The Utidly

In my post for the first half of March I recounted that we had fitted Flotex flooring to both Erica and Bertie. It was as I measured up for Bertie that it occurred to me that if we positioned the pattern pieces appropriately, we would have enough of the flooring left* to do our utidly** room.

The flooring was duly fitted and for the next few days there was an exclamation of 'oooh!' every time one of us set foot in that room. That led me to wonder for exactly how long we had lived with a bare concrete floor, which led me to search through old photo files. The answer surprised me. 

When we moved into this house the utidly room was a single-skin (attached) outbuilding that had been added to the house in the 1980s. It had a row of three dilapidated kitchen cupboards at one end and had brown carpet tiles on the floor. It soon became apparent that we needed some insulation in there and, in my mind, we bought and fitted that insulation not long after we moved in.

I was partially right. When I initially failed to find the photos I was looking for, I searched my emails and found that we had indeed bought the solid-panel insulation panels six months after we moved here, but I still couldn't find the photos. Eventually I searched my email archive for the window we had bought for the refit. Goodness! Did we really live here for 2.5 years with insulation board leaning against the walls, waiting for us to build some stud walling, insulate and plaster, then fit it out with cabinets and work surface? Apparently we did.

Here's the story of that room in photos:

1) The day that we finally started the refit. What a mess! What a dumping ground! At this end of the room, along with the dilapidated cupboards, we have some makeshift shelves containing mainly buckets and stacks of sweet tins (used to store dehydrated meals when preparing for backpacking trips), two dehydrators, a  book case and a spare freezer. Note the insulation boards just stood against the walls.

Note also the brown carpet tiles on the floor. Feel free to insult those tiles, but be aware that we still have the same flooring in our kitchen. It's simultaneously hideously dated and fantastically practical. 

2) The other end of the room on the day we started the refit. The freezer seen in the snap above is also visible in this one, along with a fridge freezer and another fridge and another freezer. Bit excessive?! You may also notice there are two vacuum cleaners. Then there's the dresser (on which sits the microwave and breadmaker). In 1996, upon moving into a shared house, I found this dresser sitting on a landing waiting to go to the tip. I asked if I could have it and it moved house with me seven times (with two of its legs falling off every time it was lifted) before this refit finally consigned it to the destination for which it was intended in 1996, after a reprieve of some 19 years. 

3) Studwork built and insulation going in. 

4) Plasterboard going up

5) Cupboard building

6) Cupboard fitting

7) Door removal

8) Window fitting

9) Nearly there...

10) All of the photos above were taken in June 2015. Fast forward to 16 March 2021 when I took these snaps immediately before we started cutting the Flotex. Yep, that floor had looked like that for the entire 5.5 years. We had talked about flooring back in 2015, but figured we may as well wait until we refitted the kitchen, then we could make the two match. The only downfall in this plan was that whilst our kitchen is dated, there's nothing wrong with it. There's no other design that would work in the space and the cupboards are of good quality with solid oak doors, so why refit it just for the sake of it?

11)  Later on 16 March 2021:

Much more visually pleasing and, of course, so much nicer underfoot. 

Just think: if Coronavirus hadn't kept us confined to home last year we wouldn't have fitted out a campervan, and would not have found ourselves finally carpeting our utidly room (the two events being directly linked). How much longer would we have lived with a bare floor in the absence of Covid?

Now that the floor is sorted, I wonder what will provoke me into finally doing something with the bare plaster board?

(*Had six months not passed since I'd ordered the flooring, I might have been able to remember whether I simply mismeasured/miscalculated when I ordered or whether 2x2m roll-ends plus carriage was more or less the same price as 1x5m roll-end, but either way it was a bonus that we found ourselves with 0.9m x 3.1m left over, which is exactly what we needed for the utidly.

**I believe it was a friend's daughter who in her childhood mispronounced 'utility' and is the basis for our such room being referred to by the name 'utidly')

Snippets from March - Part 1

1 March

It was time for Phase 2 of Project Go Blue. When the dye failed to alter the colour of my hair the previous week I decided the only way I could achieve blue hair was to bleach it first, so I ordered the necessary supplies and turned our bathroom into a hair salon for the second time. This is how it went:

The bottom right is not blue dye but the 'anti-brassiness' conditioner that concludes the bleaching process.

