“Just One Tooth Away From Killing Itself”

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It was touch and go whether I would be able to post at all today. This was because my iMac disc was allegedly full, and I couldn’t open anything.

Apart from a pleasant early lunch at Redcliffe Garden Centre where I enjoyed a breakfast  bap containing bacon, sausage, and egg; followed by half of Jackie’s moist Victoria sponge that followed her excellent vegetable soup with thick crusty bread, I spent much of the day positioned between necessarily noisy labour of Kitchen Makers in the kitchen and a computer screen shared by James of Peacock Computers.

Richard and Lee were severely hampered in the kitchen by the state of the electrical wiring exposed when the old equipment was removed. Apparently most of the wiring, although connected, was dead and not doing anything. Admirable patience was displayed as they attempted to find the cable from which everything on that side of the wall and floor was actually doing anything.

Richard

Throughout this struggle Richard remained his cheerful, affable self.

An additional factor was the evidence of a ravenous rodent. Richard showed me the affected wiring. The red and black wires had been nibbled. He was of the opinion that at least one mouse had been “just one tooth away from killing itself”.

Lee was tireless in chipping adhesive away from the floor tiling, clearing up afterwards, and leaving a good surface for the preparation tomorrow for the final flooring to come later.

Meanwhile, James sent my cursor careering across my screen, lighting on a likely culprit, cleaning it up, dashing across to another, and leaving sets of figures to mount up or die down. All in all it was really reassuring relying on others remedying  electrical and ethernet enigmas.

Further offerings from Hordle Chinese Take Away afforded us our evening sustenance, with which I drank more of the Madiran.

 

 

61 comments

  1. Everything will soon be okay and you two wil look back at this temporary incovrnience and be glad you got it done. Good tines again soon in your new kitchen! Gary

  2. That’s kind of scary about the mouse. Years ago, we had a squirrel in our attack and I was petrified he’d chew some wires and start a fire. Richard looks as though he enjoys his job!

  3. Right now Mr Chatty Man is the primary winner in your renovation process. I bet he beams when he sees you coming! These stages of renovations are crazy aren’t they – lost wiring, rodents dead or alive, jack-hammered flooring and all….. Counting down the days yet?

  4. We once had a mouse kill itself on a farm where I worked. It chewed through a cable in an electrically driven feeder, a fact which I discovered when I grabbed the feeder whilst working. It tingled a bit. 🙂

  5. I’m hiding indoors from the heat wave that is going to take the thermometer to the mid thirties (nineties ºF) and I am not cooking either. The kitchen and I are going to remain cool.

  6. You are showing good patience during this process. What camera do you use? I notice good depth of field on the portrait shots. By the way, did you sell your country house with all the wonderful gardens?

    1. Thanks a lot, Steve. It is our country house that is having the work done. For some shots I use Canon SX700 HS – point and shoot – for such as the portraits, it’s a Canon EOS 5D Mark II

      1. I bet you and Jackie are exhausted. But so exciting. Because of your blog, I feel as though I am right there with you.

  7. Quite a day–I’m glad everything worked out with the help of experts. I laughed at the one tooth away remark. Several houses in our neighborhood once lost power because a squirrel apparently committed suicide by engaging with a transformer.

  8. I have a feeling the rodents have an extra sense, or maybe two, of identifying danger. For even though they nibble away merrily at the wiring they are always a tooth away from getting electrocuted. Now is a good time to make those ducts rodent-proof, assuming it’s possible. Those gentlemen are hard at work: something great is in offing.

  9. I had to have Microsoft do the same for me. It is quite strange sitting there watching the mouse zoom across the screen. If you have having storage issues can I suggest using a cloud, works great for me.

  10. So pleasant when workmen are cheerful and amenable rather than grumpy and obviously just ‘doing you a favour’ as so often happens. They are always the ones who do a better job too.

  11. Wow, this is really a major upheaval. Good on your team for their hard work and good nature. That wiring looked like a fire waiting to happen, so it’s really good that this is happening and you can nip it in the bud. Will you be getting new cupboards and everything?!

    1. We will be getting new everything. Cupboards and services were all far too low for Jackie. We had everything on trailing sockets – so you are right about the danger. Many thanks, Boomdee

  12. Lord god in heaven I’d be pissed to the gills on several bottles of whatever was handy if i was surrounded by all that chaos! This is why I will forever live in an outdated shabby little villa with cracked linoleum and 1980’s oak cupboards in the kitchen. You’re a braver man than I, Gunga Din.

  13. Hi Derrick, I have been tasked by my mum, Anne at Kitchen Makers, to collect your photos from you of the installation of your new kitchen. I notice that you use an iMac, I was wondering if it would be possible to share them with me on the iCloud?
    Mark Pearce
    markjpearce@gmail.com

    1. Many thanks, Mark. I’m afraid I don’t know how to do that! I’m not really competent enough to do other than learn as I go along Are you near enough to pop over some time.

      1. I am sure we could arrange that, I am in Bitterne and I would be happy to come over and show you how the iCloud works as well.

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