How Long Does A Shower Take?

Since getting back from holiday (over three weeks ago now) we have been waiting for the bathroom to be finished. It was started before we went on holiday and so it is now in week six of installation. That been week six of the original three-week estimate. Every day we get home, trek up the stairs, and have a look to see what has been done today. Some days there is obvious movement and other days it can appear that nothing has been done.

There was one day this week (it may have been Thursday) when it appeared as if all that had been done was that the bath had been filled up with water. (Other things had been done, but in the loft and behind the scenes, so not visible.)

The work is excellent quality, but it does seem to be being done at a glacial speed. You know when you have a jigsaw out on a table in a spare room and you nip in occasionally and pop a couple of pieces in, and over time it all comes together and looks complete eventually. Well, it would appear the bathroom is just like that jigsaw.

We still don’t have a working shower (* update, since I wrote the draft of this on Saturday morning the shower has now become operational), and so we have been having showers at neighbours, or at work, neither of which is great. (And if we hadn’t been on holiday for two weeks it would have been worse.)

Rumour is it should be complete at some time this week. I won’t be holding my breath.

Fridays, when not working, we’ve been heading out to try and get away from the ongoing work. The first week back it was over to East Grinstead, and for the last two weeks it has been to Burgess Hill. None of these trips have seen me take my camera with me. But they have all followed a similar pattern; ambling around, going into charity shops, having some lunch, going into more charity shops, and then having to rush back to the car park before the pay and display ticket ran out.

You may ask why we would go to Burgess Hill twice on the trot? Well, it’s the carpet’s fault. You see, not content with the fact that the never-ending bathroom replacement is still ongoing, Helen is looking at replacing the stairs and landing carpet. So, we had gone into the wonderfully named Disco Furnishings to have a look. And ended up walking out with some samples. Now, you may think that a little sample wouldn’t be an issue, but they gave the full set of carpet samples on a big ring, like the larges, most unwieldy keying ever. And so, we had to take it back a week later.

It wasn’t quite a case of run in, dump the big carpet key ring, and run back out again, but it wasn’t far off.

With ongoing work at home, we have been going to the office every day. An office which is colder than a freezer. More than once I’ve had a hat and gloves on whilst at my desk. It is worth noting that it is remarkably difficult typing in gloves.

I don’t know what the fuck is going on at work, but it is manic, and just an all-round utter shit show. The bastards at the National Lottery appear to have lost my e-mail address, and so it is going to be the case that work carries on in the same vein for the next however many years it is until I retire or die.

My usual pre-writing ritual on a Saturday morning was followed as I went for breakfast in Maccy D’s. since my last visit they have started charging for sauces. Not that I have sauces myself (though if they start charging for salt sachets, I may end being bankrupt soon), but for others it is a culture shock, and it’s causing staff issues.

Not only are they charging for sauces (10p for a little tub of ketchup etc), but they have two tiers of sauces, standard and premium (which are 50p a pop). The staff hate this new charge, and they don’t try and pre-sell them. But they are getting pissed off having to ask for 10p, and as most people don’t carry cash anymore there are a lot of 10p card payments going through, which surely must be costing them.

I got to the library and was surprised to find, much to the relief I’m sure of some of the other members of the writing group, that they have had the lift replaced / fixed. It only took them the six months.

Let’s hope the bathroom is done before that long.