The stress was worth it.

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Ta-dah! The guys have finished. In fact they went above-and-beyond, and Baggy loves it. Creative Clara thinks that it might be necessary to rename the house Bumblebee Cottage, not just because of its colour, but also because by next spring it will probably be covered in the little chaps when they think that they've found a giant flower to land on! It hasn't been the smoothest of processes to get to this point, but the guys who actually did the work have been wonderful and Baggy is glad that she's 'found' them.

There's still a ton more stuff to get done - probably next year, but it's a massive step in the right direction. Next steps will be:

• having the rest of the roof redone i.e. all the back bits.
• having all the woodwork fixed/replaced and painted (front and back).
• having the front wall (that has been driven into at least twice since Baggy and Cal moved in), rebuilt, then painted.
• having a little picket fence added on top of the front wall, and a gate added. Which will hopefully a) stop the idiots driving into it as they might notice it and b) stop idiot mothers allowing their tiny toddlers to walk along the top of the completely broken wall, which at the right-hand end has a three-foot drop onto concrete!!
• having the broken guttering replaced.
• having the retaining wall reinforced, as it's bowing out.

Hopefully then, the house will be sound and waterproof for another few years - and will look loved! It's a sad truth that as soon as one bit is fixed, it becomes screamingly obvious how many other bits are on their last legs! But not to worry, Bit-at-a-time-Betty knows that it will get there eventually.

Now, if The Domestic Goddess could just work out where on earth to put all the excess furniture, and crates of stuff from the old house that are currently cluttering up almost every room, things would be marvellous!

Further good news! Billy Bob Jalopy campervan is home and what's more his four new correctly-sized tyres, mean that he now drives better than he ever has! In fact, Baggy will no longer need to eat spinach to acquire Popeye-sized muscles in order to be able to turn the steering wheel! However, he has to go back in yet again in a couple of weeks, to get the MOT done, that they 'forgot all about.' Sigh! But Hormonal Hannah is delighted to have him back, she'd forgotten how safe he makes her feel. So having walked the two miles to the garage to pick him up this morning, Baggy then drove Furry Mama and the pooch to the beach.

He needed properly wearing out! Yesterday, having only had a walk around the village, he decided to entertain himself by destroying the bed that Furry Mama bought him for his birthday.

When Baggy went upstairs, the evidence of fluffy white stuffing, was scattered all across the bedroom! Clever Bird wonders if it was because the lad took offence to the colour...

Lone woman syndrome!

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Clever Bird realises that the combination of the stress of everything that's going on with the house improvements, along with the extremely early starts, is taking its toll on Baggy physically and mentally. However,the work is nearing its conclusion now - indeed, would already have been finished, if it didn't keep pouring with rain! And Freda Fretter is relieved to say that she knows that she will love the finished result.

Yesterday, as Furry Mama and the pooch headed off to the beach, the house looked like this, as it had been undercoated the day before, ready for its final coat.  

After Clever Bird had finally surmised that it must be half-term, (as the beach was crowded with kids and parents digging big holes, for Baggy to fall in), she headed Furry Mama to the quieter end of Southwold. 

A quick cappuccino at the extremely busy beach cafe, had Hormonal Hannah's blood pressure rising! It's difficult not to overhear other people's conversations when everyone is in close vicinity! There were families, and dogs everywhere; all being pretty well behaved, if somewhat rowdy in some cases. Clever Bird has noticed, that it's nearly always the little ones - dogs and kids that is - who make the most commotion! But none was causing any kind of a problem, other than a bit of volume. Pepper Pooch was focussed on his mama...

'Hurry up and drink up Mum! I's got balls chasing to dos.'
'Stop tapping my knee Peps, I'm drinking my coffee.'
'I's not stoopid - I can sees that, but you's not drinkin' it quicks enough.'
'Patience is a virtue pooch; just wait a sec.'

'God! Look at all these dogs; they shouldn't be allowed,' grumpy middle-aged woman.
'Some of them aren't on the lead either,' frowny man.
'I know - it's annoying.'

'Go somewhere else then,' thought Hannah.

'Have you seen that woman? She keeps talking to hers.'

Furry Mama looked straight in the woman's eyes. 

'Let's sit over there,' said the man, walking away from Baggy.

'Jolly good plan,' thought Hannah, 'go and upset someone else.'
'Is you okay Mum - you looks upset?'
'I love you pooch. Let's get out of here shall we?'

