Surprises - and more surprises

On our first night in our new home, we slept like the proverbial logs, although as we had a vertical blind but no curtains in the bedroom and it was still just the beginning of July, sunrise was early, which meant that Keith was up and ready to start the day at 4.45am. This was the beginning of a habit which has stayed with him over the intervening weeks. I, however, am made of sterner stuff and have managed to contain my energy and excitement until a much more acceptable six o'clock.

We knew that this house, built in 1960, would inevitably need some renovation. The Homebuyer's Survey had mentioned things like the flashing on the chimneys, gutter and drain cleaning and fence replacement and suggested that in the future, we might want to consider updating the kitchen and bathroom.

Fair enough, we thought but no rush, except that I would quite like a flexible tap for the kitchen sink. 

It transpired, however, that, although the kitchen units looked fine on the outside, the murky interior depths were a different story. A good all-round description would be 'manky'. This kitchen was going to need somewhat more than a new tap for us to regard it as useable. Insult was further added to injury when I inspected the oven, for which even the term 'manky' would not be an adequate description. The fact that at our old house, I had almost climbed inside the oven to make sure I left it as spotless as a used oven can be, only added to my annoyance. 

The state of the cooker meant we could treat ourselves to a new electric oven and gas hob (to replace the halogen one already there) except that, although there was a gas supply in the house for the central heating, someone had, in their wisdom, decided to completely remove all signs of it from the kitchen. There is a gas engineer working on restoring the connection as I write and until now, we have been making good use of our camping stove, bought years ago for our trips to France.

In the meantime, Keith has come into his own with all his DIY skills and we have now replaced almost all the units and worktops.

It's still a work in progress, mainly because of another 'surprise' we had, but that's for the next post.