Having a day off from house stuff. Tortillas, salsa, tacos and beer!

Started work on restoring the damage to the stone around the windows from the sand blasting today.

Bay windows finished 🎉 Lots of sanding, filling, undercoats and top coats, but I think they've come out alright!

Manky weather today, so I’ve done some work inside. Removed the (very silly) extra upstairs toilet - ready so that it can eventually be merged with the main bathroom. Also started adding in the plumbing for the downstairs toilet and basin.

*Anyway* Here’s some window progress pictures from today - before and afters. This is just an undercoat. Needs another sand and *another* undercoat before they’re done, but they’re coming out alright so far!

Don’t mean to be a Debbie-downer, but: - The fridge has broken - Someone destroyed the period features of the front of the house - An engineer broke our boiler while installing a new meter, but are now refusing to fix it HOW’S YOUR WEEK GOING? 🙃🙃🙃

Got over my sulk about yesterday (ish) and started work on the windows. Filled and sanded them today. Got some more to do tomorrow before I can start painting them.

Long story short: Today’s sand blasting did not go well. They couldn’t do the bricks due to the weird paint. They did do the stone around the windows, but has completely fucked them up. I’ll get over it, I’ll fix it, they’re just bricks - but today, I feel quite gutted.

Happy Sandblasting Day to all who celebrate 🥳

Still *very much* a work in progress, but starting to look so much better.

Ridiculous

These are the work of the devil. Whoever invented them needs to take a long, hard look at themselves.

HAPPY HALF (bloody) TERM / FRIDAY EVERYONE 🎉🎉🎉

New doors in! Still covered in protective tape, so you don’t get the full impression, but really happy with them. *And* they’re finally centralised and symmetrical 👌

New patio doors update: No new doors installed yet (slight delay, in tomorrow) but steel in!

New patio doors going in tomorrow! 🎉🎉🎉

How on earth is a kindle copy of a book MORE expensive than a physical hard back?

Game of Thrones. Never watched more than an episode. Baffling dragon nonsense.

Why is no one talking about this BANGER??

I’ve also kept busy/out of the way of the builders by doing some more work to the front of the house. Absolutely THRILLED that under a load of disgusting pebble-dashing I’ve managed to carve out the original decorative bricks. Sandblaster booked in for a couple of weeks time 💥

Gone! Plasterer still needs to come to finish bits off, but pretty much done!

Going… Going…

Pre 8am on a Saturday:

Tomorrow is WALL REMOVAL DAY! 🎉🎉🎉

Given the new TS album a listen. I thought this album was supposed to be FULL of bangers?

Nicky was out Wednesday night. I was away last night. Nicky is out again tonight. I feel like my tinnitus is cured...

At a RSC thing today. There’s a lot of little round glasses and dungarees.

What on earth is Joesef playing at? He releases one of the best songs of the year in February and then goes radio silent? (If you're on the fence, skip to 2:30. Incredible) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya2s...

In Stratford upon Avon tonight/tomorrow for a silly work thing Saw a free table in the sun outside a pub on the way to my hotel Incredible.

Had OFSTED in for two days. WINE.

Favourite 10 TV comedies in no particular order Dinnerladies The Office (US) I’m Alan Partridge Him & Her Black Adder (S2&S3) The Thick of It 30 Rock Mum Fleabag Fawlty Towers

Manky outside today, so finished an inside job. Ceiling OUT

Nicky™ now comes with a pub dog

Dog sitting for the week 😍

Had an absolutely ridiculous day, so went for snacks on the way home 👌

Nicky is making me watch another video of a Swedish woman putting draw liners in draws. Help.

Had another session on removing the horrible old paint off the front of the house. Definitely (hopefully) one of those “gets worse before it gets better” things. Also, jet washing in the rain was FUN, but had to give up after a couple of hours as I was very, very cold and very, very wet.

PIZZA 🍕 #BirthdayBankHoliday

Bit of work this morning between torrential rain showers. Trialled some different paint stripper on the exterior bricks so we can get the front of the house back to the original brick/stone. Also chopped out the old, loose mortar around some bricks, ready to repoint.

Really sunny this morning, so decided to do lots of outside work: Grinding out old mortar, refilling it, stripping paint off the front. Then: Rain. 😩

🎉🎉🎉 Happy Friday / Commencement of Birthday Boxing Day Weekend* (*which everyone is legally entitled to if you have a midweek birthday)

Guess who got CMAT tickets for their birthday? 🙋🏻‍♂️

Go to bed M&S - you’re drunk. I love Marmite, but NO. (Not my picture)

My Mum: “I would never have known this was a gay pub” She was sat next to a Drag-e-oke poster on one side and a very handsome lady with an extremely short haircut and neck tattoo on the other.

Update: so my mum did the same for me in my card (birthday next week) 🤣💀 She loves this nonsense:

Taking my mum out for dinner for her birthday. She is the most sentimental person on Earth. I’ve ChatGPT’d a ridiculous, overly-sentimental poem and written it in her card. I guarantee it will be her favourite ‘present’. (I will admit that AI has done it - she will still be obsessed with it)

Quick job today: removing a door and frame, ready for the wall coming down! Tried my best to salvage it for elsewhere, but it was a stubborn fucker to get out. The original builders DID NOT want this to budge. Also found a signature underneath the old door frame, which is amazing.

Yes.

Happy Friday! ☀️🎉

Hope you’re all ready for tomorrow morning