Back to warm floors.

It's certainly a fine thing to be living in a place that was brand spankin' new when we moved in,  and quite frankly, will look pretty much the same when we move out.  The only slight consideration however,  is that the skills and materials used by the worker bees who built the place,  doesn't always hold up to rigorous scrutiny.
I know I'm a bit of a nit picker,  and I recall once upon a time a comment from a friend of mine when he saw the way I had very carefully cut all the joints for a railing off our back porch.  Something along the lines of the way it had to be in "Bob Land".    I'm sure I took way too much time,  and was way too fussy,  but I knew I'd be looking at it for a while,  and I really didn't want to be fighting the urge to rip it out again each and every time I took out the recycling.  As it is,  there are a few things back home that I want to rip out and "do over",  and I'll get to those things eventually.
 So needless to say,  when we first moved in here,  I had to have a little visit from the near sighted nine fingered door installer,  since he clearly had very little clue,  or simply hadn't finished the job.   Subsequent to his visit,  I ended up adjusting the rest of the doors myself,  since it was just too painful to watch the guy.
Seriously,  he couldn't even see well enough to distinguish between a Torx and Phillips head.

That's kind of an important skill if you're hanging doors.  That and being able to read a level.  He didn't do such a hot job with that part either.


Oh,  and I almost forgot,  we had to have the electrician come back,  since he hadn't left enough copper showing when he was wiring up the panel.   (it's a rule,  trust me)
So of course one of the circuits wasn't getting any juice.  Again,  having electricity running through the wires is important.  Another basic and useful piece of information.
For the rest of it,  I'm willing to more or less look the other way.

More or less.

Here are a few examples....

See the honkin' big crack?

Not enough drywall tape.  Or maybe none at all?

Oh look,  more spaces where there shouldn't be any.

Not a good photo.  Camera doesn't know what to focus on.

See,  there are some flooring manufacturers like Pergo,  who will not stand behind their warranty, and it's a ten year warranty,  if you fail to install their product properly.   They give you very explicit instructions,  one of which is,  the floor needs to move.  Can't hamper that movement in any way.
I don't think these guys were too terribly worried about that.  Also, there seems to be more of these issues out towards the front door than anywhere else.

In a bit of a hurry,  perhaps?


So fine,  you've tolerated my whining up to this point,  but just let me tell you about the one thing that they did really,  really well.    Some genius thought it would be a good idea to have the boiler pipes run under the bathroom floors.

Oh ya,  Baby!   Warm tootsies where it matters!

Yes really,  an actual genius.  What?  I'm not being sarcastic!
Of course,  the fact that they used the wrong kind of tile on said floors would be another complaint,  wouldn't it?

OK,  forget that.

You recall that I had alluded to needing to put the heat back on yesterday?  I guess it was around five,  when my nose was running, and I was starting to feel uncomfortable in spite of adding clothing, when I just decided that there was no way I was going to have any part of that.

 Sorry,  even if we were "back on the farm", I'm sure I'd manage to put another log on the fire,  or at least move a little closer to the stove.   The options here aren't quite the same.  Being on the roof top,  if the outside temperature never goes above about 10,  and today it only got up to around five,  eventually the place just starts to get too cool for comfort. 
Not much point in having central heat,  if you're just going to sit and freeze.


 It didn't take me long to book our hotel in Hengelo for Sunday night.  And yes,  there was a confirmation email,  and I printed off the other stuff to take along.  I still don't know what went wrong with that Rome situation.  I realise I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I don't make notes on little snippets of paper,  so unless there's some sort of electronic bits and bytes coming my way, I'm kinda at a disadvantage.

So this is a place where Travelling Companion has stayed,  but I never have.  Wasn't about to go back to the Eden Star,  since the time we stayed there for a week in March of 08,  they never came around with a vacuum cleaner for the whole week we were there,  and the parking is less than ideal.  Besides,  don't eat there if you can help it.  After a couple less than stellar meals we would just walk around the corner to Buersstraat and eat at the restaurant there. 
Wanted to stay at "Het Witte Paard",  because we like the folks who run the place and were looking forward to a great meal in their restaurant,  but they don't do check-ins after six p.m.
I don't think we'll be to the Dutch border much before 8:30,  so that was out.
It's kind of a "Mom and Pop" type of place,  and they can run the place the way they want I suppose.

So it'll be the "Van der Valk". 

Travelling Companion was completely OK with that choice,  and she seemed to think we might actually be able to get something to eat when we get there.

We'll see how that goes.


 After all,  it's not Spain.




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