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Just over a week ago, early on Friday morning Mr C learned that one of his closest friends had passed away suddenly the previous evening. It was difficult to take in the reality as the friend was only 51 and always so full of life. This left us both a little sombre over the weekend.

Lord Leycester Hospital

On Saturday we ordered curtain material to replace the living room curtains to co-inside with the fitting of a new curtain track. On Sunday Mr C was celebrating his birthday so we went out Warwick where we visited the Lord Leycester Hospital which houses The Queen’s Royal Hussars museum and the Warwickshire Yeomanry museum. Mr C had planned on visiting Warwick Castle but I was not so keen on the idea. Whilst it is still a castle it has been turned into a theme park.  Theme parks are not at all my thing! We did make our way to the castle shop to see if it had a good book selection related to the historical period of the castle. It did not, so I waited outside in the courtyard watching some of Britain’s finest wandering around.

Kitchen

I had to go back to work on Monday but Mr C had the day off and had volunteered to cook a roast lamb dinner. I was relaxing in the living room whilst Mr C was popping backward and forward to the kitchen attending to the meal. Mr C poured two glasses of sherry and brought me one and returned to the kitchen. As he did so there was a loud bang, a small exclamation followed by silence…

The cooker had shot out a large blue flame and had unsurprisingly stopped working taking out the cooker circuit with it. Luckily the rest of the house electrics were working fine. But what were we to do with a half cooked dinner? The gas part of the appliance was still working although obviously we had to resort to matches to light the rings so the veg were cooked on the stove top and the roast lamb and potatoes were taken around the corner to a family member for them to complete that part of the meal in their oven. The neighbours must have wondered what Mr C was up to ferrying a roasting tin to and fro in his car!

After a previous accident when the grill in the top oven was left on with the glass door shut we decided it would be more sensible to have a new one rather than repair the old one. Whilst all this was going on a replacement cooker was ordered for delivery on Friday.

The cooker arrived yesterday but unfortunately it couldn’t be fitted by the company who delivered it because the electrician had not yet been to check out the electric circuit. The reason for this was the cooker was unexpectedly delivered at 7.30 in the morning!! The electrician turned up, checked the circuit and everything was fine. A gas fitter was booked for 9.30 this morning. He arrived on time and connected the gas supply to the cooker and started to test it out. When it came to turning on the main oven it made a horrendous racket. There is something wrong with the fan. After several phone calls between the supplier and manufacture the best arrangement they could come to was that a repair agent would come out next Friday to see if it could be repaired or if it needed replacing. Another seven days without a cooker!!

Whilst all this was going the curtain fitter turned up early to fit the curtain track. The fitting mostly ran smoothly although he had forgotten that the track was being attached directly to the ceiling and not to wooden batons, which were to be removed. That was soon sorted out and it looks very nice. Now we just have to wait for the curtain material which was supposed have arrived this week but is nowhere to be seen…

12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 22nd 2015

12 Responses to “A Week of Challenges”

  1. Chrysalis says:

    I just looked up Warwick Castle’s “theme park” concept. Now, tell the truth, Cherie – you and Mr. C stayed in the Princess Tower and wore around tiaras all day, didn’t you? ;)

    Otherwise, with regards to your week – Oh. My. Goodness – you definitely win at having the worst luck week! The good news is your prize will be a vacation to an unknown and surprise location, coming your way sometime soon, from what we understand – the pictures of which will be shared with us shortly thereafter as consolation prizes for us “also rans” in the “weird week” competition?

    I’m sorry about Mr. C’s friend, though, must’ve been a shock.

  2. james higham says:

    Looking good there. Sorry for Mr. C.

    • CherryPie says:

      It is a cheat picture from when we had the kitchen done. We have however replaced the cooker with the same model as before. I would prefer it if it was working good!!

      Thanks for your thoughts for Mr C.

  3. Sorry to hear that. Must be hard for Mr C.

    Lord Leycester Hospital looks like an interesting place to visit.
    Have you been to Ye Old Black Bear In in Tewkesbury?
    Their pub sign looks exactly like the one at Lord Leycester Hospital?!

    >I am a local and you have visited places and seen things that I have not seen
    Oh that Tar Tunnel was also free for Art Fund members. Plus, Blists, Jackfield, etc.
    I went to see all of them.

    • CherryPie says:

      Thanks LC :-)

      It is a very interesting place to visit. I will get around to blogging about it soon :-)

      It is a long time since I have visited Tewkesbury and I don’t remember much about it.

      I have visited most of he Ironbridge attractions but I have never made it to the Tar Tunnel.

  4. Amfortas says:

    My sympathies for Mr C, Cherie. Long term friends take a long time to make. I hope the chap had a fine obituary, mentioning his long association with the husband of Shwopshire’s most prolific traveller.

    Your cooker woes rival James H’s many travails with suppliers and tradies. Have you donated you old cooker and cutains to a refugee NGO? One has to get refugees used to the ‘British way”. (Yes, I know. I am awful, aren’t I)

    • CherryPie says:

      Thank you I will pass on your thoughts to Mr C :-)

      I thought of James as the phone calls were taking place. How exactly is the customer requesting a service call under warranty when the cooker that was delivered was broken on arrival? I will not be using the cooker at all until they have been to look at it. That will make evening meals a bit of a challenge!!

  5. Bernard says:

    “Another seven days without a cooker!!”
    Back to salads then Cherie? :-)
    Pounds lost (sorry, ladies only lose ounces don’t they?) or knocked off the bathroom scales?
    I know, I’m a cheeky rotter. ;-o
    What gets me is how things today are poorly made, or at least poorly checked before leaving the factory. Years ago things were repaired, as it was far cheaper to repair an item than replace it. Not so today. When my Mum knocked her iron off the ironing-board, and it ceased to iron with a hint of heat – Dad would mount his bike, pedal up to Woolworths in Northfield and buy a new electrical element for 1/6d.
    Back home, this was quickly fitted and the cold iron, became hot once more, and us boys had our school shirts pressed to perfection.
    Actually – only yesterday I was replacing a fuse (in a plug) using the exact electrical screwdriver that Dad used all those sixty odd years ago.
    You see electrical screwdrivers in those days were made to last!
    All the best as always…
    B xxx

    • CherryPie says:

      Salads are on the menu and maybe a slow cooker meal… I haven’t made up my mind yet.

      Things are poorly made today but in this instance I think it was the lack of a quality check on the item before it left the factory. I find that quite unacceptable.

      I have lots of old tools in my garage that belonged to my grandfather including one of those lovely old tape measures that are encased in wood. :-)

  6. Astrid says:

    My sympathy for Mr. C. 51 is too young, sigh.
    What a misfortune at your place, I hope they did not deliver the curtains at the neighbours…. so keep checking them when you are outside ;) …….
    Love the tiara/crown. I am glad that I am NOT Royalty, living in a glass house….
    Hope things goes better next week for you :)

    • CherryPie says:

      HaHa :-) The curtains have to be picked up from the shop where we purchased them. We were hoping that they would arrive last week (we were told they would) and the curtain rail fitter would be able to bring them with him!!!

      Thank you for your kind thoughts :-)