Apocalyptic Renovations

I’ve got a couple of things I want to talk about and I think I’m going to make them separate posts for the sake of keeping things better organized.

First, one of the reasons I’ve been quiet for a bit is that I’m living through my own personal apocalypse. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you can be the judge: I no longer have my office, my desk, my computer set-up that makes working painless and comfortable, and even worse, my bathroom is gone.

Let me back up. It all began on June 29th. Bathroom renovations, two bathrooms that were pretty disreputable. In the image below you can see the end of the destruction phase of bathroom one, skipping all the in-between phases, and then the end result three weeks later:

Fine. The results are lovely. Just notice how long it took to do a bathroom.

Since my bathroom is accessed through my office which is next door to my bedroom, it was obvious that with such a mess that gets produced by this type of project, everything would have to be covered. That was my thinking. The kids, however, convinced me that it would be safer to just move everything out. And of course, once everything was out, they would have the chance to re-do my office which they have been trying to get me to agree to for the past 10 years or more. And, it would only extend the project by a week or so. Okay, good arguments. I was sick of the peeling wallpaper and the cracks in the floor and the impossible wiring arrangements for computers and such with only a couple of outlets. I gave in. So now there is the following image to contemplate:

In the top two photos, you see the bathroom with the wall ripped out before the fixtures have been removed, though they had already removed the tile surround from the tub. In the second photo on the top right, everything is gone. I am standing in my office to take the photo of the bathroom.

In the bottom two photos, you see my office with everything moved out and all the wallpaper stripped.

The second day of this phase of the operation was absolutely the worst because that was the day they cut out the wall between the bathroom and the office with the intention of moving the door to the left so that things would fit correctly. Turns out the wall was brick and they used a brick saw thingy that manifested a haboob throughout the entire upstairs. It didn’t matter if doors were closed…

I literally had to evacuate from my bedroom for several hours until the dust settled. And then, for a bit longer while the kids wiped things down. Everything was laden with red dust.

Now the worst part of the situation at present is this: we were informed before they began on the second bathroom that holidays start in France on the 19th and no matter what state my bathroom is in, off they will go on their merry way. We were also informed that they had “other projects” in process at the same time as ours, so we might not get priority. Hmmmph.

Well, I figured that they had been able to get the first bathroom at least operational before day 24, so with any kind of luck, that would happen for bathroom two (starting on July 29 and going through to August 19, excluding weekends and half-days on Fridays). But it is actually looking like I am to be punished for thinking they could actually do the job in 14 days (accounting for two half-days). They have had 8 days and are nowhere near the same stage they were at on the 8th day of the first bathroom.

The end result of all this is that Ark and the cat and myself are sort of camping in the bedroom with bunches of our bathroom and office stuff piled around along with the tea cart from the office. My big computer is downstairs running and I am operating with a laptop via remote desktop. I do not have my keyboard tray at the right height with my ergonomic keyboard that enables me to type without pain. I am sitting in the chaise longue with the keyboard mounted on a specially modified hospital tray table. At my age, having to walk half-way down the hall at night to the bathroom is more than a little inconvenient… enuff said. So I’m not a happy camper.

Nevertheless, I do have something pressing on my mind and heart that I want to write about and share with everyone; and I think you will all find it furiously interesting. So, now that you have an update, I will stop complaining, get on with it.

Oh, by the way, I canceled my subscription to Grok… it lied all the time because all it was allowed to access was lies.

Back soon…