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.