Pepper, who was technically on the lead, (but Furry Mama wasn't holding it), grinned and wagged his tail. Furry Mama unhooked the lead from his collar, and Pepper shot down the steps onto the beach, where he sat and waited whilst Baggy took her empty cup back. Hannah ignored the eyeballs boring into her back and headed off back to her happy place, by the sea, muttering to herself, 'As if there aren't loads of other cafes that dogs aren't allowed into that you could go in.'

The sea air did its magic once again, as they walked the length of  the beach back to the car. Yes Baggees, the car; Fred Volvo that is, not Billy Bob Jalopy campervan. Because that's been more stress! 

Number one furry thought he'd found a great garage to look after Billy Bob; and Baggy's taken her camper there a few times now. However, the 'few times', is a few too many. 'Why?' you ask, well because each time he has gone in for some work, they haven't finished it, and have asked Baggy to book it in again, usually at least four weeks later.  Take this time for instance:

Baggy booked Billy Bob in for an MOT a few weeks ago. They didn't do it because the battery was sitting on a big hole and so it would have failed it. Six weeks later, it was booked in again for a metal plate to be fitted, so that the battery could be safely secured, and the MOT completed. That was last Tuesday (the second day of the gas engineer chaos)! On the Thursday Baggy popped in with an air-tube that they were going to replace, and asked how they were getting on. Billy Bob had not even been touched! 

'Sorry, we're busy. We'll get onto it later.'
'Oh, okay.'

On Thursday she heard nothing more. Or on the Friday. On Saturday Baggy went in with Calum. Billy Bob was sitting with his back indicator lights panel missing. Nothing had been done! 

'We can't solder a metal plate in, it will damage the paintwork.'
'You don't need to,' said Calum crawling underneath Billy Bob, ' it can be bolted in.'
'Have you test driven it yet?' asked Freda Fretter.
'No, we wanted to fix the battery first.'
'But I don't think the battery has anything to do with why he's "juddering"', said an annoyed Hannah.

On Monday Baggy called again. 'What's happening?'
'Well I know why it's juddering.'
'Oh good.'
'Well it's not good actually, your tyre blew up, so we haven't done anything.'
'So can you get a new one?' asked a furious Hannah.

Hours later, the phone rang. 'We can't get a tyre. It's a really odd size. Probably the wrong size for the wheel. And we now realise that you need two tyres.'
'Can you try a different garage, like the one round the corner from you?'
'Well I suppose we could.'

More hours later. 'They can't get the tyres either.'
'So are the wheels a weird size?'
'No, just the tyres.'
'So why can't we get normal tyres?'
'Well you could, but you'd have to swap the back tyres onto the front wheels.'
'Or, we could just get four correctly sized tyres? My guess is that the front tyres are worn as well, are they?'
'Yes,  they've got odd cracks in them.'

Baggy attempted to stop Hannah from bursting into tears of frustration, and decided to call Calum. Cal spoke to a garage, and arranged for four correctly-sized tyres to be available on Tuesday. No news on Tuesday! Baggy called again on Wednesday morning.

'Any progress?'
'No, we're waiting for the tyres.'
'But they arrived yesterday, as organised!'
'Oh right, well I'll call the garage then.'

And breathe! No news for the rest of the day. At 4.45 Baggy called yet again. 'So?'
'Well the tyres are on.'
'Great! And everything else?'
'Well, blahdy blah is about to look at fitting the plate for the battery.'
Baggy's heart rate was rising fast.' So, when will he be ready?'
'We'll try to get it ready for the weekend, but if we can't, we'll at least make sure that you can drive it, and then you can book it in again.'

'No, I bleeping well can't,' thought Baggy. 'But I have to have it for the weekend, as my sister's coming.'
'Leave it with us, I'll see what we can do.'

Today is the ninth working day, that they've had Billy Bob! Baggy is carless for the third time as Cal had to leave for work at 4.30am this morning; and that's just too early for Baggy to safely drive him there! It's lunchtime, and there has been no news. Hannah is spitting feathers, and is praying that Calum will finish work early enough to go into the garage and have a word with them! Because the simple fact is that it's just yet another instance of 'lone woman syndrome,' as Creative Clara has decided to call it. It seems to her that an unhealthy number of men think that it's okay to treat lone women badly: make her wait; double the price of the work; add a bunch of extras; do a shoddy job; don't finish the work etc etc. 'She won't know any different - she's only a 'bird' after all!' And sadly, in Baggy's case, even when she does sometimes know differently, because Hormonal Hannah just cannot cope with confrontation, they get away with it!

Clever Bird is slightly surprised that this is still happening to Baggy, when these guys have met Calum, but 95% of the time that she's been into, or spoken to the garage, she's been on her own, so...

