I got back to Blighty on Friday having managed to sort out some of the trials so I thought I’d better report on progress.

The flooring is on its way to being sorted. Hans from Joop came round to measure up and we’ve managed to  recycle some of the previous underlay which I’m told is top quality. I will need to go back in a couple of weeks but I’m confident that It will be fine. It seems that there is little point in trying to get my deposit back from the first place but  one has to be philosophical about these things.

On Wednesday the Indesit engineer came round to look at the fridge.  As I suspected he said that it was Kaput and that I needed to go back to the shop and demand a new one. He gave me a report and I duly cycled over in the mid day sun. I wanted to go as at this point I wanted to choose a different model. I no longer trust this batch of Indesit models. A new Whirlpool model came on Thursday morning. It’s a very clever model that actually makes things cold when you want it to.

Originally I had it all planned that the flooring would be fitted last Wednesday with Ikea delivering a load of heavy boxes on the Thursday. As I said before Ikea had cancelled. I had already rearranged for the Ikea delivery to be put off ’till August. This gave me chance to carry on painting. Thursday came, I was filling holes, sanding skirting boards, rubbing down door frames and splashing around the emulsion. The bell rang – Ikea delivery – two men with a truck, a washing machine and a load of heavy boxes. What to do – accept it or send them away.  My reasoning was that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  “i need to take payment”, the man said.. “But I’ve already paid”. He went to call the office while I found the payment on line. It took a bit of working out but it appears that the order had been duplicated in the Ikea system. The one I’d paid for was the one that had been delayed. The one they’d brought was the duplicate with no payment. After much confusion I agreed to pay on my card and then arrange to cancel the first order and claim a refund. A classic case of a computer system that said no.

Heavy Ikea boxes

One problem is that there are now a load of boxes that will need to be moved around once the new flooring arrives. I still think that the bird is better in the hand. We’ll cope.

The walls are all painted in the spaces that are having a new floor. Skirting boards and most of the door frames are also done. Friday morning I finished a second coat on the living room ceiling and went round to pay a deposit on the floor. I also asked Hans to get me through the Dutch Ikea phone system “Voor keukens op 1. Voor waxinelichtjes druk op 2…”

Another hot day and I rewarded myself with a latte and a piece of cake before heading off to the airport.