Thursday 18 September 2014

New home

So three weeks ago my partner and I completed on a house. It's a 70's build sort of end terrace which basically hasn't really been lived in for the past 5 years, or even longer. It was originally owned by a university friend of both of ours, so we knew the house quite well having stayed there individually, and with together over the years. Our friend moved in with his girlfriend, and to be honest never spent a lot of time there as he worked away from home a lot. So whilst we knew the layout, i think we underestimated how much work we are actually going to have to do to get the house liveable.


The bathroom, for one, is in a state. I think there was a leak there one year, which meant pipes had to be replaced, so the flooring was ripped up. 





The hot water was turned off as the hot tapes for both the bath and the sink leak. And by leak, i mean gush. The shower also does not work.

The original thought was that it would be a simple washer repair job on the taps, but trying to remove the nut proved impossible, and ran the risk of damaging basin and pipes. Cue a discovery that was seen on Dragons Den! The tap splitter gave more leverage and support and allowed the tap head to be safely (and easily!) removed. 





The tap glands was probably the original one and was looking the worse for wear after several decades of limescale and a good few years of no use at all.




The upside though, is that for about a tenner, new tap glands for all four taps in the 

 bathroom were purchased, and fitted. No more gushing!


The shower is proving more difficult. It's a 1980's shower, and the limescale means that it leaks and the hot/cold dial is very tough to turn. We bought a service kit for 15 quid, and started following instructions that we found on youtube, but getting the cover of the shower off proved too difficult. We're still deciding how to tackle this, as we don't really want to fork out hundreds for a new shower and fitting (pipes and tiles add up) when i'm sure it just needs a good descale and washers and o rings replacing.



We've also discovered the the front door, if you open it from the inside, go outside and close the door is effectively locked. Oops! This meant that on our second door, my partner had to scale the garden wall to get back into the house. Not the best way to introduce yourself to the neighbours!

The wall he scaled is also missing a few bricks on the top couple of rows, so we need to do this to add a bit more security to the place. 

The kitchen isn't really to my liking (I know the 80's are back, but 80's country kitchen style is not the most attractive out there), but it works and it can be spruced up at some point.
The garden is a state, with dead wood in the back garden, and a very over grown front garden. Although cheap is good, I think we will end up paying a professional for the garden as one of the trees is some type of fir which is a)very tall and b)very close to the house. I know a professional will know the best way to chop it down to size, and be able to get rid of the waste easily.


The downstairs toilet also has to be seen to be believed. The picture below doesn't really do it justice. The toilet is an acid yellow and the carpet (which I hate in bathrooms and toilets) is navy blue. Coupled with the pine wood which can be seen below, and goes around the basin... well there really aren't words.









Friday 12 September 2014

Ingress Smashing

So yesterday I met up with some Enlightened Ingressors who are part of the Middlesex Massive. One I had met before, and two were new to me. 


We had a great time meeting by a tube station, and working our way down a road. The two higher level players smashing blue portals, and me and the other lower level, deploying resonators and creating fields to give us some much needed AP. 

I made level 6! This is good news as each level allows you to use higher level bursters, which are more effective in smashing enemy portals.





But that's rather beside the point. The point for me was meeting up with like-minded people, and have a fun evening strolling about and getting a little bit of exercise. I think it's going to be quite different when I move to Wokingham, as I don't think you can walk for a mile or so and run into 8 or 9 portals!

I guess when I move I'm just going to have to start walking further! Or maybe cycling...