And it's 350kms back from Ballyferriter

We are woken by bright sunshine and Michael asks how many times during the night did we hear rain. Personally, I slept straight through but himself and Peter compare notes – men of a certain age I think.

Peter produces an impressive full Irish breakfast which sets us up nicely for the return journey.  My turn on the drive is at the start as we cruise across the Dingle peninsula and towards the M7. The weather is brilliant and the views are breathtaking.

We repeat our pit stop at the Obama services which this time is heaving with an inordinate number of unhealthy looking people leaving Peter to compare it to a hospital canteen. We can’t help wondering if there is a correlation between the food outlets in motorway services and the unhealthy people.

We arrive back at 188 to a very disappointing scene. Somehow and we don’t know how the workmen thought we’d not be back until Monday. It could have been worst; they could have been sleeping in our bed but what we were met with was all their work tools in the very spot that the beds we brought up from Ballyf were going.

We were all pretty annoyed - well not Michael obviously. I shall be sharing my view with Robert from Odyssey who is now coming first thing Monday morning to talk it through with me. I texted him a photo and shared my thoughts with him. Major black mark for not calling me up there and then to apologize.

You'll need to tune in tomorrow to find out how the conversation went and in fact who did all the talking. Peter is putting his money on me....

In the meantime I am off to make up my bed in the spare bedroom where I'll just be sleeping tonight in the company of a hand basin, toilet (sadly not connected to anything) and numerous other bathroom fittings.

Peter and Michael headed off for the airport with Michael taking back the van. First reports is that Hertz have not spotted the scrap over the wheel arch, but I feel with a bit of daylight to see it all more clearly they might just spot it.

Its 350Km to Ballyferriter

With most of the van packed up the previous night, we got up at a leisurely 7am to take down our bed which is going down to Ballyferriter to form a proper guest bedroom.

Within minutes we have an "oh darn" moment when we realize that we need a spanner to dismantle the bed and yup you guessed it, we didn’t have one. Within minutes the day is saved by our Moldovan tiler when he arrives at 8am and has the necessary spanner in his tool box.

Bed in the van along with half of IKEA we hit the road. 2 hours later we have a pit stop at the Barack

Obama Services on the M7. Yes, you’ve read that right.

The service station is in Moneygall, the ancestry home of Barack, who’d have guessed. 

This is a photo of himself and Michael in the Obama services with our van, clearly the side that had not been hit. 

Himself being Peter and not Barack, but you’ll spot that.

We are sharing the driving, doing an hour & half each and the roads are quiet as you can see from the photo. Michael was particularly encouraged by this as he says Ann does not like travelling on busy

motorways. Bear in mind that this is a Saturday of half term!

We arrive at the house by 2pm, unload and within moments we get visitors. AM arrives from over the hill to see how we are getting on and then the daughter of the man who built our house pops in with an apple tart to welcome us. 

We find out that the house has a name, Carrigeen. Once we know how to pronounce it properly we will use it. Until then it will be known as Ballyf.

The village of Ballyferriter is 500m from the house and home to four pubs. You might be surprised to hear that as yet we’ve not frequented the establishments. We thought there’s no better time then now to make a visit. Off to Murphys we go for a lovely evening with a warm fire, excellent ales and delicious meals.

Suffice to say that by the time we are back at the gaff we are all a little whacked but that doesn't stop the DIY from tackling a shelf system for the shower room. While I keep up to date with the New Zealand v Ireland rugby match in Chicago. A fair split of tasks I feel.

BTW for those of you who missed the news, Ireland did beat NZ.

Hire a van, what could go wrong

Michael arrives on Friday, finds his way to 188 easily. We head down to Mayfield restaurant for a breakfast/brunch, which also has the added attraction of using their toilet. In fact, the day is pretty much dominated by where we can use a toilet which means we end up going to the pub next doors several times that day to use their toilet – honestly.

The plus side is that we end the day with a working toilet but the more challenging aspect is that there is no door on the room! Michael suggests that we sing whilst on the toilet.

On Friday evening Michael & I decide to take a chance and head to the airport before Peter’s flight arrives to pick up the van. Our thinking is that we could save 20 minutes or so by doing this, then meet him at arrivals and if all goes well we’d be back at 188 by 9pm.

What could possibly go wrong… We got to the airport and headed to the Hertz depot. At the desk they advised us that no insurance had been taken out on the van.  I decided to take a chance and buy that insurance even though it was going to cost 40Euros and I was sure we already had it, but sure why take the chance.

Our van is a Ford Transit and close inspection shows there are quite a few dents and knocks on it. I opt to drive it up to the arrivals carpark.  Michael helps me maneuver it out of the space and we head up the ¼ mile to the arrivals carpark. Have you ever notice how tight the entrances and spaces are in airport carparks… ? I ask because I can now tell you that they are quite tight. This is a photo of the van before we picked it up.

We enter the car park and are not quite up to the first level of the carpark when we scrap a wall! I say we but since I was driving… Yup we didn’t even get out of the airport before that extra insurance I took out was needed. I could tell you that the first words I spoke after scraping the wall was oh golly gosh but it was more like F***, The kind of language if spoken on the TV the announcer’s apologies for.

