Sunday 25 January 2009

Its been another busy day for me today which has lead to this late update...
Seeing as it is the weekend I didn't start until 9.30.
I went down to the quay to see if my underlay was here for Monday's job, but it looks as though my suppliers have let me down, as there was no sign of any delivery at all..
I guess it will be here on Tuesday now then....
I'll have another look on Monday morning when the quay is clear of all goods and maybe I'll find them tucked away somewhere..but I doubt it.
So then it was off up to the new head teachers house to finish the job in hand.
Today it was a bathroom and stairs.
It took we a while to take up the old gripper in the bathroom from the previous carpet that had already been removed and I then set to work on fitting the vinyl.
It wasn't too long before the bathroom was done and all stuck down...I think about an hour .
Then it was on to the stairs.
I needed to take up the old carpet in order to put down the new one.
This was fairly simple and then I went about cutting the carpet to go on the stairs.
By this time the head teacher and his wife and daughter had arrived and I was introduced and had a nice chat.
It turns out that they came from Totnes in Devon and this is where I am going in 2 weeks so we had plenty to talk about.
They seem like a lovely family and I reckon they will get on just fine here.
They have a great attitude and I can see them making the most of what Scilly has to offer.
Good luck to them!
So back to the job, and by now with all my chatting it was getting on for lunchtime.
I got 6 steps of the 10 done and off I went.
After lunch it was straight back to the stairs to do the "winders".
These are the kite shaped turns that most flights of stairs have if there is a turn....
They are slightly more complicated than a straight step and take a bit longer to fit.
Today I tried out my new staple gun that I just bought from Screwfix.
I have to say it was excellent and really saved quite a bit of time...
It was about 2.30 ish when I was all done, so a quick tidy up and it was off to the next job.
The next job was the lounge up at Carn Frairs that I couldn't do last Thursday because of the dodgy floor.
It had all been sorted now and was all ready for carpet.
I started off with a nice cup of tea and a chat.
I realised that time was getting on and buckled down to work.
It was a top quality bit of carpet and went down like a dream, and with the new underlay it also felt like the best too!
With that done it was nearly 5 p.m and definitely time for home and tea!
When I got in, there was a message from my mate Mez, asking if I wanted to go to a scalextric evening up in the airport buffet room.
Nigel,now famous for catching a lobster on Island Parish was the host and tonight had set up a really good track.
It turned out that tonight was "finals" night and we were playing for a trophy!
I played last year and got to the final, but was beaten (Just) by the other finalist!
I had a quick practise and then it was straight into the first round.
Names were drawn out, and I was up against Nigel.....
Great, he built the track,owns the cars and everything and probably has played more than anyone I know.
So it was no surprise that I didn't win!
He beat me hands down, I think I gave up after he lapped me twice and my car was on its roof!
So the finals went on without me, but there was plenty of food and drinks for the spectators, so it wasn't bad, even though I didn't win.
The good news though, is that my mate Mez got to the final beat Nigel's' better half Carol.
She is also very good, and I have the impression that they play quite allot, for they are much quicker than anyone else...
Anyway somehow, Mez managed to be quicker in this race, took the fastest lap and won the trophy AND a bottle of champers and chocs!
We all had our pic taken and apparently it will be on the Radio Scilly website...
On the way home the weather had really worsened and it was blowing a howling gale up the airport with plenty of rain to go with it...
It fact I recall saying last week that i had never driven at night in such bad rain....
Well tonight it was even heavier and had hail in it too!
It was like a tropical downpour, the likes I ave only seen a few times in my whole life.
There certainly seems to be some real bad weather coming off the Atlantic at the moment.
Very powerful...anyway I have been typing for half an hour... so time to go to bed.
Need sleep now after a busy old week...

2 comments:

  1. Morning George,
    despite our little islands being so far apart and so different in geography it's funny the similarities. The Screwfix catalogue for one, I call it 'west coast porn'! The driving down to the ferry terminal waiting for goods and of course the obsession with weather.

    Cheers, Paul

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  2. Yes you are dead right.
    There are many similarities that I noticed when I found your blog and had a good look back through the months of posts.
    And its the main reason why I took a sudden interest in blogging.
    I think island living is definately the way to go!
    Screwfix has been great for us ever since we all realised that they would deliver to the islands.
    I don't think theres a house without a catalogue over here!
    Well maybe the holiday cottages....Hmm..
    Glad you are looking in, I particularly like the way that you seem to be so self sufficient.
    If more people over here could get some of those wind turbines on the go i'm sure allot of us could save a fortune!

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