Mostly lemon based

Category: Bike

Posts related to the MZ collection

  • Contrary to my own expectations

    After a solid hour of lying, eyes embedded in various bits of pillow, I declared that my eyes were better enough and that the weather had cooled enough for me to endure the outside world; or at least, if not, to achieve something inside.

    Fortunately for me, clouds were scudding across the sky, and the sun hid behind them; so I headed out to Halfords to find me a new bike battery (the one on the bike is quite definitely not well – to be fair it’s well up to replacement, I make it at least 4 years old, and it’s been flat (for long periods) more times than I can count) and, well, I’d rather not spend days relaxing waiting for the RAC/AA. So, yeah, that and some spray paint to spray the welding on Brick.

    So off I toddled, and I came back with, amazingly, a bike battery and some spray paint.

    I’m not sure when playing with hideous chemicals became un-fun, but frankly, filling the battery was less enjoyable than I care to recount, sulphuric acid as I recall being quite unpleasant. At any rate, it was filled, charged, and attached to the bike. The bike now has working brake, indicator, and other lights, a new brake disk (which I can’t bed in, because without an MOT…I can’t get tax…and I can’t ride it anywhere to bed the new disk/pads in. Poot).

    Uh, and the car? The car has been spray painted. Quickly, not particularly tidily, and y’know what, I’m going to ring that garage and get them to sort out the oil pressure switch and if it needs it, pump. And y’know what else? It was still bloody hot out there.

    At any rate, in between doing these jobs I also nipped to B&Q and got the junction box, because I wanted to extract the wiring from the bathroom-to-be (currently still a spare bedroom :-) ), this involved removing the socket from that room.

    I now have some plastering to do.

    And I remain unimpressed with the standard of the ‘professional’ rewire. Although at least, the guy who did it has daubed on the many cables that go into the junction box where they go (I need to correct one of them now!). The new junction box is to maintain the ring main, without the socket. I may be able to dispose of it when I’ve got more floor up; I’m hoping so; but at the moment it’s a neat solution.

    I’ve also switched the light switch in the spare bedroom from a wall-switch to a ceiling mounted pull-cord. At some point soon it’ll become the bathroom (I think, when there’s plumbing in there); and so before that I’d like to get all the wiring in… I need some hazard zone 1 lighting though. While I was in B&Q I did have a bit of a stand by the air-conditioners. I am weak, but not quite that weak. Wait until I’m working nights and have to sleep in the heat of the day…. then I’ll be weak.

    Anyway, I also got a concrete specific drill bit, so that pipe should be out of that damn wall quicker than you can say ‘uh, get out the damn wall you evil pipe’. I also got some grey pipe; so it will ‘match’ the other soil pipe. Although I *think* I needed some solvent too, because it’s a solvent joint at the soil-pipe end. But hey, that’s a job for another day. I do need to work out how to remove the globe-taps though, I presume they’re threaded – and that the doojit that attaches to the lead pipe is separate? Anyhow.

    Yeah, can you tell I’m not sleeping well at the moment? With the vague wandery posts? Right. So, what I did do though was work out that the pipes, the copper ones, for the heating, they are not quite as long as would be convenient. So I will probably cut them in a slightly odd place, so I can avoid having two joins next to each other. Uh, and I raised a lot of floorboards. Well, not ‘a lot’ perhaps. But several. There’s now just two between me and all the floor that needs to come up being up. That’s the positive. The negative is that I need to take up the floor I laid so I can put the heating pipes in; that’s what comes of improvising something to do. What I should do is plan. Or more accurately, write down my plan.

    So, tomorrow sees the bike back for a second MOT; and hopefully a pass. And then the keys back to the rental place, and then the Kate for a Doctor’s appointment.

    I’m sure you’re all thrilled by this information… :)

  • Holes and stuff

    So, it’s actually been a shockingly productive day. I’ve spent the time after this morning’s dismal start (the GP opens at 0800, not 0830, which explains why there were no appointments. Thankfully, today’s not been so hot and my hayfever less soul destroying therefore) doing variously the bike, the car, and the bathroom.

