Achieved so far today

Not The Archers
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The great house update continues apace. In the past couple of weeks …

Soffits and gutters - done (tbh I didn’t know what ‘soffits’ were nor recognise their existence each time it was explained. A little like adjectives. But, they’re done now and very impressive they look too).

2 x Flat roofs (or is that ‘rooves’ ? That appeals to my correct thinking, but looks wrong) - done. Now we don’t need buckets in rooms when it rains. Upshot … it seems to have stopped raining.

One old vehicle towed away.
2nd old vehicle, a remarkable 1997 Toyota Starlet started first time despite being static for almost 2 years, sold.

5 x new windows, identified and ordered. Date arranged.
New front door chosen, measured up … date to be agreed.

Front & side of house re-rendered, thus recovering the affects of the removal of huge amounts of ivy and the rendering it pulled off and the scarring from the tendrils it left behind. (removal of said ivy caused a scratched cornea leading to a fungal, then viral and bacterial infections and 2 months of treatment with a fear of loss of the eye at one point).

This same ivy had ingressed under 2 of the, to be changed, windows and serious root damage to the driveway. I’d like, at this point, to admit that we actually bought this ivy … by choice, as a “good idea”. It wasn’t.

New drive, identified and date planned (£ouch, £ouch, £ouch). 200m sq. of drive is a costly exercise. Still, the new Merc will look better sat on that that the, frankly disgraceful, current driveway.

This includes a new gateway as the current one is narrower than Mrs. Shanks enjoys … having 3 times over the years scraped the side of her car along a post.

New boiler and 14 radiators - agreed and date set (Two £ouches for this one). We’ll have a ‘Vine’ controller which can be set remotely off the phone. I quite like that idea.

40 yr. old woodchip wallpaper removed from hall and plasterer arranged for prior to decorating.
Carpets for hall, lounge & main bathroom identified … yet to be ordered.

Purchased 4 new ceiling light sets for the hall.

Re-upholstery of suite arranged. Dearer than a new one tbh but there you go.

Oh, & I bought a new Dyson stick hoover thingamajig. Impressive.

Had my hair cut.

I need a sit down.

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63

Oh, AND I changed my avatar on here having finally bothered myself to try the process out. Thanks Joe for advice.

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64

Glad to see that you are Sound on the Ivy Question.

I continue to serve the 3d printer, removing prints and changing filaments, and occasionally do something for meself too.

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You could print a waterproof, all-weather 3d nest… I’ll bet you’d never thought of that.

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There’s better out there:

526563430374e88bd9421a5972152f3b.jpg561×640 181 KB

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Noisy neighbours though.

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Thass ostentatious thariss… Looks like the Taj Mahal.
Who’d want to live in a mausoleum? With the neighbours cooking curry at all hours of the day and night.

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God’s Teeth, Armers, and you still find the time to post in here?

Ivy is always a mistake; and it is Filthy.

The only thing to be said in favour of the ivy which was growing all over the annexe when we moved in, and growing in through the window-cills and up into the roof space, was that it had a slow-worm living in it, whom I encountered while trying to trim it and keep it under control. But even that didn’t mean that we kept it, in the end. When it got into the drainage system we said “enough” and stripped it off.

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There wuz Fire involved. :fire: BURN ALL THE THINGS.

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With 2 x 7 yrs of schooling to be paid for (you’d not trust the local schools in North East Wales to have your children abled to identify cheese from corkscrews tbh), then 1 x 6 years and 1 x 5 years at Uni I’m afraid things like keeping up with these little domestic matters got sidelined … plus our foolish, foolish belief that ivy was a good idea.

We now have the sad looking house on the street and, basically, “things had to be done” about it. I think it was only a matter of time before the neighbours would have been at the door with pitchforks and large rakes. Given that the present door can be seen through I’m not sure it would have held out for long.

Mrs. Shanks is a hoarder too (hence two cars, post active lives, being parked down the drive), she’s a believer in the term “could come in useful” …overlain by “you never know when that will be needed” and it’s friend “I think I know somebody who might want that”) so this has been a good opportunity to have to clear some things out. Not enough, but it’s a start.

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I simply assume that this is how my career of infamy is going to end.

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Our neighbours.

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I can bring a few of the boys and come and look threateningly at your neighbours, if you like?

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76

Aaah, Used2B, Gwaihir. Good one.

Yes, have a few at hand.

you know, I read LotR aged about 12 and felt (spoiler alert if you’re about the read it for the first time) if they were able to fly to the mountain and pick Frodo up, just like that, why didn’t they take him there & let him destroy the ring with a lot less effort & danger ??

I felt the same during the Harry Potter series. Those glasses … why not “shazzam” himself and cure his eyesight ?

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If you read Harry Potter critically, you are liable to go mad. Apart from anything else, all that slavery…

The eagles would have been unable to do that while the ringwraiths were still paying attention; they would have been spotted and grabbed.

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Swifter than a seafront bag of chips.

Blackbacked Gull, Herring Gull, Glaucous Gull, Naz Gull…

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Ouch!

I wonder if that was what ol’ man JRR was thinking of.

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Almost certainly not, I suspect.
Who was it said - it might even have been on the boards - that The Shard looks as if Nazgul roost on it? Anyway, as we were all Told, there is no such thing as a gull. Which does rather raise the question of what it was that shat copiously on me once upon a time…

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He had a tin ear sometimes. One at least of his suggested names was swiftly vetoed.

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Tell me more…

I just didn’t think his particular brand of - pedantry isn’t quite right, linguistic anorakness, perhaps? nope, that’s not right either but you get the vague idea I hope - would conflate gull with gul,

Ecthelion was a chameleon…

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