We
arrived in theUnited Kingdom on Saturday 12
th November 2011 and just
three weeks later, on schedule, on Saturday 3
rd December
2011 we moved into our UK based home in
Heighington. It had been three weeks of
mental and physical fatigue.
All the time we
were wondering; would the contractors complete their tasks on time;
would the suppliers of our new furniture and kitchen equipment
deliver on the days agreed; would we complete our purchases of linen,
bedding and the oh so many other sundry items in time for our move
in?
We vacated our
temporary accommodation at 07:30 hrs. on 'Occupation Day' as the last
major delivery, the fridge/freezer, was due for the second attempt at
our new UK base any time after 08:00 hrs. but before 18:00 hrs. It is
so good when one receives a definite time in a reasonable time slot!
Especially when the reason for this was to correct an error by the
supplier. It arrived mid-morning.
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Kitchen Before |
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During the first
and second weeks the decorator and the kitchen joiner completed their
work. Early on Monday the 28
th November the plumber and
electrician made the final connections in the kitchen. The rest of
the day the house was empty to allow the carpet fitters a clear run
to lay the new flooring.
Monday for us was
the second day of the
IKEA expedition. On arrival in Nottingham our
first task, well second actually after having a coffee, was to order
the
picking and home delivery services shopping list of the larger and
heavier items. With this job out of the way our two subsequent trips
in the IKEA maze, interspersed by having our two course lunch in the
restaurant, were completed when the kitchen equipment and other
sundries had overfilled two trolleys and tiredness was setting in.
Time had arrived to head back towards Lincoln and wait in
anticipation for the home delivery scheduled for Wednesday.
Tuesday was the
day for putting up the curtains on the new fittings, and moving the
many odds and ends purchased up till then from the rental property to
our house. During the day IKEA surprised us by telephoning to confirm
our delivery would be with us within an hour. We pointed out that
that was a day early but we were very happy to change our plans to
receive our furniture.
Our schedule
changed for Wednesday as the early arrival on Tuesday enabled me to
start the
flat pack assembly experience a day earlier. Oh what joy!
In the afternoon, between 13:15 hrs. and 17:00 hrs. we were expecting
the delivery of our
Dream machine. As if trying not to be out done by
the IKEA delivery service by mid-morning our bed had been delivered
early.
Thursday saw two
more deliveries, our three major white goods from Comet and four
small furniture items from Argos. These should have been our final
arrivals but as I have already mentioned we had to wait until
Saturday for a pristine fridge/freezer as the Thursday arrival was
damaged and had to be returned. This caused some concern as it
initially seemed that we would have to move in without a
fridge/freezer, therefore the chilled and frozen food we had in the
rental cottage would be ruined. However the result of a telephone
call to Comet customer services to persuade them, well actually to
plead with them, to deliver a replacement before the following Monday
was successful with delivery made on Saturday as I've mentioned.
Friday, like the
previous two days, involved assembling more flat-pack wonders.
Another day of aggravating my flat-packer's knee and back syndrome!
By late afternoon we had a bed to sleep in, furniture to sit on, a
kitchen to cook and eat in so it was time to go to the rental cottage
and pack our suitcases for the Saturday early morning move in.
Glad you are settling in but sorry about the awful weather. It is still almost t-shirt weather here in Spain, certainly not cold!
ReplyDeleteCome back all is forgiven..
Barbra and Tony