The Week that Nothing Worked
It was Easter weekend and lots of things were supposed to happen. By the end of the week, we were expecting the top soil to be all gone; the kerb to be lowered so we could park on our drive; and our new bed and curtains to have arrived, allowing us to move upstairs to our swanky new bedroom! Simple - except this turned out to be one of those frustrating weeks where nothing quite works out.
We commissioned a grab truck to come and remove the topsoil, however after filling up at least 10 tons the truck was full and lots of soil remained - tantalisingly out of reach of the grab arm.. So Dave got to spend another 6hours on Easter Friday shifting top soil to move the remaining load into the reach of the truck. It returned and managed to squeeze another 14 tons or so on - however that left a frustrating pile of about 2 tons that refused to fit on. The truck man charges £130 a go, and doesn't do partial loads so we are stuck with 2 tons of top soil sitting annoyingly in the space where we'd like to park our car. Anyone need any soil??..
The next day, Dave's arms got a rest and we headed to town to shop for soft furnishings for our loft in anticipation of our new ILVA bed, which was due to be delivered the following Thursday, along with our curtains. We sorted ourselves out with a new quilt, pillows, duvet covers etc and were looking forward to finally moving upstairs. Thursday came, and I sat patiently in the house waiting for our bed in our alloted 'slot' (entire day) of 8am - 6pm. This is no great hardship for a lady on maternity leave, but annoying when it's sunny outside and I could be off having Cream Tea in Writtle.. About 2pm I decided to confirm they were definetly coming, as Dave had received a garbled message from ILVA about some bedside tables not being delivered (we weren't expecting those until May, so no great surprise they weren't coming today). The lady on the phone revealled our delivery had 'disappeared' from the system and after much phoning and faffing managed to find out that our bed was damaged and wouldn't be coming after all - thanks for letting us know. and you owe me Cream Tea. She cheerfully assured me that it would arrive on April 26th instead - which coincidently is the baby's due date so maybe we'll have 2 new arrivals that day. Predictably, the curtains weren't ready on time either grrrrrr.
To add to our frustrating week, we heard from our kerb lowering man that he couldn't start work as scheduled as the permit from the council hadn't arrived in time. This was inspite of the fact that the council insisted we wait until this week to do the work since it would be Easter holidays at school and therefore would be less disruption from our traffic lights. Taking matters into my own hands (while bored sitting waiting for the bed that would never arrive) I chased up the council, who declared the permit was fine but the contractor had a problem with his lights. Either way, it wasn't going to happen.
Happily though - as I write this a week later, we are greatly inconveniencing passing moterists with our traffic lights while the kerb is being drilled up. Even better - the kerb man has agreed to shift the pesky last 2 tons of soil from our front drive! And to top off a turn in fortune - tomorrow I can pick up our new curtains. Now we just need a bed.....
We commissioned a grab truck to come and remove the topsoil, however after filling up at least 10 tons the truck was full and lots of soil remained - tantalisingly out of reach of the grab arm.. So Dave got to spend another 6hours on Easter Friday shifting top soil to move the remaining load into the reach of the truck. It returned and managed to squeeze another 14 tons or so on - however that left a frustrating pile of about 2 tons that refused to fit on. The truck man charges £130 a go, and doesn't do partial loads so we are stuck with 2 tons of top soil sitting annoyingly in the space where we'd like to park our car. Anyone need any soil??..
The next day, Dave's arms got a rest and we headed to town to shop for soft furnishings for our loft in anticipation of our new ILVA bed, which was due to be delivered the following Thursday, along with our curtains. We sorted ourselves out with a new quilt, pillows, duvet covers etc and were looking forward to finally moving upstairs. Thursday came, and I sat patiently in the house waiting for our bed in our alloted 'slot' (entire day) of 8am - 6pm. This is no great hardship for a lady on maternity leave, but annoying when it's sunny outside and I could be off having Cream Tea in Writtle.. About 2pm I decided to confirm they were definetly coming, as Dave had received a garbled message from ILVA about some bedside tables not being delivered (we weren't expecting those until May, so no great surprise they weren't coming today). The lady on the phone revealled our delivery had 'disappeared' from the system and after much phoning and faffing managed to find out that our bed was damaged and wouldn't be coming after all - thanks for letting us know. and you owe me Cream Tea. She cheerfully assured me that it would arrive on April 26th instead - which coincidently is the baby's due date so maybe we'll have 2 new arrivals that day. Predictably, the curtains weren't ready on time either grrrrrr.
To add to our frustrating week, we heard from our kerb lowering man that he couldn't start work as scheduled as the permit from the council hadn't arrived in time. This was inspite of the fact that the council insisted we wait until this week to do the work since it would be Easter holidays at school and therefore would be less disruption from our traffic lights. Taking matters into my own hands (while bored sitting waiting for the bed that would never arrive) I chased up the council, who declared the permit was fine but the contractor had a problem with his lights. Either way, it wasn't going to happen.
Happily though - as I write this a week later, we are greatly inconveniencing passing moterists with our traffic lights while the kerb is being drilled up. Even better - the kerb man has agreed to shift the pesky last 2 tons of soil from our front drive! And to top off a turn in fortune - tomorrow I can pick up our new curtains. Now we just need a bed.....
posted by Ali & Dave @ 9:28 am
3 Comments:
Good things come to those who wait..... I expect the baby has taken a leaf out of all their books and won't be in a hurry to make an appearance either!!
Not long now.
Lots of love
M & Pxx
Hi, Is it just me who doesn't know what an ILVA bed is? I will admit to not being particularly up on quality home furnishings. I'll look forward to the picture if and when it arrives!
It's like IKEA only posher and not flat packed - and they deliver (allegedly). Rest assured you still have to endure Lakeside to shop there..
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