A fitted kitchen at last!

Hello from A!

Firstly let me apologise in advance for the production of quite a fast update; I have been on the go from 4am and am pretty much beat after a full on day at work and trying to juggle all the joys of getting a kitchen fitted without hitches. I will try to make the weekend update a little more comprehensive.

So where do I start?  Wednesday:

Lining it up

Back boards 

Using our gifted bas units

Way up high

In a bit of a hole!

 Wednesday started with a bang. The kitchen fitter arrived - on the arranged day - and got stuck straight into unloading the van (again) whilst I spoke with the lady from the office and her boss on the phone to finalise and clarify what happened next.  We had been to the bank first thing and when we arrived back, all the action had been well under way. 

The first section of the kitchen he worked on was the island and I am absolutely chuffed to bits with both the units and indeed, the worktop, which was chosen from an online photo!

Sally and Bekir were on with their own tasks amidst the hub-bub. Bekir was putting in place - I will probably get this wrong as it is most definitely a blue task - a sump? I think. Basically a section where all of our grey water will collect, have a first stage filter and be pumped into the gravel pit drainage. I think. Ish.  Anyway, he was in a hole!

Heavy lifting, local style

Part of getting the kitchen in involved lifting our very heavy cooker from the entrance hall to the kitchen. It came all the way from the UK and I cannot wait to use it. It is a beast and even with four people it was still quite a task.

Proud new owner

With all the preparation for the Beard going off to the UK, that is pretty much it except (see, I almost forgot but didn't) that Bekir had asked to buy the spare trailer that was brought from the UK with Himself when he first moved. It has served him well and now Bekir will be making good use of it, I am sure.

We ate out last night at our favourite restaurant and were in bed by 9pm due to the early start of 4am.

And so to today:

Today we were up and about at 4am in order to get a tea and coffee before I dropped Himself to the bus to head off to Sofia on his trip back to the UK. I can honestly say that I have had such a busy day that it has not quite sunk in until not long ago when I dished up dinner and sat in the living room on my own to eat. Strange.  Anyway, all went without a hitch and he was there in plenty of time for the bus, which was unusually a few minutes late.

When I got back home I was not lucky enough to get back into bed as I had a deadline and I had to get stuck straight into work. I worked solidly, while the puppies lounged in our bed, until 7.15, jumped in the shower and was off to get the men. I got back at the usual time, dropped Sally off, came in and grabbed a piece of paper and pencil and went off to count how many handles I would need to buy for the kitchen cupboards. Bekir had counted already and was correct, but I wanted two different lengths of handle to suit the two different sizes of doors/drawers. Women, eh?

Materials

 Our trip out was successful and we also picked up a lot of cement, plaster and some additional tiles to finish the raised section in the kitchen. Brilliant.

Kitchen progress

 Just as we arrived back, the kitchen fitter arrived also and so he set to work. He agreed to fit the handles for me, even though this had not been agreed initially and the rest of his tasks were to finish off the last few doors and a drawer that was slightly too big and to fit the sinks.  He was to cut the worktop on site. I was terrified he was going to arrange the sinks incorrectly - this being the only thing I was told to make sure was done right - and so I was up and down all morning watching, waiting and finally I gave up and drew it on a piece of paper to make sure he understood.

Stretching

 Sally was on with some finishing touches in the morning and was tidying under the archways between the rooms. He can be very fussy, which is great!

Spuds!

Corn!

Meanwhile, the veggies are coming along nicely.  I was doing the watering round and I thought that no blog of mine would be complete without spuds! So here you have them, growing away in their spud towers and doing brilliantly. Hopefully we will have some early harvest while our guests are here.

Hiding

RIP Mrs Lizard

I finally got my file done around 3pm. It only took me a total of about 8 hours! I then realised that whilst Thelma had been sat very quietly in her bed beside me, I had not seen Louise in quite a while. I went out the back door after walking through the kitchen, yet again, and I found Sally sitting on the wall of the driveway giggling away to himself.  Or so I thought.  Louise was in pursuit of a lizard. Just as I got close to her, it ran, she grabbed it and with a whiplash throw, it was all over. Except the tail was about two feet away still wriggling! Poor lizard. I hope she does not make a habit of this. However, this does show me that she has that instinct, so against my initial judgement on the matter, I chose not to chastise her. She really shook it once she had caught it. Bittersweet moment, was that.

Silicone and new tap

I just caught the end of the fitting of the new tap with the stretchy out shower attachment. He was most impressed with this tap and also the quality. Isn't it lovely?

Visitor

 Just after all of this happened and I had been out to take the daily photograph (I remembered that also!) I saw the sheep farmers wife who lives at the bottom of the hill.  She had appeared at the side gate with a huge carton of sheep's milk for me and she had come to have a look around, as they do here. Bless her. She is such a lovely woman and always smiling.  She got the guided tour and seemed most impressed with our pot plant sat the door of the living room.

Waiting to test

 Bekir had been in and out today both helping the kitchen fitter when he was cutting up and also finishing off the waste pipe drainage for Himself. I saw him as he was finishing up his final task of the afternoon and explained that I was to get a video of it working to show to Himself in England. He laughed and said we would do that tomorrow when the cement had gone off.

So here I am, it is 9pm, this blog was longer than expected and I am about to collapse into bed.

I will leave you with the final fitted kitchen, taps, handles and all the trims, or most of them anyway.

Not one, but two!

The fitting is complete!

Until Sunday!

Ax