So, I’ve been terribly negative of late. Which is funny, because when I’m with Kathryn I’m way more cheery. This is, of course, one of the reasons I love her so; when things seem unutterably crappy; when I’ve spent 200 quid I don’t have to spend on an electric car and it’s dead; when I’ve sent my car off for ‘a few small jobs’ and am suddenly faced with a bill for £800; when I connect up the free speakers I found and they kill the amp? She makes it all okay. When the bank statements arrive and I look at them in dispair, she makes it better. When I’m tired and work’s been shit? She tells me I’m not as crap as I tend to think I am, and that I’m good at my job, and that I help people. And it means so much.
Anyhow, so she was home for her brief interlude between works (she works a silly number of jobs for less pay than she deserves because she’s stuck in that “You were wonderful, but there was someone with more experience” loop, which is the hell of trying to get a job in an area where there’s people with lots of experience…
So, anyhow, she made me feel like the world was less shite and we sat down and tried to consider the kitchen more. And she convinced me to try something I’ve not been keen on – to put the kitchen in the dining area, and create a dining area in the current ‘kitchen’ area. I’ve been resistant to it because it involves putting the kitchen around the current fireplace, and I quite liked the idea of having the fireplace with a stove in it, as something of a snug area. But we tried it, and we fiddled and footled, and finally this emerged:
And y’know what? It works. That space on the left is the dining space (and through cunning use of other ideas by Kathryn, that can work too – just the B&Q kitchen planner doesn’t really allow it to work. We would love to have awesome custom made kitchen stuffs, but that’s clearly not likely to occur – but what we can do is dress up standard units – and the B&Q planner meant we could dink with ‘standard’ kitchen unit sizes and find what fits. It’s still a bit quirky, but the bloody-great-blue slab sticking out of the wall is where the fireplace is, which can stay a fireplace. And maybe get a stove.
We have to get under-counter (‘plinth’) heaters which is a bit of a bugger, but it’s the only solution where we don’t have to clutter up the teeny amount of wall space with radiators. And we get to do my custom surface idea, possibly, if we can get a carpenter to do it (without looking askance at us, like we’ve asked him to slaughter his grandmother and serve her with chips).
The other advantage of this layout is we can get the electrician in and started on the house, because we know where we want things, and there are no sockets near walls which are coming down, no sockets where there’s currently no wall, and really, it’s brilliant planning. This actually means he could be in and largely done (apart from the garage wiring) and out the way before the builders arrive. We might even be able to get the plumbers in, since I can perfectly well throw (plumb) in plinth heaters when we fit the units.
In other news, here are my five fingers:
They continue to rock my little world.
And in final less positive news, tonight I’m having quorn burgers and microwave chips for dinner. Yes, I’ve hit rock bottom. I can’t be arsed to cook before nights, I can barely locate the enthusiasm when I’m cooking with Kathryn here. Tonight Kathryn’s at work… and all enthusiasm left me. Not helped by visiting our local Co-Op which is strangely completely pathetic. It’s a shame, the one in Bishopston is pretty good – we get odds and sods there when we are doing our ethical shop. But our local one sports a somewhat sad range of veg, a feeble range of veggie stuffs, and don’t manage to stock our lactofree, which I’ve become increasingly dependent on. I’m not actually lactose intolerant, unless I down great litres of the stuff – such as if I make a milkshake…
Anyhow, I think I’m more positively decided to save the Enfield. I think. Looking at these doesn’t, or does help, depending:
Just imagine, we could look this cool:
And remember, the Enfield is a performance vehicle:
Sadly, our Enfield is looking a little less… shiny:
That’s a bit unfair, Nikki gave the poor wee beastie a wash, but I definitely need to give her a good look over, and get her on our driveway so I can tinker. Decide if she’s really do-able. Saveable. I mean, I know I’d love to save her, but is she saveable with my limited resources (given my paycut this year). And can I add in a ReVolt controller… and a new charger… What’s saveable. She needs a thorough going over to decide what needs work and what we can save… Anyhow. Enough for now.
