A brief life... update

So, I presume you're all consumed with curiosity about what's going on with me?

After all, it has been February since I made a few feeble excuses about my personal achievements. Well, you'll be pleased to know completed the lounge and only a week outside of the original aim-date, which can probably be laid at the feet of March. Well, and a little underestimating.

So, at the end of February the room had been painted. That's not bad at all to say I was still wiring in the lighting and electrics in January, then it needed plastering, then 'tidying up' the plasterwork, then painting with 3 coats of paint.

Well, I figured the floor needed sanding, two coats of stain and three coats of varnish. One night for each of those - 6 nights in total, surely?

I forgot about filling the gaps and knocking nail heads in. That took two nights, if only because I ran out of filler.

Sanding took a lot more than one night. First the belts snapped, so I went to the local shop open late to get some new ones. He clearly wanted to sell me a new sander and kept up a "you've a non-standard (though clearly off-the-shelf) sander there" attitude which I wasn't standing for, so I got the 'closest-fit' belts which worked a dream. Well, one of those dreams where you wake up overheating. Because that's what happened witth the sander - the plastic runner melted, meaning the belt just rode off. By which time the shops were closed.

So the next day at work I popped down to the local DIY warehouse who would sell me a new sander considerably cheaper (and considerably less smuggly) than the local store, bought the sander, but then had to be careful. Operating a strict 15 mins use v 15 mins cooldown I managed not to burn out the sander (and get my bathroom cleaned as an aside) over the next three nights. It's honestly surprised me how big the room was and how slow going it was.

So that set me back a week. Staining and varnishing was no issue - one night each coat of each. But of the four weekends of March, I was in London for three.

Now, that of itself was somewhat unexpected.

I was due a trip down to London to see my friends, so arranged it to coincide with one of their birthdays. Lovely weekend. But on going down that weekend, I found out about the other two weekends - that of the pub crawl; and that of the special club night. Both which were fantastic weekends. But unexpected.

Now, a weekend in London is all lovely, but each weekend knocks out easily as many hours as are available during the week. It knocks out a full Saturday (if I start work at 10 and finish at 6, that's 8 hours) and the same on Sunday. During the week, if I work four evenings from 7 to 11 (Monday to Thursday, because no-one works a Friday night) that's the same 16 hours. But there are more breaks during the week for food and stuff; and a weekend away also knocks out the Thursday evening as I have to pack and tidy the house. So those three weekends cost a lot.

Then I had two weekends planned as "architrave, skirting and contingency". Clearly 'contingency' was already used up with the floor hoo-har, however with the architrave taking a day, that was a happy day. The next day not so - the major piece of skirting was horrible to fit because of windows and shelves and gaps and hell. It looks lovely now it has been stained, but it took a lot of work to get there. The rest of the skirting went ok, then that all needed staining, the PVC surrounds tidying, and any touching up done. So to get don by the end of the first week of April was very good.

I'm just waiting on my sofa now.

I ordered it as soon as I knew the skirting would get done - so end of March. It was supposed to be on 1-3 weeks, but they rang me to say they had received it damaged so it would be another 8 weeks whilst the manufacturers made a new one.

Yes, I'm pissed about this. I did specifically order it at the time I did because it was on a reasonable short lead time. I didn't want them to say they could deliver the next day and the room not be ready, so I got the room almost ready. But now it means I have the lounge all ready, but no sofa to sit on. My only consolation is that they checked it and didn't deliver it damaged.

However the piano is back in there and I can play it, so that has occurred on a couple of occasions.

So, that brings Spring. The most demanding season of the year (along with Summer, Autumn and Winter). Spring is the season I NEED to get my plants growing. Last year I abandoned hope on this because of my time away. That means I have more to do this year against those weeds I didn't get around to tackling last year.

The reason spring is the most demanding is that seeds, plants, tuber and bulbs all need to be set by certain times; which means the ground needs to be prepared and ready. Last year was odd because I was away. This year was odd because up until a couple of weeks ago there was still snow on the ground - it was solid frozen. And now seems to have thawed really quickly, applying pressure to get stuff started off and weeded out.

Anyhow, I have most of my plants started off, I just need to sort the potato patch (massive job) and the I can "relax" by just weeding the borders that need it as and when. Yeah, that's relaxing.


Work is the same. Well, it's busier than normal really but for me it is the same in as much as the businessness doesn't affect my homelife, save as to knacker me more. I just end up a little more frustrated that colleagues who should know better don't (or feign that they don't)

Exercise-wise I have started jogging to and from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays (unless I can find any excuse not to). That is the most exercise I have done since ceasing swimming at Christmas. I always do - the worst thing in life is to go to a swimming pool in January where all the 'resolutionaries' go swimming for a few weeks to "start a healthy life-style" or at the very least "lose the Christmas pounds". It's hell.

Romantically? One of my friends accuses me of being on a streak. He figures every time he sees me out I end up with someone.

I am currently considerably distracted by someone.

He's cute. Very very cute. He's in his final year of studies though, and keeps talking about moving away. And I - as an older chap - have to try to convince him to stay.

So we'll see how things pan out.