Month: November 2019

Revolucion de Cuba, Birmingham

Pub #2380:

I was out of place but I went with the kids from work for some beverages after the Xmas do.  The first place wouldn’t accommodate the group for some reason so we wandered over to the Batista themed rum bar across the way.  I really had my doubts but there were two-for-one cocktails on and I went two rounds of dark and stormy with a chatty guy from another group until I was left out of the conversations.

That, as you might imagine, was a blessing…I’m about the same age as most of their grandparents and even if THEY had tagged along I doubt we would have had any shared experiences.  I said my adios-es and headed back into the very un-tropical night.

The Canal House, Birmingham

Pub #2379:

I might never have gone in the Canal House except that the work Christmas do was there Friday afternoon.  The meal was good enough and the company was affable…I pity anyone who doesn’t have this at their jobs.

Had pilsner with my starter and main (smoked salmon, turkey) then splurged on some port with my cheese board at the end.  Felt like I had really gone overboard with the outlay then got a text that the annual payout from a patent had just come through…found money, spend it quickly!

The Red Lion, West Bromwich

Pub #2378:

Before the rain set in I needed my Holiday Run Streak mileage and to shop for Thanksgiving feasting.  Along the route, I was confronted by these lions:

The Red Lion has a bar but it is definitely less pub than Indian restaurant.  The menu looks grand.  The footie on tele was some third rate league match from Spain.

With thick Black Country accents, my two compatriots got into a lively discussion about George Galloway, the independent candidate for Parliament.  Didn’t get a word but I think I registered approval from one of them.

Also spotted on the run…a cemetery, a few large churches, and a giant Tesco.  Laden with booze and a massive turkey crown, I trudged home in the ever increasing rainfall.

New House Day 10: Moving day…house becomes home

 

“What kind of house is this,” he said
“Where I have come to roam?”
“It’s not a house,” says Judas Priest
“It’s not a house, it’s a home”
—Bob, of course, and we take the term “a home” in both contexts

This whole thing has been strange.  That first evening when we were standing around the place deciding what to do on Day 0 (god…was that just a week and a half ago?), Jackie reached up and scratched a hole in a corner of some wallpaper then ripped a shred from it.  Later, we both admitted that a terrible feeling of, “should we be doing this?” ran through our heads.  We own the motherfucker…but it still seemed like nowt but a rental.

Then, there was all the work.  It was all too much to do and we set an ambitious and unattainable schedule with the goal of getting the bedrooms and living room painted and plastered and the other ceilings ready for plastering.  We completed all that and a bit more:

Day 0: Take possession, inspect/plan (DB 4 hours, J 2)
Day 1: Wallpaper, initial carpet removal prep (DB, J 10 each))
Day 2: Wallpaper continues, sanding and washing walls for paint DB, J 10 each)
Day 3: Locksmithing and painting (DB, J 8 hours each)
Day 4: Painting, wash ceilings,intercom repair, J met movers at old shack (DB 8, J 6)
Day 5: Painting, plaster ‘key’ coat (DB 11 hours, J 6 + half day NHS)
Day 6: Plastering ceilings in 2 bedrooms (DB 10, J at NHS)
Day 7: Plaster ceiling in living room, last of stairwell wallpaper, paint cutting in (DB 14, J 3 after full day NHS)
Day 8: Packing the move at old house (DB, J 10 each — not including what we’ve piddled with for weeks)
Day 9: First ceiling sandings, paint touch up, carpet removal, bath fixtures, clean up ahead of moving day (DB, J 10 each)
Day 10: Moving, unpacking (DB, J 12 each)
-> Total man hours moving house to home: 184 — equivalent of 4.9 work weeks at 37.5 hours per week not including the time and noble efforts of our three removals guys, today.

Now, surrounded by boxes in our own place it is finally beginning to sink in.  We’re home.

New House Day 9: Preparing for landing

Spent 3 hours sanding the newly plastered ceilings while J touched up the walls until she ran out of paint.  The selfie is an hour into the dusting…a right fit Poppin’ Fresh Pillsbury Doughboy by the end of the effort.  I originally mixed the plaster slightly thin to make it easier for me to spread (since I’m no professional);  so, there’s a bit of residual moisture in the air even after the formation of the crystal lattice…the dehumidifier started at 80% RH:

There’s still a lot to do.  The floors will be grand once sanded and refinished in the spring and the rest of the Artex will get mudded over the Christmas break and into January.  The box room (a tiny 3rd bedroom) will become the bath and the bath we currently have downstairs will become a laundry/storage room with a WC at the back.  The kitchen will get a complete makeover when our funds recover from the other efforts.

But, we are ready to move.  One more night in the rental.  Here’s the obligatory photos:

Bedroom 1, above, and bedroom 2 with the painted and unpainted portions of the wood floors now exposed.

The dining area and the kitchen leading to the bath in the background:

And, from the dining area looking toward the living room and stairs:

Finally, the living room.  Yes, there is no colour on our walls.  We want to live in this a few months and decide how the light hits and what will suit us and white glove will be easy to cover when we make that decision:

 

New House Day 8: Old house

9 hours into packing for the Monday move Jackie’s mobile music collection prophetically start playing “Tequila.”  She poked her head out to the conservatory where I was finishing taping the last of the garden boxes and pantomimed a person taking a shot….

I cut the only lime in the house and poured the first of a few shots of agave.  Sublime.  Speaking of Sublime, Santeria was the next song up.

We spent the day packing.  A nice break from the construction work at the new digs (and scheduled as such and on time and under budget, so far) we still feel weirdly like none of it is real.  Very odd for people who have moved house together (forget our transient lives before hooking up…TOGETHER!) 20 previous times including (with one or more cats) 3 transatlantic shifts and one from Athens Georgia to Tucson Arizona (nearly as far and involving a van towing our car and all our shit).

We’re pros.  But, this is still new territory.  Final pre-move efforts on the West Brom end, tomorrow.

New House Day 7: More working at height

Christ, will it never end?  I got to the house at 7:30 and plastered till noon:30.  Not enough left to do the dining room and the effort from yesterday still drying (and my ancient pitching arm aching all-to-be-damned) I went to the Aldi and gathered some supper gear then built a platform in the stairwell to finish the wallpaper removal.  Jackie arrived at 6:30 and we dined under my freshest plaster then painted, painted, paineted.

This is fucking murder.  It’s Friday and we move in Monday…stay focused.

 

The Ridgeacre, West Bromwich

Pub #2377:

Thursday lunch…beaten down by plastering a ceiling for four hours.  Walked a bit and found the Ridgeacre which seemed a safe food bet until I saw this sign:

 

So, I was led to a seat and someone came and took my order.  Weird for a place with a substandard menu with over the odds prices.  The burger would have been okay if not polluted with some sort of pinkish orange sauce that I had to scrape off at the loss of the iceberg lettuce slice (big loss indeed) that separated it from the rest of the sandwich.

The Hobgoblin was okay.  Oh, well…back to the job at hand.

Carters Green Fish Bar, West Bromwich

Falling behind the posts with these 14-16 our refurbishment days.  Picked up two more cans of paint Wednesday  (Day 5) and stopped in the Carters Green Fish Bar for a lunch snack.  Asked the guy for a medium fish and chips and the guy waiting for his order, another Asian kid,  turned and smiled broadly saying, “good choice…it’s what I’m having.”

Walked back to the work site and had to agree…good choice.