    The bike – switching the brake disk for the new one, once I’d got myself the right tool (a T40 star drive, for anyone who cares) was actually incredibly easy. All the screws undid, the disk came off (it was about 3mm thick, the min-think rating on the side says 3.5mm… ooops); and the new disk went on. Despite the dead battery I was actually considering ringing and booking an MOT, but a strange sensation0 came over me. I think we’ll call it ‘common sense’. I checked, and the brake-light switch (which is still waiting for replacement, ‘cos Burwin failed to send one, they said they’ll send one immediately, but then it took them almost a week and a half to send the first order; I may stop ordering from them) has stopped working. I took it apart, but no amount of coaxing could persuade it back into life. So we wait for the new switch to arrive. I have, however, noticed that the alloy’s started to crack up around the bottom – well away from the lever or the cylinder, but it means I’ll look out for a s/h replacement instead of getting it helicoiled, I think. Annoyingly, that’s got all new seals in it, the bloody thing).

    So, having checked that the bike still starts (using a spare battery), I moved onto the second task of the day. The car.

    Let’s just say the accursed thing makes fun of me. I check voltages, they’re wrong, I go to check them again, they’re right, the car starts. Why! Why for have you forsaken me oh continuous and non-intermittent faults! The oil pressure light, that went out, no problems. Although the VivaOC reckon it’s just blocked with crud – so I’ll hopefully whip that out on Friday and see. But yes, the ignition issue continues to baffle me. I’m tempted to change the solenoid just, well, because. Because I suspect it of being an evil turncoat who’s duplicitous nature allows it to pretend that it works while I’m looking at it, but when I’m not allows it to snunk off to the corner of electrical hell (as provided by Lucas, Prince of Darkness) and…well… not work.

    Anyhow, I then removed the passenger seat and alternately went ‘oh god’ and ‘uh, maybe okay…’ and then ‘oh god’ as I stared at the floor. On Saturday the car is going to be attacked by man-with-welder, and I hope we should have less of a rust issue. Actually, apart from the sill (which appears to have been attacked by a monkey with filler (oh god)) and the inner sill just by the rear seats (oh god, rust) and the huge-gaping-hole-in-the-floor (oh dear god, no, and no, I shouldn’t have poked it); it actually looks surprisingly intact. Oh, and the hole where the seat mounting, uh, disintegrated it. Yes.

    Still…. *breathes*.

    Anyhow, having decided that my day was complete on the VIva and bike fronts, I moved inside. And upstairs, to the bathroom…

    No, that’s the bedroom; I realise it looks increasingly like a store room for a bizzare props department crossed with an open plan toilet, but hey. I just thought I’d share the hell of my house at the moment.

    No, this is the bathroom:

    Yes, insane, isn’t it? The floor’s got to be down by Saturday, really. Which is a little stress inducing. Although I saw the boards I need, if I go with chip-board, and I plan to, because I’ve checked and apparently they’re fine with Cast Iron baths, and I now know which kind I need for the bathroom. So yay for me :-)

    My life is just one excitement after another, eh?

    But there was one amazingly positive thing which happened today:

    That, I think you’ll find, is the soil pipe. All connected and ready. Granted, it’s sloping the wrong way at the moment, but that’s just because it’s missing some supports. I’ll cut the wood and pop them in tomorrow :-)

    Raaa, ra, ra.

    (And in non dull news, I spoke to Kathryn on the phone yesterday, which was made of awesome. I love the internet, which allows me to talk to Kathryn despite her being miles and miles away for the not-muchness on the cost front. Ra).

  • Feeling slightly aggrieved at the universe

    So, there I was laying in bed this morning, endeavouring not to rub my eyes and thinking evil thoughts about pollen, and so on. And I planned out my day. It went thus:

    – Change brake disk, brake pads, brake light lens and switch on Cherry. Book MOT.
    – Get quote for oil pump on Viva from friend-recommended garage (because the oil light is persistant in it’s desire to stay on).
    – Hire van for Saturday’s jaunt.
    – Foof with kitchen, and unload the car.
    – Repack hubs with grease, if I can find a jack safe to do such a task with (getting the viva onto axle stands using the pint-pump jack would be…fun). Sort out ignition wiring. Maybe strip the viva’s interior in preparation for the weldathon.
    That was my basic list. I got outside and the power of 12,000 suns burned my skin from my body as I dared to step outside. Well…okay, it was a bit too hot to do car stuff, but, I thought, I could do the bike. But NO! Because impressively I’ve lost my set of star-drive adaptors. Cue cursing about where in frack all my tools have gone (I am getting so close to the day when I flip out and buy a huge-f-off-tool-box on wheels).

