Electrics, Day 3

David started the day off well: he asked British Gas if there was gas in our road [there is] and they are investigating and sending a price for connecting us to the grid and installing a meter.  They have also arranged a site inspection to quote for a boiler.

We had called in at Wards in Headcorn earlier in the week, hoping to see Emma (and say 'thank you' to her for all her efforts in trying to find us a house), but she wasn't there so we left the message with her colleague.  We were trundling through Headcorn today, and there were loads of green balloons outside the office (which definitely drew the eye), and I thought I saw Emma outside in a lurid green t-shirt, so I persuaded David to turn round; if it was her, I really wanted to say thanks in person...

Swinging back past, I was sure it was her, so we parked up and went to have a closer look.  Yup, Emma, and so happy for us; she's also finally managed to buy a house [her issues weren't finding the right house, it was the same horrors of being messed around by mortgage companies; Santander being particular villains of her piece, not just ours!], so I'm really glad we went back.

And not just for the cupcakes!

[Actually, I liked the cake but struggle with the icing; the carrot cake was much nicer.  Selling cakes for the Macmillan Coffee Morning seems like a brilliant thing to do, so double-happy we stopped.]

We were a bit delayed [but happily so], and had another brain-bending day sorting out the electrics at the house; we're within spitting distance of being able to sit back and reflect on whether what we've put on paper will work in practice.  We just need to mark the position of the LED downlighters in the kitchen, and re-check the position of the pendant lights throughout.

We basically had to design the kitchen first, which hadn't been Plan A , but feels a lot closer to being a good thing now that we've thrashed it through.

I'm still mulling over a second wall light in the bedroom (using pull-switches on the light rather than switched at the wall), especially after talking with Jason [see below].  It would give us the option to have the bed in either of two locations, and would not look odd having a random switch in the middle of the wall.  Have to have a think.

We finished, well had had enough, about half an hour before Jason (the joiner) was due to arrive, so we packed everything into the car and started hacking off a few more brambles [that's always something I can fill time with, at the moment].  He rocked up and had a wonderful 'can do' attitude; he's also willing to turn his hand to a bit of making good, and kitchen fitting, so I'm hoping his prices are OK.

He said it would be no problem to reverse the immersion heater cupboard in the bedroom to become an airing cupboard on the landing [the immersion is either going (combi boiler), or being re-sited; it leaks badly, so has to be replaced whatever happens].  He suggested making the wall there flush [I was hoping to do that, but I think the dealings with Steve have left me feeling that my ideas will cost too much/be too difficult for workmen other than my dad to cope with], which would mean we could position the bed against that wall (as well as the back one) without it looking odd.

If we put a wall light on both walls, it will look nicer, and give us the options of what trees we look at whilst drinking our tea in bed.

We were discussing fitting skirting in the sitting room and what depth to choose, and whether it should mirror the architrave he's quoting for.  I said smaller architrave, and he said naturally, and then I was telling him about the moulding around the one original door left in my flat in Brixton when I bought it [lovely, but not the point of this story] and he said he'd worked at Brixton Prison, fitting out the Clink restaurant.  He never got to eat there, but did manage to give the governor a near heart attack when he saw Jason's apprentice using a nail gun!

He said all tools had to be counted in and out; fine for the sparks with a pair of screwdrivers and a wire cutter/stripper, but he was listing his drills + bits, saws, chisels, etc, and said once the boss had seen the nail gun Jason had to get a special dispensation to bring it into the building, despite having been using it there for a couple of months at that point.

I suppose it's a good thing that they're taking all those precautions, but then he said prisoners were allowed to clean near them, unsupervised, so it wasn't all super-cautious.

He also said he could/would fit the kitchen, and didn't mind the idea that it would come from eBay; he even agreed that if we found one that needed removing, he would be willing to do that.

And he knows a plumber who also installs woodburning stoves, so hopefully he will get that chap to give us a call.

Fingers crossed for it all being good.

I'm dithering about asking him for an electrician...

Feel we owe Steve some loyalty, but am struggling with working with him; I think most of my problem is that he is a second-career electrician rather than trained up from an early age...  I'm just not "feeling" it.  I suspect it's being so used to being around tradesmen, I'm used to how they 'normally' work, and he is different, which is making me twitchy.

I'm going to sleep on that one.