6.05.2022 My kingdom for a washing up rack!

 ~~

 Friday 6th 46F, a grey overcast. Up at 6.15am. The cherry trees on our northern boundary are covered in blossom. I haven't had a proper walk for several days.

 09.00. 52F. The overcast is breaking up. I walked up to the woods and back by the marsh. Where I was told off by the farmer for walking on the spray tracks. I "must only walk on the roads." At least my back and hips are feeling better for the walk. I was gone just over an hour.

  Plans for today? The kitchen makeover is ongoing. I really like the new layout with the fridge in the corner. Though I have yet to find a suitable place for the most used crockery. It fits, but it presently has to be stacked on the worktop.

 Not that I need all of it. I simply haven't adjusted the quantities to match my new status as "Solo Master Chef." Given a daily [or twice daily] washing up cycle, I am seriously embarrassed by the sheer quantity of dinner plates and other items.

 I still need to find a decent dish rack and a cutlery container for the new drainer. There is nothing obvious from the Danish, high street, vendor chains. Ikea.dk should be utterly ashamed of themselves! Perhaps I'd better look at Amazon?

  I have spoken to a local installer about joining the 21st century with our electrical system. One 10A ceramic fuse for all the sockets and lights in the house and all on the same circuit? Correct! Now all I need is for them to arrive on a prearranged appointment. A local mason and carpenter have repeatedly failed this very basic test of their professionalism. 

 I have re-tidied my clothes into transparent tubs. With them pushed under the sloping ceiling they take up no room. The tubs provide a uniform, tidy appearance. With easy identification and access. I was careful to purchase non-locking lids. They just snap gently into place. You would not believe the difference in space available and how tidy it suddenly looks.

  Another car boot full of stuff went to the charity shop. I found a washing up rack in the same village. Very sturdily built but the tray has no drain hole. Being plastic it is easily drilled and even given a drip with the heat gun. No cutlery container though. I have just realised that the plates can be left on the rack between meals. That solves the storage problem. I have no idea why I need saucers. Drinks are in mugs or glasses.

 Rather than  placing the new working surface on top of the old for the mock-up. I thought I'd bring in the B&D workbenches and support the new board on those. Then I can play with a full scale model. Without being unduly biased by the present layout. 

 The cut-outs for the new sink and hob are huge. Which will seriously weaken the board if I have to lift it alone. Best to raise it first and then slide it into place after sawing out the cut-outs. 

 The far end of the overlong board could go over a front loading, washing machine. That would provide an easy drain connection under the sink. No hurry to replace the top loader though. I just need to wait for it to break. They always do. 

 I just bunged a pasty into the mini-oven for dinner. Whereupon I discovered a huge benefit. I can actually see the timer dial and the contents cooking inside. All thanks to it now facing the windows. Another win! I had been using a torch and a magnifying glass for all the time we have owned the mini-oven. Until today.

 The washing up trial with the new rack went very well. It safely bridges the old, second sink. The images show the results of my kitchen makeover so far. The new working surface has yet to be installed.The top image shows some of my wife's collection in the window sill. Just as she left it.

~~

5.05.2022 Working well above my pay grade!

 ~~

 Thursday 5th 38F, bright start. Up at 5.45am. I have a bad back [and shoulders.]

 Kitchen Therapy Project ongoing: I am expecting the hob and the new sink to be delivered today. I had been arguing for years that we should renew the kitchen and all its appliances. My wife flatly refused.  

 Being able to finally carry out the work, with a completely free hand, is a very big deal for me. Alas, it is far, far too late. To be enjoyed by its main user over the last twenty five years.

 I built the kitchen probably a couple of decades ago. Mostly from recycled items. Now it is being recycled again. Though not nearly as efficiently IMO. It will soon become just more scrap metal and rotting wood at the recycling yard. 

 Beware of stubborn resistance to change. It may be hiding severe, underlying depression. The glaring clues are all there. If only you can open your eyes to see them. I didn't and will always regret it.

 My first half hour, on this sunny, Thursday morning, was spent outside in the warm sunshine. Clearing the Horse Chestnut trimmings. Unless I re-saw or lop them sensibly it will be two trailer loads. The branches are too stiff and bent to lie flat.

9.15 54F. Presently enjoying morning coffee and a wholemeal bread roll with marmalade. 

 The ceramic hob has arrived nice and early. In a van which could easily have made it down the drive. I ran along to the 'T.' Just to save the driver from negotiating the last hundred meters. Normally they send an 8-axle, articulated lorry.

 Once it was placed in the desired position. Resting on the old working surface. The hob proved to be much larger than expected. I thought I had the layout all clearly fixed in my mind. Obviously some user error in the kitchen designer, software upload. 

