I have had a dodgy right knee for years. I fell badly on holiday in Greece, didn’t realise the damage I had done, so didn’t see a doctor. You get used to it. But two dodgy knees; that’s a whole new experience. On Monday morning I woke up with a stiff left knee. Why on earth? I couldn’t think of anything I had done other than cycling, which the physio told me is good for knees. It has stayed fairly stiff with intermittent periods of feeling normal all week.
On Friday when I got up it was fine. Hurrah, I thought, whatever it was is sorted. A short bus ride later, and I struggled to stand to leave my seat. Eek. I had to see the GP in the evening about something else, so I asked him. The onset of osteoarthritis he reckons. This news is about as welcome as a hog roast at a vegetarian picnic.
The GP advised rest; not easy when you live on the second floor with no lift and you are up and down the stairs as often as I am. Still, I wasn’t working this weekend so there was less pounding the streets than usual. The flat was filthy. Now it’s just untidy. I think one of my many gifts is the ability to disarrange a room in minutes.
My next task was to go through all the kitchen paperwork, check if it was still what I wanted, calculate the wall cupboard lengths and send off a list of questions to the planner and the fitter. It took ages, but I was pretty pleased with myself. I am settled on my choice of wall and floor tiles, the only questions remaining are how high I want them to go, and whether to break the cream with the odd dark green one. I saw some other wall tiles that I liked, but no more than the cream ones. I calculated the cost. The cream ones would cost nearly a quarter, a quarter, of the others. It is, as people say, a no brainer. It’d be different if I absolutely loved the expensive ones, but I like them about the same as the others.
Then I found that a similar dishwasher (yes, a dishwasher! I have never had one. Do I really need one? Probably not. How decadent! Will I change my mind?), same make, same dimensions, a slightly older model is available for £200 less at another shop. Sounds good to me. Now to find out when I should arrange delivery.
The answer didn’t initially make sense to me. I have been advised to take delivery of the dishwasher and the tiles three days before the cabinets arrive. Yet I cannot believe the dishwasher will be installed, or the tiles in place, on Day One. My guess is that for the fitter and his team, they just want the whole lot there before they start. Convenient for them perhaps, not convenient for me.
I sent another email reminding the planner that I have limited space, that my neighbours will complain if I block the landing, and the reason for my questions were to minimise the time the items were sitting uninstalled.
I would call this project managing.
I should hear back from the planner tomorrow, but the fitter hasn’t replied at all which makes me rather nervous. So I hope there’s a message from him too.
The surface is not going to be the one I originally selected, and now there’s a choice to be made between two others. Definitely a further trip to the show room is needed.
Continue reading →