Today, the first day of real life after getting engaged, and we were put to the test…
Getting off the plane in the middle of the air field, we were greeted by a chilly November breeze as we descended the steps to our bus. They didn’t pull up at the terminal, no, we had to have the full “here comes the drizzle” welcome to England experience.
Got thru a blissfully easy (comparatively) border check and collected the bags before exiting the terminal and heading to the carpark. Which level did we park on again? Thanks to Aimi’s memory, we actually got it right the first time (I knew she was the one for a reason) and headed off home.
We had arranged to get some renovations to the house done while we were away. Aimi really hates the mess and disruption that the renovations have caused to our lives. I agree it’s not ideal, but I’m a lot easier going and able to put up with the short term discomfort for the long term gain of a nicely decorated property. So the day before going away, we had brought everything downstairs, basically emptying the bedroom and office so the majority of work could be done while we were away, thus saving the pain for her.
However, being a 100 year old house, it has its quirks and bodges and bits of historical cock-up-ery that needed fixing. For example, the stud wall between the office and the hallway was lath and plaster but it was so old and janky that the whole wall wobbled. This needed completely stripping, fixing, and plaster boarding before it could be plastered. Likewise, the 10’s of layers of wallpaper and paint that had been applied to the hallway walls over the years formed a solid laminate board, behind which the plaster was so knackered, the act of scraping it off, destroyed acres of the plasterwork back to brick. This needed to be removed and then dry lined before plastering. It means we have really nice flat walls to be plastered, but it’s taking extra time. Our builder, Richard, is excellent, even working till 11pm to try and get it done in time, but it’s inevitably over running.
Coming home, the house was full of dust and dirt and just general buildery-ness. Not relaxing or suitable to have dogs roaming around or conducive to good office work from home. (I’m back off to Glasgow for a week, so it doesn’t bother me haha!) But Aimi needs somewhere to work and sleep so we had to quickly phone around and find a BnB for a couple weeks till it’s done. Not ideal…
BnB found, we collected the dogs and took them for a walk to Ramblers retreat for some good food. There was no point trying to cook at home and we couldn’t move in till later so we took our time. We swapped dirty for clean clothes and grabbed anything else we needed to survive before loading it into the van and driving over to the cottage.
It’s a really nice little wooden house (that smells faintly of old people) on the main road in Millers Dale, right next to a stream. It accepts pets, has a secure garden and parking for 2 cars and everything set up ready to move in and save our bacon. The BnB cost a chunk of cash that we really could do without spending, but it has reduced the stress levels on the relationship, Aimi, the dogs and the builders. I’ve lived in builder mess for months at a time before so it doesn’t really bother me, its just par for the course. But part of being in a relationship is doing things for your partner, and spending money on things you wouldn’t consider necessary, in order to maintain the relationship. This cost means Aimi is happier, the dogs are more relaxed, we can sleep comfortably, prepare food cleanly, stay out of the way of the builders and Aimi and I can work effectively so ultimately, it’s money well spent. It also alleviates some of the post holiday blues as we are now effectively having a UK short break get-away in a beautiful little peak district cottage.
Severely sleep deprived now, we both worked hard not to snap at each other, just get the job done and our temporary life set up as fast as possible. At 7pm we were sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea looking thru some photos, barely able to keep our eyes open.
That night we slept 14 solid hours.