 I'm seriously thinking of lifting the mini-oven onto a shelf. The toaster and kettle can go underneath. This will raise the mini-oven to eye level. Then I can monitor my salmon pasty's progress more easily. Not that it really needs it. Leave it for 25 minutes and that about the extent of the cookery skills required. Moreover, it would same me getting my hands and knees dirty while grovelling to see into the oven. I'm getting far too old for that sort of thing anyway.

 Or, I could move the mini-oven onto a raised surface behind me. It could sit beside the upright, fridge freezer. After I have moved the latter 6' to the right. This will produce a nicely compact, working triangle. Though at the expense of needing new electric sockets on the far wall.

 Or extension leads while I sort out all the bugs? This 75-year-old, kitchen design software is a nightmare! I actually glimpsed the mini-oven on top of the fridge freezer, behind me. Sheer genius?  Or another bug..?

 Hmm. The fridge freezer is only 120cm high. Absolute perfection for a [newly appointed] Head Chef. To [occasionally] supervise his mini-oven. Coincidence? Sometimes you just can't make these things up!

 Oh no! I just saw the fridge freezer in the corner of the working surface with the mini-oven on top. That would leave the entire kitchen completely free of clutter. The "towering edifice" could even be housed in a new alcove built beneath the stairs! No!

 Lots more room for a [modest] table and chairs. New window in the [western] end wall? To admire the garden as the sun sets? A proper kitchen-diner? Oh dear, now I need a scale drawing. I'm clearly working well above my pay grade here! 😂

 The fridge has now been moved to the NE corner of the kitchen and the mini-oven placed on top. This opens up much better arrangements for the hob in the middle of the new working surface. While freeing up the entire western end of the room. 

 The existing dining table [in the lounge] is a bit too large for this space. A smaller and squarer table, with only two chairs [for optional views] would be much more sensible. Though it needs a new window to provide an interesting viewpoint. Otherwise it is just a table and chairs in the closed end of a kitchen. Somewhere to sit when my legs get tired?

 The new sink with a proper draining board turned up in the post at 10am. Excellent finish and it will finally get rid of the tired, old, twin, inset sinks. 

 It took and hour to clip and  load them compactly. Before I got rid of the trailer full of Horse Chestnut branches to the recycling yard. Then returned home for lunch.

Afterwards I delivered some stuff to a charity shop. Then drove on to deliver more old paint, chemicals and batteries to another recycling yard. They don't all accept this sort of material. 

~~

4.05.2022 Will it/won't it go?

 ~~

 Wednesday 4th 41F. Bright. Up at 5.45. My back hurts. Hardly surprising considering the load I put on it yesterday. The kitchen worktop is horrendously heavy. 3.63m x 63cm x 28mm. I hope to prove it will go into the kitchen using a plank of the same length as a pattern. 

 Though it will not be quite the same because it has none of the breadth of the real thing. Which means tilting it will not increase its length so much. First I'll have to push it out of the window above the kitchen sink. Then turn it to see if it will slide into the front hall. If that can't be done it will have to go back outside. Then enter the house via the end, lounge window. Then curve through the front hall into the kitchen. It's really a three [young] man job but there is only me. 👴

 Well, the plank idea worked out well. I pushed it a metre/yard out of the window. Then it could be rotated in plan. To bring the tail end into the front hall. Now add the weight of the real worktop! I'll have to completely clear the kitchen and protect the various surfaces on which the huge board will rest temporarily. I don't want any broken tiles. Nor cosmetic damage to the board itself. 

 How badly do I want that extra length? I just found an online chipboard calculator. The worktop probably weighs 50kg. It feels more like twice that! It will have to be lifted on edge. To above the height of the existing worktop. Just to go out of the window. 

 Then the tail end has to be supported at the same height as the whole thing is turned bodily. While still on edge. Perhaps I can use something to support the tail end? B&D workbench? That would help me to relieve some of the weight. No, it is much too low.

 9.15. 54F. Instead of trying to lift the board myself I filled a trailer to the brim. Ready for another trip to the recycling yard. I also moved another load of rotten logs down to the bottom of the garden as a wildlife habitat. I am now enjoying morning coffee and a toasted, wholemeal roll with marmalade.

 Later, I delivered another mixed trailer load to the recycling yard.

 When something needs doing, sometimes you just have to go ahead and do it. So I lifted the kitchen end of the big board onto a piece of 4x4 on the back of the existing working surface. Then dragged the lower end along the hall carpet. Once balanced on the 4x4, with half of its length out of the window, I rotated it until it would slide into the front hallway. 

 I had covered the original working surface with thick layers of newspaper and plywood. It all went to plan. I could then lower the board onto its front edge on protective packing on the floor. Before sliding its full length into the kitchen. It is now standing on edge leaning against the kitchen cupboards. Where I can mark out the necessary cut-outs for the hob and new sink. Both are due for delivery tomorrow. I shall have to get in a qualified electrician to connect the hob. 

~~