The next phase in doing up the house, and probably the most expensive one, is the bathroom. Over summer I went round a couple of places, and was given quotes in the ballpark of £6,000 to refit the place (which , given that the room is 4 square metres, can be considered a lot of money).
I've now gotten the money together, and I've spent the last couple of weeks going through various shops and brochures looking for my idea bathroom within that space (of course, ideally my bathroom would require a supply station halfway across, and the design would take into account the curvature of the earth). Tomorrow the builders (the same guys who did the garden, cracking chaps) are coming over to quote the work... The big question is how much am I going to be hit for. A brief list of the work can be found here.
There are a couple of big bits in there...resizing the window, and underfloor heating are bound to be big. I've had a rough quote on the electrics already, and that's about £1000! The suite is going to cost about £1000 as well (those curved glass screens are very expensive), and the tiling is not exactly discount either. I've gone for a natural slate floor, which should give it a very posh feel (especially given it will probably burn your feet!).
It's one of the areas that I don't dare risk myself. Plumbing and electrics are bad enough by themselves...combine them and you're pretty much assured of death if you don't know what you are doing...
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Branching out...
OK, not quite running, but its all linked I suppose.
As you probably know, I blagged a long weekend in Spain a fortnight ago. A good amount of that was spent by the pool at the resort, and splashing about. It made me realise 2 things;
I would swim a length (not even a proper one, as it was a shaped pool), and I'd be out of breath. I can only do a front crawl, and even then I'm keeping my face out of the water as I don't know how you're supposed to breathe. It's all a bit of a train-crash really...
I was taught to swim when I was fairly young, as I suspect most people are. I was a pretty weak swimmer back then, and I have recollections of doing 1000m doggy paddle, taking approximately 2 hours to do so! It was very much the case that you were taught enough to not drown in the local river, but not much more. I never really went back in the pool after that, and at uni did scuba diving, which teaches you to use the fins and your legs (which is utterly against the concepts of swimming). Add onto that a fairly unfit young lad and you have the ultimate model in swimming mediocrity.
Fast forward to now, and I'd like to think I'm in a better shape. While I'm not bulked up, I'm mainly lean mass, and have a bit of endurance to me...of course this doesn't help one whit in the water, as I'm still splashing lots, and moving little. There is one important change though...I'm not above taking lessons now, and I reckon mentally I'm in a better shape to take on board what I'm being shown...after all, I've been taking running training on-board for a while, as well as general fitness advice.
There doesn't seem to be a market for "adults who can slowly drown" swimming classes. Plenty for non-swimmers, but no improver classes (I suspect a lot of this is pride...most people have a paradigm that swimming lessons are for youngsters), so I contacted a local leisure centre (handily only half a mile from my house), and asked their opinion on my best route. They recommended a course of 1-to-1 lessons with an instructor, and the price was a lot less than I thought it was going to be! So I start in 2 weeks time... I did the paperwork last night, and met the instructor, giving me a chance to cover off where I was, what I'd like to be able to do and where I feel I'm weak (breathing and technique...basically the 2 aspects of swimming). She was very pleasant, and seemed confident that I could be gotten up to a much better standard.
I'm quite looking forward to it. I love the idea of being able to nip round to the pool, swim for 30-40 minutes, then get on with my life, and it will be a good accompaniment to the running training, as well as the general fitness training!
As you probably know, I blagged a long weekend in Spain a fortnight ago. A good amount of that was spent by the pool at the resort, and splashing about. It made me realise 2 things;
- I quite enjoy swimming
- I'm shockingly bad at it
I would swim a length (not even a proper one, as it was a shaped pool), and I'd be out of breath. I can only do a front crawl, and even then I'm keeping my face out of the water as I don't know how you're supposed to breathe. It's all a bit of a train-crash really...
I was taught to swim when I was fairly young, as I suspect most people are. I was a pretty weak swimmer back then, and I have recollections of doing 1000m doggy paddle, taking approximately 2 hours to do so! It was very much the case that you were taught enough to not drown in the local river, but not much more. I never really went back in the pool after that, and at uni did scuba diving, which teaches you to use the fins and your legs (which is utterly against the concepts of swimming). Add onto that a fairly unfit young lad and you have the ultimate model in swimming mediocrity.