    So, I sighed. I then checked through the box of bits and… no brake light switch. ARGH!

    Okay, I think. We’ll get a quote for the Viva. 3 hours later they are still ringing around trying to find someone who has a pump. Apparently the club have pumps. I am about to join…

    So I hire a van (hurrah!)

    I foof with the kitchen and unload the car; incidentally combi boilers are fracking *heavy*.

    And no, I don’t have a suitable jack. Since they’re going to have the engine out and in bits I reckon I may as well ask them to do the service anyhow. But I think to myself – hang on a minute, I could, were I clever, start to sort out the plumbing. Which, it’s true, I could. Except that I can’t find my plumber’s wrench. I have no idea where *that’s* gone. I’ve had it since I moved, but where it’s landed I don’t know. I’m beginning to get a little pissy whenever I can’t find tools (Which is pretty much every time I do a job now). It’s the quick tidy I did for the party that really screwed up my tool finding ability.

    Oh, and my washing line snapped and deposited my laundry; thankfully on the path and not on the weed-killer sprayed side of the grass….

    I’m still feeling remarkably chipper though, I put that down to the fact that the shower and the shower base have arrived. Now I just need to fit them :-)

  • Sleep is in my veins

    So, today we might be a little disjointed, like a broken child’s doll my sentences may be rather limp and floppy, and bits may fall off unexpectedly.

    I am, in fact, quite tired. For quite big values of quite. In fact, extraordinary values of ‘quite’. I would be in bed, but I’m bidding on a shower mixer/thing, and want to know if I’ve won, because then I’ll transfer all the money in the one go – see I had to pay the builder off the credit card today, because the money to pay him is there, but it’s in my savings account.

    Because… (insert drum roll)… they finished.

    The bathroom floor joists are doubled, the soil pipe is in, and the bathroom is ready to be populated with plumbing and exciting things like a bath (need to collect that next week), a sink (trying to organise collection), a shower (bits ordered, hoping to win the auction for the mixer / rigid upright and foo-foo-spray-bit), a toilet (got) and cistern (got, needs innards)… Oh, and millions upon millions of tiles. The ceiling needs painting and populating with ‘the right kind of switch’ and some bathroom safe lights. Of course, changes to the electrics occur while it’s still a bedroom.

    A bedroom with a pull-cord light switch.

    Shush now.

    So tomorrow I shall go buy some bits and bobs. I wish they’d not put the floor-boards back down actually. I meant to tell them not to, or at least to leave some of ’em loose, but they’d done most of it yesterday and then there didn’t seem much point in saying “don’t” today. I was too busy being tired.

    On the plus side I had someone look at the car today, he reckons he can repair the floor and that the damage isn’t as bad as it looks – it’s certainly still solid but there’s a big crunchy hole which I don’t recall being there before… so I’m glad I’m getting that repaired. I think it should just be exhaust and then MOT time. If I can get another year’s ticket on said VIva I shall be mightily happy. I also need to sort out that starting issue, because I look dodgy as fuck running a jumplead under the bonnet to start the car and also because it’s tedious. I want to be able to get in my car and start it, not have to pee about for five minutes to connect things up. It’s also an accident waiting to happen – the jump lead has to run out the front of the engine bay, over the top of the fan. One day, if I’m too tired, it could lead to a rather unpleasant shorted wire incident.

    Shall we revisit the dull list?

    – Have a new floor (or at least a doubly strong floor) in her bathroom
    – Collect a (bathroom) sink, a boiler and the oven (you have *no* idea how much I’ve missed having an oven. Really. No. Idea.)
    – Receive via postymagic a new hob
    – Commence work on the upstairs plumbing (I guess having the very end of the soil pipe in the bedroom doesn’t count? No.)
    – Win a filing cabinet, bath and a period radiator on e-bay
    – Collect said bath and filing cabinet, and then later said radiator.
    – Ideally reach a stage where I can get the gas-engineer in to fit the boiler, although I’m suspecting that’s beyond unlikely.
    And then there’s the ‘doing’ list:
    – Fix and service the Viva
    – Get bike back on road
    – Get welding sorted for Viva Modified: Take Viva to gain new floor
    – Lay path in garden
    – Plant garden
    – Read about emergency nursing
    – Buy and collect mom’s electric car (I hope)
    – Complete my CRB form, the Occy Health form – Done: as a result I now need to go to the hospital and hand in the CRB form
    – Visit a clinic *and* the GP
    I’d also like to see friends.