Hmmm. Rather more yellow/orangish than the 'before' and 'after' comparisons shown on the box for my starting hair colour. I could probably have immediately gone in with the blue dye, but decided to stick with the yellow look for a few days first.

6 March

Not a single snap was taken 2-5 March, but on the 6th two things happened:

1) Mick & I started the day with a 16.5-mile run/walk. This time it wasn't frozen ground that made the cross-country portions tolerable (although it was a cold start to the day), but the fact that we'd not had a drop of rain during the preceding week, causing the mud to firm up to acceptable levels. 

2) I embarked on Phase 3 of Project Go Blue. On the plus side, the dye did take this time. Also on the plus side, I learnt quite a bit about dying hair (not that I've any intention of applying that new knowledge in the future!). On the downside, the learning experience came from having made a really bad job of the process. The result was a declaration that I would be wearing a hat for the next few weeks.

Top: Dye applied, waiting for 30 minutes. Bottom: after, sporting various shades of mottled blue. 

As a random bit of trivia, this day was the first time since the end of May 2019 that I used shampoo on my hair. Thanks to a continued use of shampoo over the next few days, the dye (which was only semi-permanent) soon started to fade and is now barely noticeable.

9 March

I didn't recognise this view and had to take a look at my running log to see where I'd been that day. The answer was that I did hill reps, and this view is at the top of the hill. When I say 'hill' this is the biggest incline we have nearby and it amounts to just under 20m of ascent in around 200m of linear distance. Perhaps I don't usually look at the view looking right from the top because I'm too busy gasping?

Later in the day we tackled a task that was long overdue. Back in early November I bought some Flotex flooring for Erica, but by the time it arrived we had decamped to Halifax to look after Ma-in-Law. We did spend some time at home in December and had plenty of time in January and February, but the weather was either really cold or wet (or sometimes both) and neither condition was conducive to spending time outside nor traipsing in and out of the house. Finally on 9 March I decided the roll of carpet had sat in the dining room for long enough:

Template for the cab made and traced around (the rear was simple enough not to need a template)

Cutting

Ta da! After 6 months of bare OSB in the back, and bare car-floor in the front, I was mightily pleased with the end result:

12 March

Forgot to take a snap before I'd cut it up and we'd eaten some of it

Looks a nice frosted chocolate cake, doesn't it? For the fat ingredient it contains a whole avocado. For the sweetness it contains bananas. The main ingredient in the frosting is tofu. Yep, this is the most ridiculously healthy 'chocolate cake'. "Tastes a bit odd, don't you think?" was Mick's opinion on the first day. On the second day he requested a different dessert. I've been ploughing on through it and think it has improved with age. 

13 March

The water in the ponds is dropping but very slowly. After two largely-dry weeks it was still completely covering the path, which lies just in front of the sign and the trees. 

You may notice it's a bit choppy. I'd switched Saturday's run and Sunday's walk in view of the strong winds and forecast rain. About ten minutes after I took this snap I got caught in comedy wind-driven rain.

14 March

A much nicer morning! Mick and I set out together, but about 2 minutes later I bade him farewell and broke into a trot. We were both to be covering 16.8 miles, but at different speeds and on slightly different routes (in view of Mick's history of injury, he's taking a conservative walk/run approach). 

About 12.75 miles through my route I saw someone up ahead, but it wasn't until about a quarter of a mile later that I realised it was Mick. Having caught up with him, I walked a bit I should have been running, then he ran a bit he should have been walking and thus we spent about five minutes together before I went on ahead, just before where I was going to veer back off his route anyway. It was nice to have an unexpected bit of company (unexpected because I'd not considered distances, relative speeds and the possibility of bumping into each other).

