Builders don’t get high. Well, they might, but hopefully not when they’re on the job; that’d be weird.

It’s been a long 6 weeks since the last post. We’ve done a fair amount of stuff in that 6 weeks but it’s really the dealing with builders (and their effects on our living conditions) that has made it seem quite a lot longer than it should be. Anyway, I’ll get to that later, but first a not-necessarily-chronological run-down of what we’ve been up to.

 

 

We’ve been doing some nice long weekend/evening walks now that the weather is nice, in addition to my still-regular walking to work and random other places of course. The two main ones we did were another stretch of the Capital Ring (Beckton-Woolwich) and a new trail that has a bunch of art/sculpture installations along it called The Line (because it goes roughly along the Greenwich Meridian).

 

 

 

Speaking of art, we also went to a fun art exhibition, the culmination of which was exiting the building via slide – cool, right?

 

 

 

I probably mentioned it in a past blog post but our gift to my parents for their shared 60ths this year was a weekend away in Kilkenny (Ireland) and tickets to see Dara O’Briain while there, and we were going as well. That trip was last weekend and it was quite a good one. Kilkenny, while apparently a ‘city’, doesn’t have a huge amount to see but it does have an excellent castle, some nice walk-y bits, and some surprisingly-good restaurants. We landed on Friday in Dublin and were in Kilkenny a couple of hours later, then back to Dublin on Sunday afternoon after seeing Dara Saturday night. We had a couple of hours free in Dublin to catch up with my sister Anne Marie (and her boyfriend, Cal) as well which was good – she’s about to start working as a junior doctor in a hospital this week so I doubt I’ll be seeing much of her for, you know, probably the next decade or so!

Due to money being tight (mostly due to not knowing how much the unknowns in the building works will end up costing) we’ve not been restaurant-ing much otherwise, but in early June we went with Steph and Reece to a local Romanian restaurant we’ve been wanting to try forever. We, naively, approached the meal like any other and ordered a starter and main each. When the starters emerged I think we may have all collapsed in shock, though, as they were definitely, individually, enough for an entire meal on their own. As it happened, luckily, the mains were a bit more reasonably-sized, but we’ll know for next time! Overall the restaurant lived up to what we were expecting – good, cheap comfort food – and we’ll definitely go back; it helps that there’s a dessert place almost right next door as well!

I’ve done more gaming in the last 6 weeks than usual because I’ve joined with a couple of others (Jake, Tim) to do a weekly session with the intention of giving more games the number of plays that they deserve, rather than a game only hitting the table a couple of times before everyone getting distracted by the shiny new thing. That’s been quite a lot of fun and one game, Forbidden Stars, has definitely got its hooks into me. Every morning after a night of playing it I wake up with new thoughts and things I want to try for next time. Hooks I tell you!

 

I’ve been to an Orthopaedic (wow I spelled that right first time!) Surgeon about my chronic back issues. He had a look, sent me for an MRI (in which I slept for the 60 minutes) and bloodtests, and essentially found nothing seriously wrong with my spine. While that sounds good, it wasn’t really the answer I was looking for. There were lots of small issues that he said were probably all contributing in combination, but nothing that was treatable by e.g. surgery or whatever. His suggestion was semi-regular cortisone injections into my back followed by some aggressive physio treatment. I’m still having a think about that.

 

 

Builders, well. It’s been interesting. I’m currently pretty angry at the state of things (more on that below) but here’s a rough timeline:

• June 1st, 2nd – Kitchen taken apart, units ripped out, floors taken up etc
• June 3rd-June 10th- nothing
• June 11th – boiler removed, no hot water
• June 25th – new boiler installed, yay hot water! (yes nothing else happened in those two weeks)
• June 29th-July 10th – builders come in and start the structural work, make good progress, then are forced to stop.

Focusing on the work itself, we’re very happy with the builder doing the structural work and he seems very efficient and competent. The work has had to stop now because we need to submit an application for approval for something that hadn’t previously been known. That application takes approx. 2-3 weeks to approve, but hopefully there shouldn’t be any issues in doing so and once it’s done the work will recommence. Unfortunately that does mean the job is pushed back by that time and leaves us living in a building site for more time, but such is the nature of this kind of thing.

I mentioned that we were happy with the builder doing the structural work? Not true for the guy who we hired as the project manager and who that builder is a subcontractor to, and that’s the source of my anger and frustration at the moment.

Anyway, here are some pictures taken along the way so far.

 

Oh, I did manage to ‘cook’ something this time – a chocolate cake in the microwave! Quick and easy, and came out very well.

To finish on a good note, and to follow through on the promise of the title – yes, I definitely got high! Under controlled circumstances though, of course, as it was at the dentist! I needed to have a couple of fillings done and because I blackout after injections (but not blood tests – yes I know it’s weird) no dentist is willing to take the chance something will go wrong. Instead I had to go searching for a clinic that was able to use Relaxing Gas (I think is the right name for it – nitrous oxide/laughing gas basically) as an alternative. Contrary to every other dentist experience I’ve had, ever, this one was quite pleasant and almost enjoyable – or at least it was once I was totally out of it! Drifting in and out, not really aware of what was going on, certainly not caring about it – it really wasn’t a bad way to spend an hour! It also made me understand why it was seen as an attractive leisure-time proposition, as I was back to work and (mostly) come down about an hour after the procedure.

 

Next time; another Watch the Skies rears its head on the 25th, and this time we’re playing as Mexico. I’m definitely cut out for being El Presidente 😉