Fast forward to now, and I'd like to think I'm in a better shape. While I'm not bulked up, I'm mainly lean mass, and have a bit of endurance to me...of course this doesn't help one whit in the water, as I'm still splashing lots, and moving little. There is one important change though...I'm not above taking lessons now, and I reckon mentally I'm in a better shape to take on board what I'm being shown...after all, I've been taking running training on-board for a while, as well as general fitness advice.
There doesn't seem to be a market for "adults who can slowly drown" swimming classes. Plenty for non-swimmers, but no improver classes (I suspect a lot of this is pride...most people have a paradigm that swimming lessons are for youngsters), so I contacted a local leisure centre (handily only half a mile from my house), and asked their opinion on my best route. They recommended a course of 1-to-1 lessons with an instructor, and the price was a lot less than I thought it was going to be! So I start in 2 weeks time... I did the paperwork last night, and met the instructor, giving me a chance to cover off where I was, what I'd like to be able to do and where I feel I'm weak (breathing and technique...basically the 2 aspects of swimming). She was very pleasant, and seemed confident that I could be gotten up to a much better standard.
I'm quite looking forward to it. I love the idea of being able to nip round to the pool, swim for 30-40 minutes, then get on with my life, and it will be a good accompaniment to the running training, as well as the general fitness training!
Monday, 15 September 2008
A bit of a catch-up
Things have been occurring, and I've not really been keeping track of them. This will be a bit of an attempt to cover the majority of them...it will probably fail.
First off, La Manga. As my previous post pointed out the weather was fantastic. The whole weekend went rather well really, and I fully recommend all-expenses paid holidays to everyone! Some highlights;
Great weekend, and really enjoyed it. Just the right mix of relaxing, and doing stuff for me. I also found out that one of our senior managers (board room level) like a bit of foosball, and he's keen to get some in the new office we are having built. I, apparently, am already banned :-(
Work has been a mixed bag, and while projects sit in the "what are we going to do" phase, I've been doing some tech support work with XML formats and Schema's. Not really my area, but I'm picking it up fairly well, and no-one has blatantly labelled me as a fraud as yet. We've moved office, and while the new place has more space, there are less good facilities (no kitchen, and we are back to sub-standard drinks machines). I've blagged myself a window seat, though the view is less than stellar.
The running training continues. Roadrunners is brutal at the moment, and we are in the middle of a 6-week distance training improver series. It must be helping though, as I did Dorney Lake on Saturday (same race as I did in April), and I set a new PB over 10k of 39.32...my first time under 40 minutes, which has me really chuffed! I've signed up for Reading Half again, and this puts me about a minute faster over 10k than I was at the same point last year. I've set myself a training target of 40 miles a week by the new of the year.
Cricket is faring less well. A combination of bad weather, and holidays has meant that I've played very little in the last couple of months. This really showed in the game yesterday, with huge strides backwards, and a developing bruise on the right thigh (yeah, it's me that smells of Deep Heat...you can probably smell it from there...). The season is over soon, which means that at least I get my Sundays back for a while. It will probably mean more time dedicated to running, and getting stuff sorted in the house.
Ah, yes...the house. The garden is all done now, and has had its inaugural barbecue. There is still stuff to do (put up some arches over the stairs, some more painting, and I'd like to get some light systems out there to make it more evening friendly), however that can wait until next year, and spring. The next area of focus will be the bathrooms. I have cashed in some under-performing share-options, and should be contacting some workmen soon to try and sort out a window. I need to do some measurements and plans first, as I'm a little concerned that the door is going to get in the way quite royally for some stuff I want.
So there you have it...my life in a small, bite-sized capsule. Don't chew, and take with food!
First off, La Manga. As my previous post pointed out the weather was fantastic. The whole weekend went rather well really, and I fully recommend all-expenses paid holidays to everyone! Some highlights;
- Breaking the jet ski's - We blame the Spanish bloke. There were 6 of us out, and pretty much the only instruction we got during the Spanglish safety briefing was "follow the speedboat". One of the guys at the back had to swerve to avoid the wake of a large boat, and went over a reef, sucking a load of stones into the engine. The speedboat turns to get him sorted (basically turn off the engine, and get towed back in) and we all dutifully follow him...back over the reef. 4 dead jet ski's later, and one very stressed Spanish guy hating us for laughing in the boat back.
