We Made It

With all the weather scares on the TV and radio on Sunday we were really worried about the five hundred (and seven) mile drive from St Andrews yesterday but it actually ran pretty smoothly and it was only towards the end of the journey when Marion was driving (typical of her luck) that the blizzard conditions arrived. But we managed to get through the heavy snow in Cambridgeshire quite easily and it only started snowing in Framlingham as we arrived - was this some sort of omen?

After unpacking I walked down to the Co-Op to find something to eat. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground and big snowflakes were falling. The church looked quite beautiful in the snow and, despite the cold, the town centre felt very welcoming. We went back to the Co-Op this morning to stock up on cleaning supplies. I said that I didn't expect the builder's definition of clean to meet our own and I wasn't wrong and Marion's forty quid's worth of supplies were probably only just enough.

We got to work on the upstairs. The shower screen from Majestic Showers supplied by the excellent Boundary Bathrooms (of whom more in a future blog when I get around to handing out praise for those involved in the project) had been fitted but had enough fingerprints to keep a team of detectives in work for a month. Although we had been promised that the whole of the upstairs would be complete the electrician still hadn't finished off the extractor - it's only a five minute job to put on a grille he says. (So why didn't he do it in the last two weeks?).

The Sylka carpet in our bedroom is in place and looks fantastic. I've never known a carpet with such a luxurious feel. The curtains are going up tomorrow so that room will be finished. We cleaned all the upstairs rooms today and, apart from a few bits of touching up needed with the decorating and that grille, upstairs is all ready for us to move in.

I wish I could say the same for the downstairs. Although the kitchen fitters have made plenty of progress, the kitchen/dining room still looks like a building site.

As does the lounge. Tomorrow there are curtains going up, the wallpapering is being finished and there's cladding to go on the corner pillar and then we have to clean the floor as, believe it or not, the removal van arrives on Thursday and they have somehow got to deliver everything around this.

The view from the back of the house is still beautiful and remains the main reason for buying the house. No doubt there will be a planning application for a housing estate as soon as we're finished.

The landscape gardener was busy all day with a digger in the garden. He's concerned about the non-arrival of the office. We've finally given up on the supplier and have demanded our money back. While we are waiting for it we have to find the same sum again to pay someone else to do it. 

After all the hard work we had a well earned rest at The Dancing Goat, the lovely little cafe in the heart of the town. We had a couple of delicious paninis and some hot drinks in front of the fire - an excellent end to a very busy day. As I write, glutton for punishment Marion has gone to try a couple of exercise classes held in the local school sports centre - as she says, the sooner she gets to know people and her way around, the better.