Of cars and garages and kitchens

I've spent far more time in the car these past couple of days than I would have liked, especially as the weather has been very warm indeed.  Yesterday was a 'fetching and carrying' day, but much longer than expected due to an over-run appointment.  And the traffic!  Good grief, it seemed like the whole island had taken to the road.  However, we have finally decided on a carpet (and got a very good deal, thankfully) and we are even in a position to have three rooms carpeted on Monday.  It will mean a bit more of moving everything around again, but it will be worth it to have the luxury of carpets.  

We had a little 'incident' last week when someone backed into our car - an accident, and no-one hurt at all.  Just a bit frustrating.  Whilst the car has been at the body-shop being repaired, we have been given a courtesy car.  Useful for running around but not really ideal for tip-runs!  Today I took it back as ours was ready for collection, and on the way to the garage, would you believe it, someone (else) ran into the back of me.  I have had more dealings with car-body repair shops in the past few days than in many, many years.  I have to say that they were very nice about the whole episode - as they quite rightly pointed out, the courtesy car was going back to the right place to be repaired!  

House-wise, we have great progress.  The central heating is completely installed and, having been tested this week, has now been signed off and handed over to us.  We are really pleased with the work that had been done and feel that the extra expenditure on new radiators was worth it.  The kitchen is now looking like a kitchen, albeit after a few hiccups with pipework and sockets, positioning the sink and compromising on tiles.  The whole process has been a very big learning curve for N and I.  There are questions to be asked and decisions and/or choices to be made all the way through.  We have learned that a 'simple' request - "we'd like this here" - often means a series of compromises because of some existing feature, or the design of the units, or the need to deal with cables etc etc.  It has been an eye-opener; interesting but actually quite wearing.  However, watching the kitchen come together is really exciting and we are delighted with it.  

In between all the running around we've been doing, N and I are spending some time cleaning windows and window frames.  They were a bit grimy, to be honest, from when the house was left empty and now with a hefty dose of building work going on.  I can cope with a bit of dirt, but I'd prefer it to be  our dirt!  It's been time well spent, and the frames have come up well.

I'm trying not to think too much about the packing which needs to be done very quickly, or the dress which is still in pieces.  It will all come together (quite literally, I hope) and everything will be ready in time.  

Fingers crossed.