KBB

John England’s quote finally came and was disappointing. It wasn’t the amount that was disappointing since this was about the same as Max. It was the limited amount of information that was on the quote that was worrying and made it look a bit unprofessional. The other two had detailed at length all the work that would be done whereas John seemed to have a just written ‘a spot of light building’ and it didn’t seem that he was too interested.

Yesterday Marianna found herself with a couple of hours to kill in Birmingham so she headed to the KBB (Kitchens, Bedrooms, Bathrooms) show at the NEC [I know. One more attendance and she gets her own parking space]. On arrival she discovered that it was a trade only show but approached the ticket desk to see if she would be allowed in. Her purse was open and her student ID visible and the woman at the counter said “Oh, you’re a student. You don’t have to pay. Just go on in”. And that’s how easy gate-crashing was. So she wandered around, charming people and overwhelming them with questions and accepting the more than generous freebies on offer. She returned with catalogues full of bathrooms, kitchens and radiators describing them all to me as “amaaaaaazing”. On her way out that morning she called on the owners of a house she has watched being renovated over recent months as she drives by on her way to work and was finished in a style we like. “Hello, you don’t know me but I’ve driven past your house regularly and wondered who your builder was?” she opened with. “Do come in and have a look around” was the unsurprising reply. So she then rang their builder who, within a few hours, was calling on us. But he didn’t impress me. He was very quiet, asked very few questions and was gone within ten minutes. Being charmless doesn’t mean he’s a poor builder and the house that Marianna viewed proves that he isn’t but it left me feeling quite odd and that I’ve definitely had enough of interviewing builders.

Today Malcolm’s latest sketches of Martin's guttering arrived. They were quite literally free hand sketches. It’s at moments like this I wonder if Michael Pilkington would have sorted all of this out for us in a fraction of the time.

Freebies