The hairball
The carpet cleaner is coming today!

Hopefully he can get rid of the stench of dog that is still emanating from our lounge despite our efforts to the contrary. Happily the rest of the house is starting to appear habitable, and credit card company permitting we should have a new fridge, freezer and washing machine next week. Then it'll be off to Ikea, Homebase and B&Q in the desperate hope that they'll give us some paint and furniture for free and we'll be more or less sorted.

This week has seen us spend a couple of nights scrubbing areas that the previous owners apparently believed were self-cleaning. The hair ball I collected from the bathroom floor was the size of a golf ball, and the pile of ash in the fireplace suggested a fundamental lacking in their concept of what happens to something when you burn it. However, both are now much improved, and the house is now almost ready for us to right some of the decorating crimes it has been forced to endure. ("Hmm, this border paper is nice, I know, I'll make a square out of it on the chimney breast, so it will act as a frame...")

I say almost, because there appears to be a water coming through into our bedroom from above the bay window. This has obviously not been helped by the recent unseasonal rains which have caused our already clogged gutters to overflow badly. If it could only hold off 'till after the weekend we'll have cleared them by then - hopefully that will solve part of the problem.

That said, if anyone can recommend a good builder in the Nottingham area, I'd be very interested to hear from you.

- posted by Paul @ 10:13 am