    And now added: I need to sleep some :-)

    Oh, and do laundry.

    Definately, progress though.

  • Random thoughs of a lass on a cofa

    So, it’s been four weeks since my bin was emptied. I realised that today. I’ve finally managed to fill my outside bin to the point I need it emptied… by putting two carpets in it.

    I’m not quite sure how I generate so little rubbish – obviously the fact that an awful lot of my food is not prepackaged; or is prepacked in plastic bags (recycled) or cling-wrap (binned, but very small) helps. And my habit of not always remembering to eat, that probably helps. But I still find it faintly odd that after 4 weeks all I have to dispose of as rubbish is two small carrier bags mostly full of tissues (and they’re *months* worth of rubbish from the lounge and bathroom), and two two-third’s full binbags of kitchen waste. Paper and card are recycled, plastic’s recycled…uh. Yeah. It’s kind of odd.

    But this week, yes, the bin is very full. 2 grotty old carpets filled it to fullness. So I’m kinda glad tomorrow is bin-day.

    On the matter of the car, we appear (touch wood) to have finally reached understanding of why the bloody thing wasn’t starting. It turns out that despite (when I checked) the coil appearing to get a full 12 volts of unballasted little flowing electrons when in the Starter position, it appears that it’s not *actually* working as-such. So current bodge is to slap a jump lead twixt coil+ and the battery, start the car, and then whip it off. This is fine, fine and indeed dandy, except that it’s been raining almost continuously today and I didn’t much enjoy getting wet.

    Still, that moves us onto the topic of the coming two weeks. And these weeks are special excitings week in Kateland. Kate’s hoping to:

    – Have a new floor (or at least a doubly strong floor) in her bathroom
    – Collect a (bathroom) sink, a boiler and the oven (you have *no* idea how much I’ve missed having an oven. Really. No. Idea.)
    – Receive via postymagic a new hob
    – Commence work on the upstairs plumbing
    But the list doesn’t end there. I’m also hoping to:
    – Win a filing cabinet, bath and a period radiator on e-bay
    – Collect said bath and filing cabinet, and then later said radiator.
    – Ideally reach a stage where I can get the gas-engineer in to fit the boiler, although I’m suspecting that’s beyond unlikely.
    And then there’s the ‘doing’ list:
    – Fix and service the Viva
    – Get bike back on road
    – Get welding sorted for Viva
    – Lay path in garden
    – Plant garden
    – Read about emergency nursing
    – Buy and collect mom’s electric car (I hope)
    – Complete my CRB form, the Occy Health form
    – Visit a clinic *and* the GP
    I’d also like to see friends.

    I’m thinking that I’ll both be ‘very busy’, ‘very tired’ and may have planned an excessive number of things into my not-quite-two weeks.

  • Help, the gardens are overun with weeds…

    So, in an attempt to reduce the chaos, prevent potential moping, and generally keep myself occupied I prep’d the bike for it’s MOT. Which went slightly less well than I’d hoped. The front brake light switch has, as usual, stopped working. I should’ve thought of this and ordered one in advance. I’m going to hope he’ll let me promise to replace it. I’ve sprayed it with lots of contact cleaner come lubricant and wiggled it lots, I’m hoping that it might work on the day.

    Also, having checked, mirrors are not part of the MOT test requirements. They are part of construction and use, but really mine were useless anyhow. So I’ve taken ’em both off, because one of them needs helicoiling in place, and I don’t have a helicoiling device. I do want them back on, simply because it’s nice to know what’s behind you, but I’m not desparately concerned. I am a bit peeved by the brake light switch though. I only did that for last year’s MOT. It’s only a couple of quid, but still. Aaanyhow, having pulled the iris(es?) out of the bike I then proceeded to do various dances with cars and bikes; which entailed me nearly running the minor into the Viva – having forgotten that the minor’s handbrake is fairly marginal. That would have made a great insurance claim…. Still, I managed to shuffle ’em round so that the bike should be able to be extracted and ridden on Monday.

