We are stardust

Time for another round up of the last five days, which have seen things move ahead again and the inside of our house looking fresher and lighter.

With the departure of the builders following completion of their reconstruction work on the bathroom and doorways and the tiling, it left the floor open for the painter to get on with his job – which was made easier when he was joined by a second pair of hands for one day only on Monday. By Wednesday the painting was almost completed, with all the radiators bar one having been sprayed, the fireplace in the dining/kitchen receding nicely into the background following its camouflage job and all the rooms except the bathroom (which Stephen has decided to do himself because, well, because he can’t not do some of it) looking spruce.

With the imminent departure of the painter, Stephen had to grab the opportunity of his scaffolding still being in situ and use it on Wednesday evening to clamber up and give the kitchen beams a good clean. Living in an older property, as we know from Ramsbottom, presents challenges that modern boxes don’t. One of them here is the issue of the ceilings in the right had section of the house, what with there not being any as these three rooms are open to the rafters. I have acquired a very long handled, telescopic brush from the ferramenta with a spider brush attached to the end (meaning it’s designed for cobweb removal, not that it’s got eight legs) which will do for general cleaning but Stephen wanted to get up and give then a good going over and see how much building dust he could find. The answer was a lot, but it was a job well done – and he still managed to get back to the Stefonis just in time for dinner.

And so it was that Thursday witnessed a departure and an arrival. Having completed the bathroom radiator in the morning, the decorator departed while the arrival was the two DVD box sets that I’d ordered from Amazon. I have, in the past, been somewhat scathing about box sets and binge wiewing (24 is a title, not an instruction). However, with holing up in our snug during the winter months being imminent and there being a problem with watching Italian TV (not lack of language skills but the trashiness of most of its offerings – Berlusconi has much to answer for) I have bitten the bullet. So what did we get? ‘Modern Family’ (never watched but everyone says it is fabulous) and ‘Two Broke Girls’ (watched some but missed lots) – and yes, they are both US sitcoms because in the depth of winter I want fun in my life…

And talking of the depths of winter, the prospect for keeping snug in the snug took a positive step forward when we, at last, had our empty gas tank filled to the brim. This morning we had a call from the deliveryman who said that he was in the area and as the weather was fine he would be able to both get down and, more importantly, get back up our road. He arrived shortly before midday and Stephen hastened to greet him and make sure everything was all right before coming back to the factory.

There was a slight hiccup, however, when it came to the payment of €72, according to Stephen – which I did think was remarkable value but as I had no real conception of how much the tank held, how was I to know. The problem was that, not expecting a delivery we hadn’t been to the hole in the wall to draw any cash so Stephen boned €100 from Remo, promising to give it him back at lunchtime. We need not have worried, however, as when the man parked up outside the factory, having filled the tank, it turned out that Stephen with his usual razor sharp grasp of numbers had omitted a 0. The cost was, in fact, €720 and not €72 as he’d said – a bit of a difference but a more realistic cost for a winter’s worth of fuel. At least we were able to pay by debit card, return the €100 to Remo and avoid falling into debt.

To celebrate the occasion, I spent a happy hour or so in the afternoon with my spider brush looking heavenward and giving the beams another good going over. Next time, though, I will wear goggles because it turns out that dust, as well as smoke, gets in your eyes.