Our next-door neighbours are having an extension built to their house - a large extension. We have nothing against this in principle and it'll be fine -
when it's finished.We were prepared for a fair amount of disruption for a while, but these guys start work at half-past stupid o'clock in the morning - about four or five hours after I've got my head down for the night. And there seems to be some unwritten builders' rule that states that all the noisiest jobs have to be undertaken before anything else:
unloading aggregate - clunk, clunk, screech, rumble, rumble,
thu-u-ud;
compacting said aggregate - thunkthunkthunkthunk, thunkthunkthunkthunk, thunkthunkthunkthunk;
sawing through the masonry of the existing structure to enable the removal of alternate bricks along the edge - SCRREEEEE-SCRREEEE-SCREEEECH, bang, thud, bang, thud, bang, bang, thud;
putting up scaffolding - clink, clang, squeakle, squeakle, clunk.
You get the picture, or rather, the racket? I tried going to bed earlier, but it didn't work. I simply laid awake and tossed and turned until the time I usually go to sleep. All too soon, I was shaken out of bed feeling something like what I imagine jet-lag feels like. I've only ever flown to Paris, and jet-lag doesn't seem to be a factor between there and Manchester.
On the plus side, there are number of very attractive young tanned semi-naked bodies wandering around. {leery grin} Surprisingly, no sign of builder's bum cleavage. Perhaps all the wisecracks about it have had some effect. {snigger}
Anyway, this weekend, Rod and I went to stay with friends Chris and Sue in Bramhall, taking Brian, another friend, along with us. The weather on Friday was fine and warm. The plan was to go through the beautiful Peak District of Derbyshire and make a stop at the pretty picturesque town of Bakewell. This is the home of The Bakewell Pudding, which is absolutely nothing like other foodstuffs that call themselves Bakewell pies. I was really looking forward to lunch at The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop.
Unfortunately, we'd failed to register that this was the weekend of The Bakewell Show...
We'd been caught out by that once before. Everything grinds to a halt and parking in the town - well, forget it. There isn't much on a good day, so the only alternative was parking in a field several miles out and bussing in. We didn't want to spend that long so we diverted around it and didn't stop en route. 8-(
On the plus side, there was a very entertaining radio commentary on England's second test match against the Windies (West Indies for non-cricket fans) at Edgbaston (Birmingham). Look, I was born in God's Own Half-Acre, a.k.a. Yorkshire. A love of cricket goes with the territory, okay? {BG}
'Freddie' Flintoff (Man of the Match) was in cracking form, scoring 167 of the fine first innings total of 566. The funniest bit was the commentators' humorously patronizing comments on the attempts of Yorkshire bowler, Matthew Hoggard, batting number ten, to play a hook shot. Bowlers aren't noted for their batting prowess and are therefore not called upon to bat till the end of an innings.
When he was joined at the wicket by Durham's Steve Harmison, batting number eleven (of eleven), things really livened up. Harmison was throwing the bat to great effect, scoring several fours and a six with hooks, sweeps and even a reverse sweep. Being pasted all over the ground in prime style by our number eleven was the ultimate ignominy for the Windy bowlers. LOL! England have a good team at the moment, so it was nice for them to be winning for a change. 8-)
We stay with Chris and Sue about once a year, and it's always interesting to see the changes to the house - which needed it! They bought the house a few years ago. The first year we went, they were redoing the kitchen which is now magnificent. They have since done two and a half bedrooms, the lounge and the dining room.
This year, it was a new bathroom. It was previously a split level affair, would you believe, because the previous owners had cocked up the pipework when they'd tried home improvements! As the loo was previously on the edge of the higher bit, this was a little awkward. Using it was not a manoeuvre one would've liked to attempt in the dark while inebriated! It would've helped to have one leg six inches longer than the other - reversible if you're a bloke. {g}
Since Chris and Sue's improvements, the loo and handbasin are where the bath was and the bath is where the basin was, and the floor is now flat. It still has one drawback though. The guy who rehung the door managed to break the lock. Ah well - next year...
On Saturday, we went to the Trafford Centre in Manchester and enjoyed the day there, although it's much like any other shopping mall in Britain - just bigger than most. Afraid I am a sore disappointment to Sue as I have no interest in Debenhams or clothes shops and ended up in Waterstone's as usual. It's nowhere near as big as their main store in Manchester but I still managed to buy several books - crime fiction for a change. 'Last Tango in Aberystwyth' looked particularly amusing. {g}
Had an interesting chat with one of the staff who happened to be an S.F. fan and she recommended some 'Star Trek' books - yes, I know, it's not my thing - but these are by a Peter David (I think - they didn't have any in stock!) He's created his own characters rather than using any of the originals, though I think some of those appear from time to time.
I went off 'Star Trek' in the first instance because of the inevitable wasting of at least ten minutes per episode on Captain Kirk smooching floozie-of-the-week. It was
dire - totally boring, interrupted the narrative and was a real turn-off.
Joe Mallozzi, Paul Mullie et al. please note! Major Doctor Samantha Carter, Ph.D. (theoretical astrophysics)
used to be a strong and interesting mature character and an excellent role-model until you guys turned her into a pathetic, scruffy, weepy, simpering, blonde bimbo suffering from retarded adolescence. Not only is it seriously pukeworthy, it's also
very, very SEXIST! And the back-up personality of SuperSam, mistress of all branches of science is, if anything, even more irritating. {/Stargate rant}
Back at Chris and Sue's, we had a very superior evening meal. It came from a Chinese restaurant frequented by members of Manchester United football team - not that that's a recommendation, though I guess they wouldn't keep going back there if the food were crap. If you want to eat in the restaurant, you have to book well in advance. However, they also do take-aways, and it was certainly the best Chinese meal I've had for a long time. The prawn crackers were to die for!
Spent most of Sunday watching the end of the test match and then came home.
Oh yes - the peaceful night's sleep? Forget it. The wind was in exactly the wrong direction for the flight paths from Manchester Airport, so we had jumbo jets skimming the roof-tops from even-more-stupid o'clock. 6.00 a.m. to be precise. Oy! X-(