Anyway what can you do, nothing except try and find a car space, get the van into it without hitting anything else! Peter arrives about 5 minutes after we park up and we head back to 188, load up all the stuff into the van and pour a few large drinks.

Friday.... Yeah

It's Friday 4th November and the fourth day of the project. So far this morning there is only person here finishing up the tiling in the bathroom. He seems to be doing a very nice job, although how do

you know.

Still without a shower so I headed off to the David Lloyd club here in Dublin to shower last night. What a joy.
I thought about staying to have something to eat but since it looked like the same food served up in the UK I thought I'd not bother.
I had a fish pie in the freezer that I could cook anyway.
What I failed to notice on the cooking instructions was that the fish pie needed to be defrosted before cooking... sigh.

Finally about 9pm got to make myself scrambled eggs on toast and watched The Apprentice.

I think between the absolutely thick people on The Apprentice and the vile reaction to the judges ruling about Brexit I am slowly losing the will to live. How did we get ourselves here and OMG it could get worse within a week.

So makes my bathroom concerns seem small in the grand scale of life. Speaking of concerns this is

my toilet for the night, I left the bucket out of the photo - I think you've got the story by now.

Life is going to get dramatically better today because firstly Michael has flown in from Bradford. I've already had a text from him to say he has landed. I replied saying have a wee at the Burlington before you come up here! Then Peter is flying in from London this evening and then we rent our van to load up and drive to Ballyferriter.

The next post maybe from Ballyferriter,

A little update

I had not expected to be saying anymore about our bathroom refurbishment today, as I thought I had a grip on it all and know the landscape.

Then we got a delivery.... and now am hoping that Michael will be bringing his own bed and maybe a tent!

All the fittings needed for the two rooms have arrived, toilets, rails, showers etc and they've all been put into the spare bedroom.

And I am still waiting for the TV cabinet from Swoon which is coming from DHL and how that will come in through the front door is anyone's guess.

Where's that crane when you need it.

More musing of refurbishing a bathroom

Thursday 3rd and I need to set the alarm for 6,30am because the two Moldovan tilers were arriving at 8am. I need the chance to have two coffee and a wee with my bucket before they turned up. I am now thinking that I will need a holiday after these 10 days.

Apart from the obvious worries of where & when can I go to the toilet, my main concerns today are, in no particular order - how can I get the spare bedroom from being a storage area into a guest
bedroom for Michael who is arriving in 24 hours - will we have a working toilet - will the Swoon furniture delivery arrive and how will we get it into the flat with the hallway blocked with boxes of tiles.

That's our shower tray on the right of the photo if anyone is interested in looking that closely.

I know small worries when within a week we might have Donald Trump as US president.

Met with Robert - co-owner of the bathroom place and share with him my concerns...his first thought must have been oh la la glad I am not married to this one. Seriously though he is so far and I hope I don't have to eat my words, is very good to deal with. Fun, engaging with a sense of humour.

The plan is that the tilers will finish tiling the bathroom today which will allow a fully working toilet to be installed by the end of Friday. Michael it is safe to come over but just expect a shower :)

They'll be working Saturday which means that it's going to be an early start for the Ballyferriter Road Trip.

Day two of the bathroom refurbishment

Recovering from a highly productive visit to Ikea I was out for the count when the alarm went off this morning at 7am. Coffee was barely drunk when Sergio knocks on the door at 8.15am to get started. He is the Lithuanian plumber and his job is to sort out the pipework.

Today however is mainly tiles and tiling which means that half of the boxes narrowing the hallway will be gone. Interesting and possibly boring fact is that they are tiling the whole room before they put in the fittings and we are very happy about that.  I am also able to decide how many shelves I would like and am like a child in a sweet shop.

No sign of the new bath, did I tell you about the upla moment yesterday? The bath turns up and we all stand with our hands on hips admiring it. Sergio asks me where I'd like the taps, I say half way down the side. We are all happy.

What he omitted to do is tell Davis who does what he does best, gets on with any job in hand and proceeds to drill holes in the bath where he thinks the taps will go - at the top. I only know about this when there's a knock on the door and Sergio says "umm, we have an issue with the bath".

Well what could I say when I saw where Davis has drilled the hole, but say sorry that's not going to work, we agreed the taps on the side. That was yesterday and so far today Davis has not turned up for work....

Today should be even more exciting in that I am expecting a delivery from Ikea of two Billy bookcases + two armchairs & a foot stool plus some boxes from the UK of "stuff". How easily one is excited these days, I remember when it used to be booking exotic holidays abroad that got my juices going.

For elevens I made them coffee and gave them the cake. I didn't bother to ask if they wanted any, cos I figured that they are being polite by saying no and at this rate I'll be taking the cake home. Smiles all round when the plate came back empty.

