O coach

November

Posted on 30 Nov, 2010 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • General

To sum up November – paint, paint, scrub, carpets, work.

Painting

The hallway had to be painted. It is quite a narrow area (about 1m) and the walls are easily knocked against when carrying bags of shopping or ‘going away’ kit. The paint therefore has to be hard-wearing so we decided on eggshell. Once on the walls this is great but getting it on the walls was a challenge. On the tin it only mentions a paint brush so I set to and did the area (including the ceiling) with a brush. It looked absolutely awful. Paul went to buy the next tin of eggshell. The folks in The Paint Shop in Dunoon were getting to know us quite well, even to asking “Are you nearly finished yet?” The guy in the shop thought there was no reason not to use a roller. This was good news for me as I had undertaken to do all the brush work as Paul had a lot of website work to do. However he had to do the roller work, being tall and stronger he was able to apply it more easily.
The paint rollered on well so we did two coats, really scraping the tin at the end. The skirting boards and door architraves were painted (there are six doorways from the hall!). I also painted the wardrobe doors as we could lay them flat in the spare room.

Carpets

There was a deadline to work to with the painting. We had ordered carpets. After a lot of discussion we bought these locally; the advantage of this was having the carpet-fitters booked in with the carpet delivery. The carpet-fitters come from Kilmarnock, spending between three and four days in Dunoon each week.
We undertook to ensure that each room was totally clear of furniture and the old carpets lifted. The bedroom carpets were thin and cheap with crumbling thin underlay. After vacuuming the floor it was still dirty and I did not want the brand new carpet & underlay going onto the dirty floor so it was on with the kneeling pads and, using a green pot scrubber, ensuring the floor was clean. These carpets and underlay had also been nailed and stapled down so these also had to be removed. The hallway was also cleaned and this was just as bad as there had been a leak from the over bath shower (this leak had been fixed about seven years ago when we had the bathroom totally redone). The underlay was completely rotten and the state of the floor under it . . . !
We then had a call from the carpet folks – they had to bring round the three carpets for the bedrooms and the hall so that they were ‘acclimatised’ overnight to the warmer temperature in the house and therefore easier to fit. As one of the lengths was 6m wide, it was hard to fit into the house. They fed it in through a back window, taking the ‘core’ out so it could bend slightly around the corner.
Carpets are fitted quickly when you know what you are doing. I went to do the weekly shop and they were almost finished on my return. The lounge carpet was delivered that afternoon, an easier task as the front windows open wide. The old carpet was lifted and the floor scrubbed. We put the furniture back into the bedroom. By 11:30am the next day the lounge carpet was fitted and we started to have a house to live in again, only two and a half months after the work began! All this was quite exciting for me as I have never had new carpets before and what a difference they have made to the house.
At the time of writing (early January 2011) we have not put the painted wardrobe doors back up; the hall cupboards and spare room have no doors either. They are in the garage to be painted but it’s been too cold for this!

Work

On the work front, I had an interview for a job! sportscotland had advertised for ‘National ‘Trainers’; this would be a group of experienced coaches who would be doing the training of people who wished to become recognised coaches. I felt I had the experience required both from the side of being an active coach and from my teaching background. Interviews were held at the end of November. As is usual there was the preparation of a presentation and I based mine around three meshing cogs. I am pleased to say that I have been appointed as one (of five) National Trainers. Courses start in February so I will shortly find out more.
The end of November 2010 was marked with a sudden spell of very wintry weather. I was due in Edinburgh for interviews (the other side of the desk this time) but they were postponed as the whole of central Scotland ground to a halt. Paul and I had planned to go to an orienteering event on the island of Kerrera (near Oban). We got up at 7am and sat having breakfast and watching the snow falling thicker and thicker. We stayed tucked up at home! I must remember to get the camera out next time so there are some photos to illustrate this blog.

Tagged : Blog • General