    All of this leads up to the gardens. See, I’ve really been a bit unsure as to what to do with the garden(s). My mum, I’d decided, would be set loose on the back one, but she wants some rough idea of what I want. I have very rough ideas, but I’m not sure that they’ll work, as such. Anyhow, so I’ve strimmed the weedygrassland in the front garden down to a more manageable length…

    Now, this has to serve several purposes, ideally. Looking pretty is but one component of the plans for the front garden. I’m thinking that I might need some sort of curvy mud retaining wall, and a raised section; and then slop concrete in the other section. This would allow me to have a mini-bike-driveway on the right, at the front, and retain some garden, and maybe make it tidier…

    My intial thoughts are something like this:

    They grey’s the current drive way, the green with the orangey border is my rough outline of the walled / raised bed. I’m not thinking hugely raised, like 2, maybe three layers of brick? Something like that. The curves didn’t quite come out the way I wanted and the scale’s a bit off I think. Still, that’s my general idea :-)

    The back garden’s more of a problem:

    See, I have kind of resigned myself to the fact that the shed is going to have to face the way it is; and to the fact that I’ll probably have to build my own shed up from parts (incidentally, if anyone knows anywhere round Slough where I can pick up scrap wood, I’ve tried Freecycle and unlike Bristol freecycle it’s a bit like calling to a void, all I ever get back is my own echo) and am kind of envisaging stripping down the shed I’ve got, loosing it’s wood-wormey wood, but salvaging the sheet steel and using that to make up the back and the side that you can’t see; then using wood to make up the side you can see and the front. And then planking (maybe ex-pallet?) for the roof? (And then roof felt!).

    The idea was, you see, to make myself some kind of workshop space in which I could strip down the spare engine, but I’m starting to wonder if I’m really going to ever have time to make that an achieveable objective.  Anyhow, so the general idea was to move the shed back, so that it occupies that dubious little gap at the back, almost flush with the garages behind, and also uses up that corner of the garden which is currently given over to a 1970s front door, a tree and a pile of rubbish. *But*, that photo fails to show what it was meant to which is that the concrete is about 15cm* higher behind the shed than in front which I suspect, being lazy, means I’d have to raise the floor of the shed, and maybe put a dinky little step outside it. I don’t think I can easily remove that concrete, what with it being up against a big garage wall… which doesn’t belong to me (annoyingly).

    Aaaanyhow, so I also need to get rid of that concrete centre path. Now, see, various of my friends offered to help with my house before I moved in – so I may be taking them up on this offer, in a summer-dig-kate’s-garden and remove-the-fracking-ugly-path extravaganza – possibly to include a ‘lay the new path and lay out the flowerbeds, oh, and maybe a bit of decking’d be nice party… Heh.

    At least, that would be *nice*; but I’d settle for some help removing the path :-)

    I may also be bringing friends in for a cupboard mounting party, depending on how the kitchen goes. Still no quote from my builder, although they’ve now finished off the plastering (better’n gimp boy in the lounge, not as good as the really good plasterer though). So maybe soon work can commence on the bathroom. Which’d be nice. Then work can commence on removing the old bathroom and finishing off the kitchen. Which’d be nice. :-)

    • Since the EU have sadly decided to allow Britain to keep being insanely dumb about measurements, I’m instigating a new policy of endeavouring (much more strongly) to use metric measures.

  • Home again

    So, I’m all interviewed. I think it went okay, hopefully I should hear today whether I’ve got the job(s) – there are apparently some temporary contracts going – which leads me to an interesting question – do I go for a temporary job in the ED? I suspect I do – depending on how long ‘temporary’ is.

    I read my comments from my mentors, and tried to remember that I’m a damn good nurse, at least some of the time. And I stumbled my way through the interview and at least looked conceivably like I knew about policy.

    I hope it was enough. I guess I find out soon. I should (and will be) tidying shortly. But at the moment I’m sitting mulling and trying to distract myself from the thought processes about the interview. I hope I came across well.

    So, in the name of distracting myself – this movie (in seven parts) looks really interesting. It’s the kind of thing I’d’ve loved to be involved in, but I doubt I have the skill yet. I need more practice. Hey! Nikki! How’s my song coming along?! James! Any luck with the models? :-)

    Heh.

    And it’s raining; not consistently hard rain, but irritating rain – enough that I’ve not yet headed out to remove the wheel from my motorbike, which I really should get on with. Yeah.