15 March

Bertie's turn for new carpet! We'd bought enough Flotex to do both Erica and Bertie, as it seemed unfair for Erica to get a shiny new floor and Bertie to be left with mis-matched old cheap scraps. I'm rather impressed with the job we did in Bertie too. Here are the 'after' snaps:

I failed to take any before photos and have had to search at length to find some old snaps that show bits of the floor:

The cheap beige runner that we put in the kitchen as a temporary measure in the spring of 2017. This snap was taken before the Hymer dealer spilt some glue on it (about which we didn't make a fuss because it was a temporary £7 runner that was certainly not still going to be in place 4 years later...)

The blue Flotex that lined the cab and of which we had a couple of loose squares in the living area (not sure where they were when this snap was taken). 

 

 

 

 

An Anniversary

A year ago today (14 March 2020), I stepped out of Bertie's door just across the road from the beach at Castellón and set out for a run with every expectation that when I returned, and after we'd had breakfast, we would tootle up the coast to Peñiscola and book into a campsite. We had decided that a campsite would be a good place to be whilst we observed what the next development would be with this virus that was sweeping across the world.

Things developed in Spain with remarkable rapidity, and by the time we pulled out of Bertie's parking spot after breakfast it wasn't towards Peñiscola that we headed, but to the UK. As we drove across Spain the country announced a strict lockdown. We reached France that day and by the time we boarded our Eurotunnel shuttle on the Tuesday morning, the start of their own lockdown was a couple of hours away. We arrived home later that same day. 

Twelve whole months have now passed. The weeks within those months have generally gone fast, yet some of the days have passed excruciatingly slowly. I think we can safely say that few people foresaw how these twelve months would look.

Bertie is, of course, still sitting patiently waiting to take us somewhere on an adventure, as is Erica. Hopefully it's not going to be too long now before one of them gets their wish. 

 

 

Snippets from February - Part 2

Here we go with the occurrences of the second half of February, most of which were entirely mundane and feature much repetition from my last three posts, although (as I alluded to in my last post) there was a novel occurrence on 26 February.

16 February

The water in the ponds had continued to rise, whilst it was falling everywhere else locally. On 4 February it had been lapping the very front of the litter bin. Twelve days later the bin was in the water. It wasn't done with rising yet either.

17 February

Just another local view. I think I took this one not just because of the blue in the sky, but to show how the field was greening up again for the new season.

21 February

Gosh, four days without a photo. That's unusual! On this day we were up with Ma-in-Law again and grabbed the rare lawful/Government-approved opportunity to get some ascent and descent into our lives, by conducting a 12-mile circuit around Oxenhope and Ovenden Moors. At the top of the moor, on a road that exhibited the worse display of fly-tipping and general littering that I've seen since we walked through Kent in 2010 (and possibly even worse than we encountered then), we suffered a biting wind, but otherwise the weather was overcast but benign.

23 February

The water level in the local pond peaked. Remember back in early January when the water was well behind the post that holds two signs (one half way up its shaft, one at the top)? Now the lower sign on that post was almost completely covered and the water had encroached on the car park (which has been closed ever since). I've seen the water covering the path before, but never high enough to reach the car park. Definitely a wet start to the year!

25 February

A dental appointment in the morning (attempt 2 at the filling I'd had replaced the previous week but had broken again within hours) caused me to have a late run that day. I recall some prolonged dithering over where to go, so as to avoid the people who would be out and about in the more popular places on a lovely sunny afternoon. Apparently I opted for a circuit involving a track and the canal, with an out-and-back down a tiny dead-end lane that doesn't see much traffic.

26 February

On my way between dentist and car the previous day, I'd popped into Wilko to pick up a couple of things. Whilst there I got sidetracked by hair dye. Last spring I'd said that if there was ever a time to dye my hair blue, then lockdown was it. With lockdown now threatening to come to a final end, it was time to bite the bullet. Arriving home with the box of dye, Mick expressed surprise and didn't seem to be entirely on-board with my proposed change of appearance. Nevertheless, he gamely helped me with the dying process and was undoubtedly happy with the end result:

During

After

What a disappointment! Not even a hint of granny's blue rinse, never mind the vibrant blue that was promised on the box. This is not the end of this story, but Phase 2 of Project Go Blue didn't occur until the calendar rolled over to March.

