Chapter Three – The Nightmare Begins
The answer to the “when can you start” question came sooner than expected. Within a week or two the surveyor had been round, amended a few details of the plan, got us to sign it, and sped off. Shortly afterwards I received a telephone call from Mr S, kitchen administrator at their Glasgow branch, to say that the fitters would call on Monday 20th October to carry out the levelling of the floor under the dryer and washer, then would arrive on Thursday 23rd October to fit the kitchen over 2 or 3 days. I said that we would not be available on Saturday 25th October, no problem at all I was assured, if I told the fitters this they would work longer on Thursday and Friday to finish, after all, he had seen the plan and it was not a big kitchen. So far, so good.
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I then queried the levelling of the floor, explaining that it was not just a matter of removing the existing appliances and levelling the floor beneath them, as neither was to be re-fitted in their existing positions in the new kitchen. After a pause he decided he needed to speak to the surveyor and phone me back. This he did, saying there would be no problem; again I queried it, especially as it would mean the removal of a gas cooker. He said he would check again and get back to me.
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Two days later I telephoned him to ask for further progress, this was only the week before they were due to arrive. Guess what? There had been a change of plan, the fitters would now start on Wednesday 22nd and do the whole job, including the levelling of the floor, at one go, from Wednesday to Friday. This seemed perfectly acceptable, less hassle about the weekend, so we readily agreed.
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The Monday before they are due to start, I get a telephone call from Mr S to say there has been a problem with the supplier for the oven and a different supplier is to be used, which means that I now have the choice of a matching white oven and hob. Sounds good to me so we accept. He says they will see me on Thursday and I remind him that he had, in fact, said they would be arriving on the Wednesday to do the levelling. He replies “Oh yes, better get a move on then”. So, Monday evening, all systems go clearing all the washing, as we will be without the machine for 3 days. On the Tuesday Pat and a friend spend a whole afternoon clearing out the existing kitchen and packing everything not immediately needed into boxes. I have to be at work so cannot not help, much as I would have liked to. I have already swapped a day’s leave from Christmas so I can be there on the Friday to give Pat a break and to hand over the cheque. The dining room becomes unusable due to the amount of stuff we have to move. I am glad that we are only going to have to live like this for 3 days; especially given the distress it causes not only not only us, but, more especially, the poor cats who are wondering what on earth is happening to the home they know and love.
Siege conditions in the dining room
On the morning of Wednesday 22nd, the day the fitters are due to arrive to start the preparation works, I receive a letter from Mr S stating that the commencement day is Thursday 23rd. Uh oh. Warning bells deafen me. I telephone Mr S who seems to have entirely forgotten about our verbal agreement and says that he is sorry (oh yes, sure, please try to sound a little more sincere, Mr S!), the kitchen has only just arrived and needs assembling, he has only just found out and there is nothing he can do. They will be starting Thursday, not Wednesday. I reiterate about not being available Saturday and he once more reassures me that will not be a problem, it is, after all, only a small kitchen (please, Mr S, do try to sound just a little less condescending). I am not at all happy, and tell him so, we have now spent an unnecessary day of being upside down. We leave it that the fitters will arrive the next day.
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At 9.23am the following day, the Thursday the fitters are due to arrive, I receive a courtesy call from a gentleman at the local fitting depot, to say that the fitters have been delayed on a previous job, which they were finishing off that morning, and that they will be with me at about 12pm instead of between 10 and 11 am. I thank him for letting me know. At 12.25 Pat telephones to say that they have not arrived and at 12.55 I phone to see where they are. I am promised a return call within 5 minutes. At 13.19 I telephone again and am again promised a return call in 5 minutes. 10 minutes later I phone again (sorry if this is getting boring) to be informed by the supervisor, Mr D, that they will not be arriving that day and that there is, in any case, no way they can fit my kitchen in less than 2- 2 1/2 days. After a long discussion in which I express my anger and disappointment he apologises profusely and a subsequent day is arranged for Monday 27th October. Mr D also seems to know nothing at all of the levelling work or the arrangement Mr S had made of the additional day to do it.
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So, instead of living in, to say the least, difficult conditions for 3 days, we are now faced with 8. It’s the little things that get to you. Like having to buy new supplies of washing powder tablets because your recently bought box of washing tablets is packed away in a box, well, you could manage for 3 days so it didn’t seem necessary to keep them handy. And having friends to dinner, luckily the dinner plates etc are at hand but wait, where is the measuring jug to make the instant gravy? And where is the gravy boat to put it in? Improvisation and a few apologies later and, hey presto, we have gravy – in a plastic fridge jug. Which we then have to empty and wash out so we can use it for the custard to go with the dessert. What was that about necessity being the mother of invention?
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