But at least the house is beginning to look lovely:

Although, Clever Bird had not anticipated every other insect deciding that it's a big flower! Freda Fretter has been reassured by Steve that all the little critters, currently stuck to the wet coating, will die (poor things), and fall off soon! Gloria Gardener is wondering what it will be like next year in the height of summer!

Tomorrow, the guys will finish off various bits (it's too wet again today, so they've gone home), and maybe, Baggy will get Billy Bob back...

Phew!

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

It's a big week in the Baggy household! Today is Pepper Pooch's third birthday! Furry Mama can't quite believe that, as apart from anything else, it means that the pooch has been in Baggy and Calum's lives for over two years already! Where did that time go to? It just shows that it is important to enjoy every moment. Hormonal Hannah needs to hold that thought, and attempt not to stress over the unimportant things! The lad is already at least a fifth of the way through his life, but he's still a big puppy to his mama!

He loved his birthday present! Not that Furry Mama has enough strength to hang onto it! His second present might not last long though! It's just arrived.

Clever Bird was a little worried when she opened it.

It didn't exactly look like a large dog bed! But after a bit of foofling...

Freda Fretter is not convinced that it's going to last terribly long though!

He got into it eventually. Kind of! Perhaps Furry Mama should have ordered the extra large one...

Tomorrow is Baggy and Calum's ninth wedding anniversary!!

More years that have flown by, and a reminder that Pepper has been with us for two years because the wonderful Minty Mutt left us two years ago...

And finally, this week, (weather permitting), the work painting the outside brickwork should be completed. And (thank you God, the universe and everything), Hormonal Hannah thinks that she's going to love it.

Undercoat on, back...

and, damp treatment on the front...

The scaffolding has gone, and it's possible to see the colour on the gable end!

And just now, Baggy went out to see the final coat (of the new, much less stippled mix), on the back...

Archaeologist Annie is thrilled that she can still see all the house's old scars and a few new ones! Steve was rather relieved that Hannah didn't have a meltdown...

Jason added finishing touches...

Now Furry Mama just needs to stop the furries from going anywhere near it, until it's all dry...

When you're really bad at change.

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Creative Clara will start by saying that there are much worse problems to have! Being in the fortunate position of inheriting a house, and now, finally having the funds to get the rest of the desperately needed repairs done to it, is great.

Number one furry and Baggy were so excited to be able to properly treat the seventeenth-century building to a special long-life coating that would stop their damp problem, and make the house warmer and protected for the next twenty to thirty years. Baggy did have some serious reservations about going ahead; particularly the cost of the work. Archaeologist Annie had further concerns that were much more complex! She is very 'close' to the house, as when she did her MA in Archeology and Heritage, she did a full analysis of its history and knows it intimately.

The original house was built in the seventeenth century at the latest, it's possible that it might even have been constructed in the 1500s; so it has seen a lot of history. And, a huge amount of alterations and updates. The first major change was in the eighteenth century, when the 'outshut' was added at the back, significantly increasing the footprint of the building, and adding storage space, which is now the annexe to the master bedroom.

Later that century, the timber-framed building was updated and protected with the addition of an external skin, of hand-made bricks.

These lovely old bricks act a little like sponges! And are also quite friable, so have worn away considerably over the years. In the nineteenth century, the house was split into two cottages for agricultural workers, so a new front door was added.

A third cottage was added to it, as a lean-to on the end where the drive now sits.

In the twentieth century, the lean-to was knocked down, and the cottages were once again returned to one dwelling. This is probably when the house was first painted, (in a Suffolk pink colour), to disguise the crumbling and damaged brickwork. In 1978, the house was extended with a lean-to, one-story extension, at the other end (the now study and snug);

a porch;

and a two-storey extension at the back, creating a bathroom and larger kitchen.

Since Baggy's father's death, the house has suffered, and it was starting to physically deteriorate. Just repainting it, would have literally been covering over the cracks! But Archaeologist Annie didn't want all of this history to be hidden, so had concerns about the kind of treatment that companies like Topcote offer. So, she was reassured when the salesman explained that they regularly use the treatment on listed buildings, which she knew meant that it couldn't hide the character. Annie told the salesman all about Blossom Cottage and her Masters degree, and explained that she would hate to lose the old look-and-feel of the house, which is also in a conservation area, which has its own restrictions. But the (very tiny - six by one inch) sample of the finish that Calum and Baggy chose the colour from, was a slightly dimpled finish in a soft yellowy ivory - called buttermilk, and it would barely change the outside appearance of the brickwork. 

