3 & a half square or 3 square?

That is today's main question. We are getting a conservatory so that we can have a place to eat without having to make a conscious effort to clear and pull out the table... basically.... but also to make more general space. We have a quote for 3.5 metres square which came to over 10 grand...hmmm.... maybe it is because it is double figures but that is a LOT!

After measuring it and drawing a plan of the garden with that chunk missing (I can't help it, I do it all the time), we realised that it is probably, well almost certainly, too wide for the garden... it's only 4.5 metres wide. 50cm each side is not really enough space.. even for paving slabs never mind my arse!

So leading to the consideration will 3 meters by 3 metres be big enough.... I think we have concluded that it will be and will, hopefully, knock the price down to less that double figures?! Remembering that we will also have to lay a new patio/decking, and get blinds and flooring. Lets hope the mortgage company agree!

Yack, yack, yack!

So I have been to help my sister clean her new flat for the last two days.... I am knackered and it is nowhere near clean yet. The kitchen cupboards have so much cack on the top it was at least a millimetre thick, and black like tar. Horrid, although to be honest it is Jane's flat so I let her do that bit! I cleaned the cupboards, well I have doen the top ones; washed the windows; cleaned the tiles; helped strip wallpaper in the living room; swept the floor........... Theres are no carpets every room needs decorating, although I think that the council have painted over what (going off the light fittings) must have been nicotine covered ceilings, through the whole flat. It is unbeleivable that a person could actually have lived in the amount of muck there is. My house is not clean and sparkly, but this is dirty.

Having said that once it is cleaned and decorated it is a really nice flat, not at all noisy, really big, plenty storage. It seems like an old lady lives next door on one side, going off the 2 cats and the flowery carpet, so she won't be much trouble. I really am too nosey!

Anyway that is all I can say becasue I REALLY need to get a shower before I pick Andrew up from work.

My sister has a flat

So yesterday after 8 months of waiting and staying at my mum and dad's my sister has finally got a flat. Which leaves me with a dilemma. I was going to visit my gran today, to make sure she is ok, and because my aunty is away and so whe won't be recieving her weekly telephone call. Now I am left to decide whether to let my sister clean her own flat....knowing that it won't be doen properly. This option would also include getting rid of her stuff out of my garage. Or whether to still go and see my gran today... I could go and see my gran tomorrow, but being as I had already decided to go (although I haven't told her yet), I feel like I am making an excuse not to go, when in fact that is not the case.

I might go to my gran's soon, because grans are always up early, and then go to Jane's later, when she is up and I am able to contact her. Plan made. Now I will go and brush my teeth. Thanks for your help.

Help me I'm drowning in grown-up-housewife-ness.

Right it all started with being too over-excited about getting our Dyson... which I still think is a pretty great purchase. BUT now.... I am aware that I have gone too far but I can't stop myself. I actually just looked on ebay for vintage Tupperware. God help and rest my youthful soul.

Tupperware is great, and I do have a lot of nostalgia attached to those old cereal bowls with the lids that were plates...you know the ones that were yellow, orange and brown. The ones that everybody should have had for camping, and if you didn't then, well you never lived really. I also want some of those pastel coloured beakers with the lids and bowls, and some storage boxes........... Heeeeeeeeeelp, get this middle aged housewife out of me!

Sent home because of a broken pipe

I got sent home at 2pm today. I had just finished my lunch break at 1pm, which I spent with my friend on the next floor up. Some of his colleagues came back from the toilets crying with laughter saying that it sounded like someone was stuck down the toilet. ’Riiiiiiight?!’ I thought. The water had apparently been bubbling up in the toilet like a volcano.

10 minutes or so later my friends came walking down the corridor, which seemed a bit odd, it’s not the floor of the canteen or anything. “We have to stay out of the office for 45 minutes because the ceiling has collapsed and all water (actually wee) is pouring out, they have had to turn off the electricity,” they said. Woo hooooooo thinks me, and then the nosey side of me takes over and I need to go and see how bad this ‘disaster’ is.

The ceiling had leaked in three separate areas, the bit closest to my desk, but not that close, hadn’t even broken through the ceiling….. you could see it was about to though. A bit further down the corridor there was "liquid" on the floor…… but the worst was at the other end of the corridor……..there were actually poo chunks….nice!

Anyway after the 45 minutes was up we went back down and our boss asked if we wanted to go. We had no PC’s to work on because the electric was off, but more to the point the place smelt awful……….Home Time! I have to go in tomorrow as normal and see what the situation is….. Which means: to see where they will be able to relocate us to until they get it cleaned up. But… half a day off for nothing, better than a smack in the face.

Just A Cotton Picking Minute

The other day I was listening to the radio and apparently the EU want to bring in new regulations to make the girls who work in German Beer Halls "cover up" as they might get too cold.

The German woman they spoke to was disgusted and said that they had dressed that way for years and that no one was going to stop them and I say bravo to that....they can't take boobies away from us...

BACK OFF BRUSSELS!!!

What Is BBC2 Coming To?

The BBC2 logo is trying to bum a dog!!

We stopped in Malmaison Newcastle last night....

I'm sure Andrew will have more to say about our trip, but as I am here first I get the first post about it. Malmaison is flippin' gorgeous. The room was so nice, the hotel was really, really different from anywhere I have stayed before. All the furniture and accessories are made of gorgeous fabrics and colours. Having said that some parts of the bar did make me feel a bit claustrophobic because it was so dark. The room we got was fantastic and we had a great view over the millennium bridge to the Baltic, the Sage and the big wheel that they put up for the tall ships last week and haven't taken down yet.

The only problem that we had was that it took an hour to get food, even though we were told half an hour, that mightn't have been such an issue if we hadn't waited until 9PMish to order it. I was starving when it came. Anyone that knows Andrew will know that he's not a faffy food fan, there wasn't a lot on the menu that he would like so we ordered the Mal burger and plaice goujons, that way I could have whichever he liked least.... that's not a really good start is it? Anyway when it came he chose the goujons, I had the burger. It had veal in it, which I have never tried before. I have come to the conclusion I don't like veal. The food was really nice though, just not ideal if you are a picky eater, it is 10 at night and you haven't eaten since 11:30am.

I would definitely stay there again, but might eat out next time, there is a Tapas bar right next door and the Pitcher and Piano is just in front. It is on the quayside so there are loads of places to eat round about. Having said that everyone who I spoke to before I went really loved the food, so maybe it is just us.

I'm Sniffy

I'm full of cold today so all I'm going to say is:

"Sniff & Atchoo"

Ah It Must Be The School Hols

Yesterday I saw my first full moon of the year.

Yep some kid bared his arse at my train!!

What is the fascination of showing a bunch of strangers your arse? I've never understood it.