Quote

We’ve made a tiny bit of progress in that we finally have a quote from a decorator!  Barry had a guy round just before we went on holiday, we then had a lovely time in Majorca (see left, didn’t do much!), and when we got back, a quote was waiting for us on the doormat.

He was quite young, but Barry said he looked like he knew what he was doing and he seems to have a lot of work on, which is a good sign.

Barry asked him to quote separately for three different areas; so the quote is (excluding materials):

  • Finish sanding in kitchen, finish painting, take the black wall up the stairs and gloss the handrail and skirting board up the stairs – £120
  • Paint the middle hallway and ceiling (dealing with nail pops as he goes), the nursery walls and ceiling and gloss everything that needs it – £240
  • Paint up to our bedroom, walls, ceiling and black gloss – £240

So £600 altogether.  When you break it down into the number of days it would take (we think five), it doesn’t seem too bad, considering the same amount of work would take Barry weeks with him having two jobs now and all, but it is a bit shocking seeing it written down like that!  We’re giving him the go-ahead for the first bit so that the black wall is sorted out for Christmas as we’re having relatives over.  Think that will be done at the end of November.  For the other two bits, I think we may wait until January and get them done when I’m on maternity leave so we don’t have to take annual leave.

I do like to be beside the seaside

Now back off holiday (moan, moan, grumble, grumble), but we did have a lovely time.  We were staying in a caravan park on the coast, in a little seaside town called Cayton Bay.

On the day we arrived, it had been raining so hard that we were sinking into the mud getting to the caravan and I think our hearts were sinking a bit with our shoes.  It was actually a lovely day when we arrived, but the ground got better after that!  This photo is of the beach at Cayton Bay.  It’s a bit of an incline to get down to it, so I only went once (I have a bad back), but Barry went back to “fish” later in the week.  He is 65% certain that he got the hook in the water at some point.  I bought him a beach casting kit for Christmas and it’s the first time he’s tried it.

We went into Scarborough quite a few times (including to see the Avengers movie – go see it, it’s excellent!  4.5/5!).  I ate more fish and chips than I’ve ever eaten before, some of it very good, some of it not so good.

We visited Whitby as well – this photo doesn’t do it much justice, but it’s very picturesque and cute, just what you imagine a seaside town to look like.

In between all this, we picked up a channel that I’ve never seen before (Pick TV, anyone?), and I watched a few episodes of the Biggest Loser USA, which I could quickly imagine myself getting hooked on.

We were supposed to be going Monday – Friday, but we booked a cheeky extra night at The Grand Hotel in Scarborough, which is a really impressive-looking building that you can see from the sea, and can take a tram up to for 75p (which was the best bit).

We got a really good deal, and I’m so glad I didn’t Wikipedia it before staying there, but having read what they’ve got to say, don’t think I dare again!  We were supposed to have dinner and a bottle of wine in with our deal, but it just so happened one of my school friends who I haven’t seen in 10 years happened to be coming to Scarborough for the weekend.  We met up for “a” drink, and ended up getting very drunk indeed (we hadn’t eaten so got drunk very quickly), ate with them, and ended up in Scarborough’s only Irish pub until they wouldn’t serve us any more.  Good last night to the holiday!