It's been stressful having the work done - obviously! The other internal work issues, really didn't help (see previous blogs). But the Topcote guys have worked their hobnailed boots off, and have been a pleasure to have around! Hormonal Hannah has been hanging on by a thread because of the stress, but she's found ways to cope; helped significantly by Furry Mama and Pepper Pooch. 

Yesterday, as they sat inside the papered-up house waiting to go outside to see the first parts of the coating, Baggy was excited to see it - the pooch just wanted to get outside to chase his ball and see-off the people who kept banging on the walls.

By the time they got outside, it was pouring with rain. The sky was dark, and the light had gone, but Hannah got a shock. Or more accurately, two shocks. Firstly the buttermilk colour was considerably more yellow than the sample that they chose, but that was kind of okay, because Clara's favourite colour is yellow, and the new colour is pretty.

'What do you think?' asked Steve.
'Urrrrm, honestly - I'm not sure,' replied a very shaken Hormonal Hannah.
'Don't you like the colour?'
'Well, yes, I do, but it's a lot more yellow than we had expected it to be.'
'It will fade a little when it's dry.'
'Okay.'
'You look upset.'
'It's the stippling - it's nothing like I expected it to be. It's a shock!'
'But you were told it would be stippled?' asked a worried Steve.
'Yes, I was. And I was fine with the sample, but this doesn't look anything like I was expecting! I really don't like it.'
Poor Steve looked concerned. Hannah was desperately holding back the tears. 'I'm sure I'll get used to it,' she lied.

An extremely shaky Baggy called Calum to explain her feelings. This morning, the first thing Annie did when she woke was to go outside and look again.

She decided that she is fine with the colour. However, the finish was a different thing. There's no two ways about it - all of the gang hate it! From a distance, even a short one, it's not too obvious, but close to...

... pebble dash came to mind. Yes Baggees, this is unfair. It's not an unattractive finish at all, but it's not to Creative Clara's taste (number one hasn't seen it yet); and it covers a multitude of sins! Now that is amazing, if that's what you want, but it's not what Archaeologist Annie wanted! Annie loves being able to see the quirky patterns of the bricks, and the changes to the house over the centuries. She doesn't want her old house to look like a totally restored house, or a new build. A bit like Baggy's, she likes seeing its scars, and knowing that it's lived. Yep, Hannah had a proper meltdown.

By the time the guys arrived at 8.00, her nerves were frazzled! As always, Steve and Jason were sweetness and professionalism. The Domestic Goddess made them their brews of choice, while Hannah attempted to pull herself together.

'How are you feeling today?'
'Truthfully - extremely upset. I know I said I'd get used to it, but I won't. I'm rubbish at change, and it's a bigger change than I was expecting!' 
'Oh.'
'I know it's not your fault, but this is not what I thought it would look like. I can't have the rest of the house like this; I'd hate it!' By now Hannah was in floods of tears.
'Try not to get upset, I'm sure that we can sort something out.'
'But how? If this is the finish, then I don't want it. I'm just glad that it rained and you couldn't do the rest of the house - at least all the old parts are still untouched.'

Hannah felt bad for Steve, but for once she decided to stick to her guns. Yep, her anxiety was in overdrive, but occasionally that actually helps her to be strong, rather than just accepting situations she finds herself in.

'I'm really sorry Steve, but for the money we're spending, I wanted to adore this work when it was done, and I am not sure that I will now I've seen the first bit.' Blub, blub, blubby, blub.

'Don't cry, it'll be fine. Leave it with me.' Steve headed off to call head office, while Hannah tried to stop blubbing long enough to speak to Calum.

Long story short - today a different mix of paint will be arriving, that is far less stippled. This will be used on the rest of the house - the old bits. And, of course, all the frontage will be done in it. While she was at it, Creative Clara mentioned that she wasn't too keen on the colour that was to go on the sills either. She sent Calum a photo. He agreed. So a chocolate brown colour will also be arriving. Hannah breathed a sigh of relief.

When Calum arrived home on Friday night, he agreed that Hannah had been right to express her concerns. Meanwhile Archaeologist Annie realised that she should see it as the practise of identifying changes to historic buildings. On the local church for instance, which as always in Britain is Grade 1 listed, the porch has recently had some repairs done to it. The new stones (intentionally) stand out dramatically. So on Baggy's house when it's finished, the twentieth-century extensions will be very stippled, the old eighteenth-century bricks will be slightly stippled.

But Hannah will have to wait to see whether she loves it, because today it's raining, so no work will take place; although later, the new paints will be arriving.

