Back from The Brink

It cannot have escaped the notice of regular readers that we have been having 'some work done on the house' where 'some work done on the house' actually equates to having had workmen inside it or building an extra room onto it for about 18months out of the last 24.

 

This has meant stress, hassle and a constant shuffling round of 'stuff' so that access could be gained to the bits that were being worked on. However light is now visible (just) at the end of the tunnel and I'm thinking by the end of March we'll have the place more or less how we want it, bar our two studies which are scheduled for some work next year and the new roof which we'll have put on in the summer.

 

Something I have wanted for a long time was a glazed or part glazed door from the hall into the living room, to satisfy my quest for ever more light in there. It was always problematic because the door size was not a standard one, but while the joiners have been working in the hall they have altered the placement of the door and enlarged the gap into which it goes thereby making it a standard size.

 

Now I am not a lover of draughts and therefore living without a door into the living room had been uncomfortable for me, even though I have only had to suffer it for about four days so far. Nevertheless that was more than enough and so, rather than go through all the palaver of ordering a door from a firm in Orkney, then waiting for it to be delivered at great expense,  what we thought we would do would be to take the ferry to Wick, go to Homebase, pick up a door, and some paint and wallpaper for the hall and bring it back, ready for joiner and decorator on Monday morning.

 

I was looking forward to the day. As our friend Alex who lives in Wick was too busy to have lunch with us, we decided to get the early ferry out and the early afternoon one back which would give us plenty of time to pick what we needed, possibly have a quick look in Lidl's for some chocolate brazils for my sister's birthday and give us the afternoon at home.

 

Well we soon discovered that as far as Homebase was concerned we were on a hiding to nothing. Our new size of door may be now a standard one, but it's not one which the Wick Homebase keeps in stock. Nor did they have the wallpaper which I had so carefully chosen over the summer after bringing back some samples and blu-tacking them around in various places in the hall and looking at them at various times of day to get the effect. And once we had found some alternatives,  after much scrutiny and on my part, it must be said much  pouting, it transpired that they do not keep more than 5 rolls of any wallpaper in stock at any one time.

 

Now granted that we were looking for a large number of rolls, for a long hall which goes round several corners, and possibly it was naïve of us to think that they might have enough in stock, but really, 5 rolls! That's not going to do many rooms, is it? Small third bedroom in 1960s semi perhaps, or a feature wall somewhere. But it's not really a very useful stock level, I wouldn't think.

 

Of course they offered to order us a door, and two of the wallpapers we liked were still 'current' so they could order those for us too. But what is the use of that? Either it would cost us another £130 plus to go back and pick the stuff up, or we would have to arrange to have a courier pick it up in Wick and bring it over to Orkney. As I said to an assistant who didn't quite seem to get the point; If we're going to have to  order stuff we might as well order it in Orkney in the first place.

 

I am not good with frustration. It's a failing I know but after 50 plus years I'm not going to change now, however much I wish I could. I know people who can take this sort of disappointment in their stride. They would have laughed off all this stuff yesterday, and found something else useful or enjoyable to do with the unexpected  hours they had in Wick. I cannot do that. When unexpected obstacles are put in my way, I exhibit all the maturity and challenge meeting powers of a toddler. I walk around feeling, and looking, as though I am under a large black cloud. Muttering. Sulking. Indignant. (I know: its not attractive).

 

And that's roughly where we were when we left Homebase in Wick..We decided to kill some time in the town and as we were driving round looking for a car park, out of the corner of my eye I saw a shop with paint cans in the window. No wallpaper, but definitely cans of paint. And a big cuddly Dulux dog. We went for a look, just in case.

 

And guess what? They had wallpaper, adn they had it in abundance. They had much nicer wallpaper than Homebase did.We found a wallpaper that we both fell in love with instantly. I think we're both still surprised that the other one likes it. And all our friends will be astonished that we chose it. It's so Not Us. And, although they didn't have the 13 rolls we needed, they did have 11, and there are places on the internet where we can buy the remaining rolls. The assistant was really helpful, even phoning a shop in Thurso see if they had the paper in stock, and even though they didn't she gets full marks for customer service.

 

So we don't have a door yet which is a shame. But we do have wallpaper and paint for the decorator to get to work with tomorrow, and my mood turned from stormy to sunny in - well not an instant - but quite quickly.

 

So, should you ever wish to buy any sort of decorating supplies in the north of Scotland, I give MacAllans in Wick a huge recommendation. They are brilliant. Sadly the same cannot be said of Homebase (in Wick) although to be fair I have had good experiences with them in other places.