One hell of a day

Yesterday turned into one hell of a day.

It started well enough. The sun was shining. Friends turned up promptly to take away some of the logs from the previous day’s sawing. The garden force turned up promptly too. And that’s when things started to take a turn for the worse.

The boss of the company came in with final pricing, now they knew how much the plantings etc. were. My jaw dropped to see the price had increased by several thousand. We’d allowed £8000 for the planting - it is a big garden! - & this pricing only allowed for £7000, & yet the price was even so several thousand over. I feel it’s a bit like Soames’ house in the Forsyte Saga. The price just goes up & up. The Fox wasn’t around at the time so I couldn’t immediately discuss the question with him but this was more than I expected, or wanted to spend. I gently indicated as much to the boss man.

By midday we had a visit from the Council Environmental Health man. Apparently there had been complaints about the bonfire in the garden that had been lit to reduce the amount of waste, e.g. the smaller twigs from the cut down trees. Why the neighbours didn’t say anything to us, or the workmen, but rang Environmental Health, I don’t understand. The man from the council suggested the garden waste should be put in the green bin. We pointed at the amount of waste. It would take several skips, not one bin that would be emptied only once in a fortnight, to dispose of that lot.

Still stinging from that encounter, we set off for Lancaster. The previous evening the Fox had picked up his reading glasses to find one arm parted from the rest. My first thought was that the tiny screw had come out. But no it wasn’t that. So back to the opticians yet again.

The 5 mile trip to Lancaster went at a snail’s pace. The Heysham bypass is closed due to the building of an extension from the M6 bypassing Lancaster going to Heysham port. The result was a 4 mile solid traffic jam. Eventually we got in to be told that nothing could be done to repair the frames – oh yes they could weld them together but they couldn’t guarantee the weld would last longer than a couple of months & you wouldn’t be able to fold the frames up to put them into a pocket – so the Fox had to buy another new frame. A second pair came free.

It’s annoying because the old pair was an expensive Prada pair, a pair that's suited him better than any other he's ever had.  The frame was only a couple of years old. The opticians reckon that’s about as much as you can expect these days. I’ve worn glasses all my adult life & the only time my frames have gone is if I’ve sat on them. They’ve usually lasted until I’ve felt the need for a new look, nearer 5-10 years, not just 2!

Disgruntled, we set off home. We avoided the direct route home. We’d noticed on our journey in the traffic jam going the other way was equally as bad. We stopped at the butcher to buy some chicken thighs for the Fox’s next culinary experiment. Then we went to the golf club. There we bumped into Eric & Doreen. They listened to our frustrations & then tried to cheer us up with the tale of Doreen’s midweek steam train trip down to the Ribble Valley, across to Settle, then up to Carlisle, & back. She had most of an hour in Carlisle for a bit of a shop. She’d clearly enjoyed herself.

Eventually we decided to head back home & face the workmen once more.

Apparently one of our neighbours wanted a higher fence around the garden. As she happened to be in garden, we thought we’d best tackle the problem. At this stage, higher fences could be put up. She’s terribly put out that she can now see from her conservatory, where she spends a lot of time, across our garden into the kitchen of the neighbour on the other side. We assured her we would be happy to put up higher fences – we like privacy too - however, we thought it was only fair that she should contribute to the cost as the fences are joint responsibility. If we’re doing all the paying, we’re putting up the fence as we planned & lower fences cost less. They would be no lower than the present fences & we would be planting trees/shrubs which would in future give privacy. She said she couldn’t afford to contribute to the fencing. She then went on about how exposed she will be when she has her hot tub put in her garden to which my reaction is that if she can afford a hot tub she can afford to pay for the fence. As it is we’re not charging her as it is for our benefit to have solid consistent fencing around the whole garden.

Once more disgruntled, as well as drained, we set off to Ricky’s Cantonese restaurant. The idea of cooking was beyond us. The food was good. We came back in better mood, if really tired. It was an early night for me.

 I’m not sure I’m going to be able to cope with many more days like yesterday. Thank goodness today the workmen will not be coming. Admittedly I can see I will have to spend it doing the washing as the weekend is the only time I can put it outside to dry until the garden is done. I can see it’s going to be a long 4-6 weeks, the length of time it will take for the job to be completed.

I can also see Monday will start with a discussion over these costs. There’s got to be a good reason before we’re prepared to find so much extra money.