So Hannah was looking forward to having a day of no one around, intending to get The Domestic Goddess to at least try to reclaim the kitchen, when there was a knock on the door. Men! Scaffolding removal men, that no one mentioned were coming. They were quite quick, and it's all down; now Hannah is panicking that maybe it shouldn't be. Well, she'll find out soon enough...

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Note to readers: For the avoidance of any doubt, every character in this blog is Baggy! No Baggy was harmed in its writing, although some of them get pretty confused!

Anxiety sufferers know full well that their anxiety can appear from nowhere, for no apparent reason, at any moment. Hormonal Hannah in particular is used to this, sadly. However, with everything that is going on at the moment, it's hardly surprising that she has some angst at present. She needed to give Creative Clara a couple of days off to get over the fiasco! So here's what happened next!

This is what caused Hannah's meltdown:

The gas pipe installed with no consideration whatsoever for aesthetics, or for the building work that's going on.

Baggy thanks the universe for her lovely husband, who took the day off to confront the British Gas engineer!

'So what's  the problem with it mate?'
'Are you serious? What do you think?' glared Calum.
'Well we've only done what we were told to do,' (very defensive) 'where's your paperwork?'
A very stressed Hannah dug it out.
'See! It says here, "pipe to meter at high level," (smug and patronising).

Hannah cringed. 'Well, I'm sorry that I didn't see that,' (Baggy could feel Calum's eyes boring into the back of her head, as she tried to get Hannah to shut up - but she didn't), 'but you don't really think it's okay to put it straight across the house surely?'

'In the unset render,' added Calum, in a 'don't mess with me' voice.

'We just followed the instructions.'

'Well, if I had taken in that 'instruction', I would have presumed that 'at a high level' meant behind the guttering out of sight,' said a now tearful Hannah. Clever Bird decided that perhaps she should leave Calum to it.

'Cal, I'm going to take Billy Bob Jalopy campervan to the garage. I'll see you later.'

Having avoided the house for most of the morning, Furry Mama and Pepper Pooch returned from walking home from the garage, to a moved pipe...

Freda Fretter still thought it looked a mess, but nowhere near as big a mess as previously. And the lovely Topcote guys reassured her that once they've finished with it, she won't really notice it. Phew! But apparently Calum had to virtually read the guy the riot act, to get him to put it where it now is!

The gas engineers finally left in the late afternoon. The combi-boiler and new radiators worked wonderfully, and to Freda's relief, even the bath cover had been fixed back together - it's funny what having a big burly husband in the house will achieve, eh Baggees?

However! And this is a big however! This is how the rubbish was left...

... yes Baggees, the radiators are leaning on the new render, and sitting on top of all the plants, that the Topcote guys had so lovingly protected previously.

Gloria Gardener was upset and furious. To make it worse, all of that rubbish was to have been picked up yesterday! It is still at the house now.

The gas meter box, which was locked before they arrived, now looks like this...

... taped shut, because it's broken!

It got even worse though. That evening Baggy asked Cal why the rug in the kitchen was so wet. Upon investigation, the rug that the engineer had been standing and kneeling on for a large part of the day, was not only soaked, but actually had a mini flood under it, that spread across the kitchen.

Calum managed to find and stop the leak, (which was an unstoppered, old washing machine pipe). To be fair, it was not a pipe that the engineer had touched. However, it had actually been caused by the increased water pressure that the new system had allowed to build up, and the guy must have known that, yet he didn't even bother to mention it. Baggy was just grateful that Cal was there to fix the problem.

None of the furniture was put back where it was moved from. And the mess wasn't even washed away!

It was such a disaster, and such a shame, because Baggy has always had wonderful engineers whenever they have been needed previously. But never mind, Hannah is letting the stress go, because the new heating looks wonderful, and works beautifully.

Meanwhile, the Topcote guys, who are the exact opposite in their attitude and professionalism, and are a pleasure to have around, started beavering away again, once the rain had stopped, while Furry Mama and the pooch escaped to the beach.

The sea was a tad wild!

Baggy got soaked again, so had a cappuccino on the pier.

Today is dry, so progress has been rapid!

As Furry Mama headed off to the beach once again, she found Steve making the best of the situation...

... using the (in the way) radiators, as a seat, whilst he fixed a rotten sill.

In contrast to yesterday, Southwold sea was like a mill pond, and Baggy could have an outdoor cappuccino in the sunshine.

Home again, to this...

... and round the back...

... and currently, Baggy and the pooch are shut in the house, which is being sprayed!!!! Baggy is excited to see it later, when she's allowed out...