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| Home by night |
For starters, a cheque came in by registered post – a half share for the fence at the back. It’s a pity it took a legal notice for that to happen, but sometimes a stick works better than a carrot. Anyhow, done is done and I for one, am glad that it didn’t go any further.
Neighbour #2 returned a signed quote too, and the fencers were booked without any delay. They came in and Tuesday this week the posts went up quick smart. Then Melbourne weather being what it is, hail, rain and generally unpredictable meant that nothing else gets done till the sun comes out.
Although I think we are rather sociable, it will be sweet to see those 6 foot four inch fences up. The fences have caused more angst than an army of archetypal mother in laws (it has to be said that mine is really nice) and it also means that in theory, we can let the kids out. Hah – with weather miserable enough to freeze the toes off anybody, its nigh impossible for the kids to play outside until spring comes around. Even so, its one more thing off my list.
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| Fences in. Phew!! |
Another item that I can check off is the driveway and backyard. As you probably gathered, I am a planner, a to-do lister and nothing pleases me more than neat ticks against tasks. If you told me this two decades ago (and here I am revealing my age), I would have laughed loudly. And my teachers way back in school would have laughed even louder. I think I spent more time outside the classroom than in, all part of a fascinating education system that mass produced scholars and a rare day dreamer.
Back to the driveway and backyard, its done. One more neat tick mark and to his credit DH ensure that them concreters did a reasonably good job. He supplied them with chai and bikkies on the days they worked well and nuffing on the days they did not. Suffice to say they soon got the picture, and the drains mentioned in their quote went in, chai and bikkie supply was restored and all was well in the world.
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| Exposed aggregate driveway. |
Exposed aggregate is what we went for, looks better than plain concrete and is priced so. Even though it doesn’t look good for my budget, DH was so keen on it and won that battle. Come to think of it, he’s been winning far too many battles of late; I might have to rethink my strategy on the home front.
Right now, the only wet blanket is our leaky porch. I’m still not happy with the half baked explanation we got and our good builders have one last chance to fix this before I rope in the big guns. Consumer Affairs and VCAT, and they tell me we have a jolly good case. When I say “jolly good” it reminds me of ‘Mind Your Language’ that far from politically correct series that had us in splits those days. If you remember that one, chances are you belong to the same generation as I did.
I digress. So we wait for some positive news from our volume builder, hoping that they agree that a leaky porch was not a part of the contract. It shouldn’t take Einstein to figure that one out. One last week before my patience is see-through and off I shall go to the big guns for help. I’d rather not, but I will if I have to. And that you know by now is that.
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| Little man by the door. I kinda like him, he's been around for a while now. |