- Spa - Spent about 4 hours here...firstly got my sweat on in the gym, then a massage, followed by a prolonged jacuzzi session and generally vegging around. Lovely.
- Sugababes no-show - The shitty no-pro's that they are the decided that they couldn't be arsed to turn up, so instead the MD gave us all a £1000. So far I have heard from no-one who would have preferred it the other way!
Great weekend, and really enjoyed it. Just the right mix of relaxing, and doing stuff for me. I also found out that one of our senior managers (board room level) like a bit of foosball, and he's keen to get some in the new office we are having built. I, apparently, am already banned :-(
Work has been a mixed bag, and while projects sit in the "what are we going to do" phase, I've been doing some tech support work with XML formats and Schema's. Not really my area, but I'm picking it up fairly well, and no-one has blatantly labelled me as a fraud as yet. We've moved office, and while the new place has more space, there are less good facilities (no kitchen, and we are back to sub-standard drinks machines). I've blagged myself a window seat, though the view is less than stellar.
The running training continues. Roadrunners is brutal at the moment, and we are in the middle of a 6-week distance training improver series. It must be helping though, as I did Dorney Lake on Saturday (same race as I did in April), and I set a new PB over 10k of 39.32...my first time under 40 minutes, which has me really chuffed! I've signed up for Reading Half again, and this puts me about a minute faster over 10k than I was at the same point last year. I've set myself a training target of 40 miles a week by the new of the year.
Cricket is faring less well. A combination of bad weather, and holidays has meant that I've played very little in the last couple of months. This really showed in the game yesterday, with huge strides backwards, and a developing bruise on the right thigh (yeah, it's me that smells of Deep Heat...you can probably smell it from there...). The season is over soon, which means that at least I get my Sundays back for a while. It will probably mean more time dedicated to running, and getting stuff sorted in the house.
Ah, yes...the house. The garden is all done now, and has had its inaugural barbecue. There is still stuff to do (put up some arches over the stairs, some more painting, and I'd like to get some light systems out there to make it more evening friendly), however that can wait until next year, and spring. The next area of focus will be the bathrooms. I have cashed in some under-performing share-options, and should be contacting some workmen soon to try and sort out a window. I need to do some measurements and plans first, as I'm a little concerned that the door is going to get in the way quite royally for some stuff I want.
So there you have it...my life in a small, bite-sized capsule. Don't chew, and take with food!
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Warmer Climates
It was announced yesterday that August was basically a bit of a shitty month overall...frankly we were lucky to get the barbecue in there at all. Summer in general this year has been a bit of a let down, and now we are in Autumn its only going to get worse!
So lets have a quick look at the forecast for the next 5 days...
So, its going to shit it down here, while I'll be mucking about in the south of Spain on jet-ski's and quad bikes. Damn :-( Yes, it's finally time for me and Gill to bugger off down to La Manga, and enjoy ourselves at someone else's expense. Expect photos of sand, sea, sun and (depressingly) me in a tux...sigh... Well, it can't all be perfect, can it?
I have a couple of days off either side, and tomorrow I'll be busying myself putting a TV up in the bedroom, playing furniture chess, and probably doing a set down the gym (though that depends on how vicious Roadrunners is tonight). I somehow doubt cricket is going to occur this weekend. Monday will be sorting myself out, getting supplies into the house, and generally keeping the relaxing feeling going for one more day...
Have fun y'all!
So lets have a quick look at the forecast for the next 5 days...
So, its going to shit it down here, while I'll be mucking about in the south of Spain on jet-ski's and quad bikes. Damn :-( Yes, it's finally time for me and Gill to bugger off down to La Manga, and enjoy ourselves at someone else's expense. Expect photos of sand, sea, sun and (depressingly) me in a tux...sigh... Well, it can't all be perfect, can it?
I have a couple of days off either side, and tomorrow I'll be busying myself putting a TV up in the bedroom, playing furniture chess, and probably doing a set down the gym (though that depends on how vicious Roadrunners is tonight). I somehow doubt cricket is going to occur this weekend. Monday will be sorting myself out, getting supplies into the house, and generally keeping the relaxing feeling going for one more day...
Have fun y'all!
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