  • Building, Norwich and so on…

    So, building work progresses apace; well, a-limp is probably more accurate; however there are distinct progress signs, and a feeling of positivity descended (until today when I realised I’d have to pay to get someone to wire the kitchen, which is going to be ‘spensive, ‘cos I suspect I need an RCD unit instead of my current ‘fuse box’). At any rate there is progress, at one point the kitchen was a place of great danger... but now there’s a wall and in fact, plaster. I’m waiting on a ceiling though.

    So anyway, that’s the building work news. I do like to keep you all updated.

    In other news, I spent a fantastic 2 days up in the land of Norwich – relaxing and generally having an awfully good time with Kathryn. I headed up on Friday, and… well, actually Kathryn posted about it here – it seems silly for me to post the same stuff again. But what I will do is share a few pictures with you…

    While we were walking back from Norwich, me with my newly shorn hair, I saw this window. I’m sure I’ve seen it, and possibly even thought it was pretty before, but I actually (in a real change from the norm) took my camera with me…

    It’s such a beautiful window despite the decay…

    And then I’ve finally got some nice shots of Kathryn who amazingly didn’t notice the camera in time to stop smiling…twice.

    That second one, that’s a shot of her taking pictures of an abandoned shopping trolley….through an abandoned shopping trolley.

    And finally, I thought it was about time I had a new picture of myself, it’s not like I’m that narcissistic, so you don’t often get to see me…so, um, yeah, anyhow – it’s my Journal, why’m I justifying it?! Anyhow, this is me in the Sainsbury Centre for the Arts (or some approximation of that name).

    Of course, the interesting thing about that picture, apart from looking like some gloriously 1970’s white shiny plastic future is that it’s actually shot in the toilet. Yes. But I was so enamoured with the sparse, utilitarian whiteness of it, but at the same time it’s faint feelings of futuristic luxury that I had to get a shot.

    We were there to look at the photography exhibition (from the V&A) and also to nose at the art nouveau display. Both were interesting, whilst the photography exhibit – a lot of the images were excellent – as you’d expect, but failed to speak to me in any meaningful way. At the same time, there were some really fantastic images which were just incredible. Inspiring…

    The art nouveau display was also interesting, I’ve always struggled with art nouveau, because I adore some components, and other bits really just do nothing for me. Again, like the photography exhibit there was some stuff which was incredible, and again some stuff which failed to reach me at all. What did reach me though, was watching one of the staff discussing a tattoo – it’s interesting to hear people who really know about art discussing tattoos, reminds you that they are an art form in and of themselves.

    Anyhow, after a cream tea (yum, and surprisingly reasonably priced, although why I say it’s a surprise when I’m in a place that’s let me view lots of art for free….not sure) we headed back through the rain, and Brick declared he wasn’t going anywhere. Now I know I wanted to stay there with Kathryn, but this did lead me to have a stressed few minutes. See, the screw that holds the points in place, it’s stripped of thread so only kinda loosely holds them. So the timing wanders slightly – which hasn’t really been an issue once the car was running, but has been a little bit of an issue when starting. Thankfully I’d got a receipt in the car to use as a feeler for the gap, and having adjusted it he started quickly enough. I’ve just disassembled the points, slapped some threadlock on the base and put them back together – hopefully that’ll hold it okay until I get the electronic ignition from the Viva club bloke.

    On the way to the photo exhibit we ran into a little abandonment, shots of which are here.
    In other positive but unrelated news, my tyre arrived today for the ‘zedly Cherry, so I shall (on Thursday, I hope) disassemble the wheel and run it down to my local tyre place. All being well, we could be MOT’d and back on the road by the end of the week.

  • Floating courtesy of the magic pixies

    So, I’ve had an interesting couple of days. Last night, because our ward, indeed a large chunk of Saint Bob’s Hospital  is closed due to an outbreak of diarrhoea, our ward was strangely, well, quiet. Empty beds and because we’re good and also lucky, our ward appeared to have escaped very lightly – we had very few cases of diarrhoea; so we had what has got to be the very first properly staffed – or at least appropriate staff-patient ratio’d shift I’ve ever had.

    It was pleasant. I came home and I didn’t hurt, I wasn’t exhausted, I was sleepy and tired, but not exhausted. I got up this morning to go to work, and y’know what, I didn’t struggle to get up, I didn’t hurt as I got in the shower, and I drove to work in a cheery mood.

    Sadly, all things come to an end and our ward is now filling up. But hey, 2 days of joy – I know it’s wrong of me to have enjoyed the time while other wards struggled – but to be able to give *really good care* to patients; to check them properly, to wash them slowly and take time over it. To wash between people’s toes, to remove everyone’s anti-embolism stockings and wash their feet.

