Tag Archives: telephone

Saturday 13th May 2017 – I’M DESPERATELY DISAPPOINTED …

… about my hi-fi. 6 years in a cardboard box in a very damp and dusty environment hasn’t done it any good at all.

It’s a really expensive system too – cost me a small fortune back in the 1980s. All hi-quality Marantz stuff too. I connected it all up this afternoon and it’s crackling and popping and not doing too much in the way of sound.

I’m not sure what I can do about it. I’ll try to find some electrical contact cleaner to give everything a good going-over but I’m not too optimistic about this at all.

In other bad news, the new frying pan and small wok that I bought don’t seem to make sufficient contact on my halogen hob. It won’t detect them and so it won’t fire up. And I’m dismayed about that too.

Another thing is that the thing that I bought at IKEA to hang my curtains is the wrong thing and i’ll have to take it back.

But it’s not all bad news.

I’ve had a very productive – and successful – day. For a start, I’ve arranged for Caliburn’s Controle Technique for the end of the month.

And I enquired about a garage to service Caliburn and prepare him for his test. He told me of a place that he knew and could recommend so round there I went. I mentioned the little problem that I have with the front end and before I’d even finished describing it, he told me exactly what it was. Anyway, he’s booked in there and we’ll see if the garage proprietor can walk the walk as well as he can talk the talk.

On the way back into town, I noticed a shop that sells factory-reject and shop-soiled electrical equipment. And here I hit the jackpot. They had a new combined microwave/grill oven thing with no box and a missing grill support (but I can invent one of those anyway) for just €49:00 instead of €99:00 which it would have been had it been perfect. It didn’t take me many seconds to have it in the back of Caliburn.

It was a busy day shopping too. I now have a telephone so I might even be able receive calls if I’m not careful. As well as that, I have a nice oilcloth on top of my new table. A red strawberry and cherry design and it looks quite nice.

And while I was there I found exactly what I need for the curtains, and about a quarter of the price too. So I’ll have to measure up now and go back there next week for the stuff that I need.

still no vegan cheese in the Bio shop, but they did have vegan sausages and so for tea tonight I had a welcome variation to my diet. No tinned stuff and pasta today but microwaved potatoes, baked beans and vegan sausages. It certainly was nice too and thanks to Alison for buying me the beans when she went to the UK last winter.

And the carpet is down too. I fetched it up from Caliburn this evening and now there’s nothing left from IKEA in there (apart from the curtain rail that I intend to take back). I assembled the two chairs and finished off the big cupboard by the door too. So on Monday I can take all of the cardboard downstairs to Caliburn and take it to the dechetterie. And on the way back I can buy what I need for the curtains.

So I might have an early night tonight. It was a late night yet again last night what with one thing and another, but I did have a decent sleep – all the way right through until the alarm went off.

And tomorrow, it’s Sunday and there’s no alarm, so I might even have a lie-in just for a change.

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Friday 12th May 2017 – ONCE MORE …

… I’m stuck on the sofa unable to move.

Today has been another one of those days where I’ve worked my whatsits off.

as I mentioned last night, I had my shower and then ended up in my beautiful, comfortable, exciting bed with all of my nice, clean, new bedding. And it was so nice to be in there too – so how do you explain the 02:15 awakening and the fact that I couldn’t go back to sleep again for what seemed like hours?

Nevertheless, I had to be up and about something-like as the telephone man was due to call “sometime between 08:00 and 09:00”. And sure enough, at 08:37 (I checked the time) he turned up at the door.

We had a little difficulty with something that didn’t work quite right and it took a while to resolve the issue. But by 10:30 I had the internet and, just as soon as I can buy a telephone, I’ll have a telephone line too.

That was the cue to nip out rather smartish- like and buy a baguette before they all sold out. And then the work began. Almost everything (and certainly everything big) from IKEA came out of Caliburn and is now upstairs in the apartment. It took me quite a few trips to do it but there we are.

having done all of that I set to work to build the big cupboard that will be facing the front door. The purpose of this is to create a little alcove where one can take off one’s wet coat and shoes without traipsing all kinds of muck through the place. “Not like you!” I hear you say, but I have changed … "and about time too" – ed.

The unit wasn’t complicated to assemble, but it took a lot of effort because it’s 2m35 tall, so I’m glad that I brought my steps with me. And the mirrored doors that I have chosen – they were flaming heavy too and I had to invent a contraption to jack them up to the required height – without any of the D-i-Y aids that I would have had in the Auvergne too.

But the heavy doors – now here’s the rub. I want the unit to be free-standing, side-on to the wall and facing the front door (eventually there will be a dresser back-to-back with it) but the doors are so heavy that when they are open, they tilt the unit forwards and over. That’s clearly no good.

At the moment I have it weighted down with a load of stuff that is yet to be tidied away, but it seems that tomorrow I’ll have to buy some drill bits and wall anchors.

That took me until 14:00 anyway and despite the fact that it’s not quite finished, I called it a morning and made lunch.

After lunch, I attacked the other unit. That’s a posh shelving unit like the other one that I assembled yesterday but this has some drawers and glass doors to display the family heirlooms. That one was flaming complicated with all kinds of shenanigans but it’s all done now and it really does look quite impressive – just what I wanted.

But I was too tired to finish off the big unit, to put the stuff in the posh unit or to assemble the other two chairs that I brought up. Aching everywhere because some of this stuff that I carried upstairs was flaming heavy.

So tomorrow I’ll finish it off and then go and do some shopping.

But let’s hope that I have a better night tonight. After all, I didn’t pay all of this money for nothing, did I?

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