27 February

A frosty and misty start to my run, accompanied by Mick until the second bridge on the canal, whereupon he peeled off homewards and I continued on. The mist slowly burnt off, leaving me with a gorgeous (if still cold) day. 

28 February

Another Sunday, another walk with Mick, this time a 7.5-mile circuit that I only did once (didn't want to overdo it after my 15-mile run the day before), but Mick did twice, nipping home with me between laps, where he stood on the door mat to slam down a sandwich and a glass of water before heading off again.

Snippets from February - Part 1

Let's have a tootle through the events of February. I bet no-one can guess what's coming on 26 February...

1 February

Some considerable time after asking my friend Vic for the recipe, I finally made my first ever batch of Welsh Cakes. I decided early last year (with a batch she'd made for me) that they make an excellent food substance to take on long runs. I didn't quite get the pan temperature right in the cooking (hence some were a bit dark) but I've practised again since.

3 February

We finally finished the Harvey's map jigsaw of the Peak District, a couple of years after it was started, albeit it did spend around 23 months of that time sitting under our bed:

4 February

In 'Snippets from January - Part 1', for 7 January, I posted this snap:

See how the water is sitting well behind the sign post (almost out of shot on the far right), which has two signs attached to it - one half way up its shaft and one at the top? Even though water levels had in general dropped by early February, our local ponds were still filling such that on this day the water had reached part way up the lower sign, and was just lapping against the litter bin:

6 February

For this day's run, mud ruled out any off-road routes (including the canal) and fog ruled out roads without pavements. The resultant route was made up as I went and took me along roads I'd not before visited, in a nearby village. As a bonus, the road that took me there (which does have a narrow pavement along one side) was closed to traffic, so I was able to puddle-dodge by running down the middle of the road. 

Road closure, but being a weekend there was no-one working

River level had fallen significantly from the preceding weeks, but still relatively high and muddy

10 February

A gloriously sunny day, but slippery underfoot conditions with another fresh sprinkling of snow lying.

11 February

What a lovely sky we had again on this day, but my goodness, that easterly wind was biting on the return leg of that morning's run!

13 February

In December I joined Carla Molinaro's on-line Strength, Yoga and Conditioning for Runner's group and in February she set us the Challenge of running to the points that lay 2 miles north, south, east and west of where we lived. There was no need to do all 4 points in one go, but I chose to do so.

It was a memorable run for the fact that I lost the feeling in my hands after 10 miles. I'd turned east, into the wind, at that point and when I got home and looked at the weather I found that it had been -4 degrees with a -12 windchill, so perhaps it's no surprise that I never got warm (and I was bundled up, including gloves). Impressively (I thought), my Smelly Helly base layer, which are renowned for stinking if you so much as think of breaking into a sweat, smelt as fresh at the end as it had when I'd gone out. 

The other benefit of the temperature was that all mud was frozen solid. 'Thistle Field' was in a hideous state of frozen ruts, across which I had to pick my way slowly, but it was still an improvement on wet ruts! 

This is 'South'. The other points were all roads.

Gloriously frozen mud

(This is not 'Thistle Field' which is far worse than this patch, having been churned up by cattle and tractors rather than feet)

14 February

Mick and I went for a walk! A 10.8-mile route, pretty much the same as the S, W and N compass points of yesterday's run, in weather that was similar but a bit warmer (+1, I seem to recall), but still with a brutal windchill. Even wearing my buffalo mitts (and positively marching the route, without pause) at no point did I have warm hands and the previous day's base layer still didn't have a whiff even after 25 miles of strenuous use - that's surely a record for a Smelly Helly?!

It's a pity I didn't get a snap of myself as I realised mid-walk that I was dressed for 2005, wearing a baselayer, fleece, jacket and mitts that have all been in my possession for over 15 years. Must have been good purchases! (I have re-lined the buffalo mitts, but it's still the original outers, so I don't think it counts as a Trigger's Broom sort of a claim.)