A few months ago we moved
A new life starts with the move
A few months ago, Wednesday 17th July 2024. to be precise, was a momentous day. We moved from Woolwich in London to Faversham in Kent. MrsB and I now live to a self contained 4 roomed bungalow called the Annexe, my daughter and her family live in the main house. There is a big garden which is mature and faces south, the house and the self-contained Annexe all ticked so many boxes. It is not 100% perfect but no where ever is. The adaptations and work that we are doing to the annexe are stressful. The new kitchen, latest project, was supposed to finished by Christmas. This was wishful thinking on our behalf
Removal vans at Faversham
As they were unloaded it was very obvious that there was far too much clobber, mainly ours, to fit into the two properties. We had downsized from a 5 bedroomed house with an enormous amount of storage space and had failed abysmally. Even though we were going to have a conservatory built we just had not appreciated the miniscule amount of furniture and fittings that will fill into the annexe to overflowing. The overflow must be stored in the large garage until we can go through it box by box. This job must wait until 2025, we just have to hope that the damp English winter will not cause problems.
Barby’s niece
She lives in a village a few miles from Faversham for years. She recommended a builder who could help us. Everyone deserves a slice of luck, this was ours. We badly needed a knight in shinning armour who could rescue us from tricky situations. A friendly trustworthy builder who would help a pair of old codgers.
Remove a cupboard from the kitchen entrance
I could not get into the kitchen sitting in my wheelchair. I could only just get into it with my rollator. These was a useless cupboard in the way, it had to go straight away. Ramps needed to be bought and delivered immediately. I could not manage the step into the Annexe or the steps into the main house. We were able to resolve both these problems as soon as we moved in. Stressful situations successfully dodged.
The bathroom was a disaster area
It was totally unsuitable for a disabled person who cannot stand or walk unaided, that’s me. I had identified a company to build an accessible bathroom but … There is always a but and in this case it was a serious problem. The company could not start the work until 5th August and the conversion would take 3 weeks, This meant 5 weeks pissing in a bucket in the kitchen and going into the main house to do Peristeen or transanal irrigation. Going upstairs to the bathroom in the main house was impossible so I must use the downstairs loo. The company that converted the bathroom did an excellent job but there were a few headaches that had to be resolved very quickly. Yup, a stressful time.
Converting the kitchen
We talked to our knight in shining armour in early November about replacing the kitchen we had inherited. It was a total waste of space. He helped us design and buy a replacement kitchen at the local B&Q. On Monday 2nd December ripping out the old kitchen began, no going back now. All the wiring need to be replaced, and only then could the new units be fitted. On Friday 21 December the builders stopped for Christmas. We had a usable but unfinished kitchen not ideal but manageable. The plan is to finish it in the New Year. My fingers and toes are crossed that it all goes with out a hitch. Why do builders always miss their deadlines and charge you extra?
A few months ago
We had moved a few months ago and thought the stress was over but we were so wrong. Slowly the Annexe is being converted into a suitable home but new problems are still occurring. One of them is builders traipsing in an out. Another is discovering that our dinner plates are too wide for the smaller dishwasher. Also our aluminium sauce pans need replacing, an induction hob only likes steel ones. None of these are big problems All told it will take us a year to complete all the work that we want to do. We are not rushing in headlong, just doing the work that has to be done room by room. Oh what fun it is to move but also exciting. Will we do it again? Definitely not.
January 2025
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Happy new year and I’m so glad you’ve a good builder. They do sometimes meet deadlines. We’ve had two brilliant ones both who were on time and in budget! Mind, we had one who simply extracted the urine…11 months instead of 3 and almost 3 times the price!
I’m pretty sure you can buy a converter plate to put on your hob which works with aluminium pans, so I wouldn’t dump them out of hand.
Also if you’re interested there is a pretty good thread date on Bluesky covering MS. Early days but it needs pioneers like you!
Now waiting for the next episode! Cheers! 😀
Hello Chris,
Keeping hold of a good builder is difficult and some of them can be booked up several months ahead, we were so lucky. Sometimes you do need to be strict with them and give them their marching orders when necessary. Trust is such an important word.
Plate converters do exist for induction hobs but we are trying really hard to get rid of junk, duplicates and un-necessary stuff from our lives. There is so little storage space in the Annexe.
I already have Instagram (@pb.aid4disabled), FB (https://www.facebook.com/patrick.burke.737), the website and Threads for social media. Bluesky is another commitment so Threads will have be totally ignored. Also do I have the time and commitment to learn Bluesky? Food for thought and for another day. Meanwhile Instagram is definitely my favourite.
Talk soon
Next chapter will be about something very different
From my experience, finding decent professional tradespeople is a major chore in itself.
Although I have not used Checkatrade, tread warily.
This article appeared in the Guardian recently …
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/nov/30/how-do-rogue-traders-get-past-checkatrade-checks
Hello Barnard,
Checkatrade is a tool for finding professionals. Used them once and no problem but I appreciate there are con members. This happens in all manner of things. Personal recommendations is really the only way to go but not always possible. That’s one thing that worried me when we moved to Faversham but sp lucky that it is not a problem in our case.
Talk soon
Good to hear you found a decent builder, took me years to find a crew of good trades in Abbeywood/Plumstead. Now I’m ‘up north’ in Huddersfield I’m having to start again and put up with the ‘think they’re the best’ builders until I find some good ones.
Hello Ivan,
Moving to a new area and finding reliable and trustworthy tradesmen is always a bit of a leap in the dark. I’ve always found ‘word of mouth’ is the best recommendation. If that is no good then there is a national system called ‘Checkatrade’. Just enter checkatrade into Google and you will find it self explanatory Good luck.
Patrick