By mid morning the electrician arrived to install the wiring for the underfloor heating. I know, so far the temperature in the flat without the heating on has never fallen below 18degrees but we felt that need to prepare for the arctic conditions and install underfloor heating. Also they started to take out the fittings in the en-suite which means that & I'll cross my legs as I write this, we have no toilet in the flat!

Tiles have gone onto one of the walls, the rubbish is slowing moving out of the guest room into the skip and the en-suite is empty. Except and most importantly for a toilet although I have to flush it with a bucket of water no less! So a good day all round.

Oh and we have a bath but Sergio says not to use it as it is not plumbed in. Sergio has very quickly become my new best friend, clearly won over by my amazing cake baking skills. He helped me lift in the two armchairs from the corridor that the IKEA delivery men left out there.
Also helped me dispose of the humongous cardboard boxes that they came in and even filled up the bucket of water that I would use to flush the toilet.


Finished up the day by attending an author event in Dubray Books in Grafton Street to meet up with Jess Kidd - author of Himself, you should read it, it is excellent. We then went for a bite to eat and a glass of wine, first author event I've attended since leaving the bookshop. It was fun, I think I now get why they are so popular when you are a punter.

Early night as the tiler want to start at 8am! In his broken english - he is from Moldova - he try to persuade me that it really would be 9am if the clocks had not gone back. Picture the scene my friends, a Moldovan with broken English trying to make a joke in Ireland...

Day One of bathroom refurbishment

It's Tuesday 1st November and as promised Richard from Odyssey Bathrooms arrives to "walk me through the project". Slightly concerned in that he thought I was heading off on holidays to arrive back when the work was finished but I assured him I'd be here through the whole process.

Davis aka the Polish plumber turned up, so I feel in safe hands. Although not sure there was a need for the crane to take away the bath!

On a more serious note the crane is here to help reload the fountain that on the grass area between the blocks. One fountain has been working fine and the other one is out of action. It turns on every morning at 8.48 and within seconds you hear a little trickle of water. If you are still in bed this helps wake you and you suddenly feel the need for a wee.

I wrote to all our neighbours to alert them to the potential banging and noise so it was no surprise when Joe - next door neighbour with a heavily pregnant wife called to check if it was going on all day. She is due next week and was home for a rest... she headed off out, over to her Mum's to sleep. He was pretty chill about it all, glad I alerted them in advance about the work - he didn't want cake though = black mark.

And by lunchtime Polish Dave has created an empty bathroom... and a mess in the guest bedroom. Does he not know that Michael is turning up on Friday.

The skip is arriving tomorrow so more fun. Thankfully I think the crane will be gone by then, on the other hand it could have come in handy.

And herself is off to Dublin

It’s Sunday evening, 30^th October, the clocks have gone back and so herself heads off to Dublin. On Tuesday 1^st the refurbishment of the shower room & bathroom at 188 is due to start. It’s with trepidation that I manage this work as it is first time we’ve worked with Irish workmen… will they revival their French counterparts we wonder & we hope not.  Where’s a Polish plumber when you need it.

PHOTO OF AIRPORT Anyone would think no one wants to leave the UK but just turns out that I am just first to the gate. In fact, it’s more likely to be a photo of the arrivals terminal after Brexit. Although the flight is nicely quiet and we get a quick run over Wales and land in Dublin at 8pm. Am settling into the flat by 9pm so not bad at all.

There are lots of upsides to having a great night’s sleep, feeling fresh, lots of energy, no hangover but on a bank holiday Monday there is not a lot of point being bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7am.  Still I thought I could do the food shopping early particular since the Tesco.ie website said they opened at 9am. So, me along with a little trickle of people are standing outside the supermarket only be told that they’ll open at 10am. Being Ireland, everyone just shrugs their shoulders and say ah sure that’s ok and walks off.

One of the reasons I travelled on the Sunday night was to enable me to use my free tickets to the Irish Ideal Home Exhibition at the famous RDS.  To say it was a damp squid is a bit of an understatement. If I tell you that a company selling a service to whitening your teeth had not one but two stalls which were both full! If I could have taken a photo of the 5 eejits on each stand getting their teeth lasers I would.  

40 minutes later I am on my way to Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt to buy the bedding needed for the guest room. Excitement at 188 as we have a guest staying on Friday night and then some friends borrowing the place the following weekend = enough of a spend in Dunnes for the guy behind the till to sign me up for their loyalty card scheme.

Back at the gaff to empty out the bathroom & shower room, make up the bedrooms and generally get ready for 10 days of mess, including baking a cake for the workmen - they better be worth it.

All in five months or less

Well things have really been on the move since the last posting in May.

The flat has been decorated and re-carpeted and we are awaiting a few bits of furniture to be delivered to make it really feel like ours.

We have also installed the Hive central heating control so we can operate the system from wherever we are.

And there is more - next week the bathroom and en-suite shower are to get a good going over. We hope they will emerge as elegant and pleasant places  to do the necessaries. More on this in a wee while.

And then there is the result of our holiday trip on the Dingle Peninsula in July, a replacement for the holiday home in France, a holiday home in Ballyferriter on the peninsula.

More on this soon as well.
Cheers