because nothing (NOTHING) was safe or right. And then they began the job properly. The project has been (in building terms) the equivalent of a George W Bush speech. (Things went so wrong we had to laugh!). I couldn’t begin to list the things that went awry (but if I say that even the boat carrying the new door handles actually sank, you might get the gist...True!).

Our home life (and territory) has been disrupted for quite a long time. I’ve ‘stayed in for builders’ for waaaay too long. (Hence the preponderance of macro blips).

We are positive folk and have each pulled the other through the ‘fed-up of eating dust’ and ‘having a skip and rubble where flowers should be’ months.
Someone who visited recently said, ‘you are SO unlucky’...
..Funnily enough, we feel incredibly lucky.
If the original firm had continued, the structure would have collapsed sooner or later. (Naughty people).
Stress passes.

Today, something worth celebrating has happened!
The last part of the project, the new floor, has finally been laid.
Piles of debris have been removed from the garden and the skip has ‘skup off’.
This means that the builders van has driven away for the very last time!
Goodbye Barry and Chris and Terry and Mark and Jason (and the other chaps who popped in from time to time to help). Thank you, you have all been Stars. (I might even miss you – and (bonus) I no longer have to buy sugar or biscuits!

And hey! I’ve finally ordered that new breakfast table and (clearly in demob happy mode) some (rather eccentric looking) chairs :-)

Blip commenting will recommence soon.

The fizzy wine forecast is Stonkingly and Positively Glitterin’ .
Happy Friday one and all!