    To shave all the male patients who wanted it… To actually know what’s going on with patients, and be able to answer questions and hand over accurately to the late staff… Oh, and to just spend some time talking to the patients. To do my job properly, the way I’d like to, just for 2 days.

    Anyhow, enough dwelling, some things were less fun today. I realised, like I said that I ordered the wrong size tyre. So I rang up Berkshire Motorcycle Centre and said ‘Hi, look, I ordered a tyre on Saturday…’ [they cut me off] ‘Yes, it’s not arrived yet, it should be in tomorrow’.

    To which I said ‘I’m sorry, I’ve been astonishingly silly, and ordered the wrong tyre’ or polite words to that effect. Their response was “well, it’s yours now. You have to pay for it”.

    Uh, no, actually I don’t. Not legally, no. Not in any sense of the word. It’s not even arrived. In the end I argued my side and the guy was incredibly rude and then told me that he wasn’t interested in my custom and hung up. So, I recommend not going to Berkshire M/C Centre in Slough.

    At any rate, I’ve ordered my tyre from an online tyre place, and I’ll get someone local to fit it – my local tyre place probably.

    And in better news; my builder came! He came and built stuff. Well, technically, he demolished stuff, and then built stuff. And discovered that my house has had some half-assed-botch jobs done on it – it currently has two joists which while they are fixed (one presumes) at one end, are floating – held in place by the floorboards – he’s planning to put joist hangers in (which should have been done a when the chimney breast was originally modified).

    That and the original chimney is supported on two ‘tie in’ bricks. Uh, only one of them seems to only have maybe 1/5th it’s length in the wall it’s tied in to. It’s currently propped up with a bit of wood, a bit of brick, and a screw driver. The wall also appears to have been built from random brick; the new one’s not exactly any prize – being a mixture of block work and brick – and it’s imperial brick and metric blockwork – and they don’t tie together terribly neatly, but he is trying to keep materials costs down for me – and it’ll all be behind plaster.

    There would be pictures, but the CF card reader is on my desk by the Mac. And the mac is sat above the floaty joisted floorboards.

    Whilst they’re no more unsafe than they were yesterday, I don’t *particularly* want to tread on them. So you’ll have to be waiting for them.

  • …I blame money.

    So, last year I went through a fair struggle but this whole house / money / job game has got me stressed. Perhaps that’s why I’m dreaming – and remembering snippets – because there’s something to worry about so I’m dreaming. I feel like my body is falling apart – despite me living better (although no real exercise, I need to do something about that); and eating better, I’m sick – and I’ve been sick with this sore throat for nearly a week now. In fact, it’ll be a week tomorrow. And there’s no sign of improvement, I just feel as bad as I did the first day I got it.

    I get frustrated at my body at times like this – wanting it to be better, cursing my immune system for not kicking out the invader. Which is revoltingly unfair of me, but after experiencing a year of not getting unwell; well; this repetitive sickness is getting to me.

    Ironically, so far this year my hayfever’s remained mild – mild enough that I debate not taking the tablets – I may have mentioned I went for 4 days without; but the occasional sneezing fits on top of the headache and sore throat, that was a bit much.

    I’ve tried to be as gentle with myself as I could whilst still preparing for the builder; I split up the work over several days; and I’m glad I have. I do still need to do the washing up and move the washing machine, but that’s it now. I’ve taken the recycling to be recycled, I’ve dried laundry on the line (a bit at a time, ‘cos it’s a bit stretchier than perhaps you’d expect, mind it is a *long* run) with no supports, I’ve cleared the kitchen door, and uh, I’ve watched 3 episodes of Hustle (how come they’re getting Hustle in the US before we get it here; it’s *our* programme. Since when did the BBC start showing shows in the US before here?!, huh?). I also watched Dr Strangelove, which I still think is a fantastic film.

    I gargled with salt water (so much I actually made myself sick :( ), and with TCP (which tastes revolting, incidentally). And I drunk so much to try and soothe my throat that I started to feel unwell.

    I don’t really know what to do; I want rid of this but I’ve got work tomorrow and it’s going to get worse.

    Oh, and I ordered the wrong size tyre for my bike, so I get to make a very embarrassed phone call tomorrow…. Bah.