If rigidness and inflexibility are signs of aging, I’m only 10 years old!

I have not blogged much about the current upheavals in my household, but it all started with a sudden dislike for the cracked shower door. Never mind that I had cohabited with it for 10 or more years,  last fall I decided it had to go, that the shower was to far off the ground and that, as a result, the shower room needed renovating. It wasn’t weeks thereafter that, having found a lovely tile, my thought process expanded to, "I'll do the shower new then wish that I had also done the bathroom next to it": solution - let’s do both.

If I was able to choose the tile, the appliances and faucets etc. in just under an hour the rest of the project did not run quite as smoothly. January 5 arrived and I had 5 men in two small rooms: two to undo the heating units, two plumbers and the tiler.  The tiling took two weeks and looks lovely. The plumber received all of the bathroom appliances and the toilet as promised however, the sink which I had meant to keep was fixed so tightly to the wall that they couldn’t save it – glitch number one going online the same morning and finding a double sink. Never mind that they had to also exchange the toilet as the original one was too high for the space, nor that they broke the bidet whilst fixing it to the floor – all that the first morning.

Glitch two – installing the glass partition on the tub had the plumbers cracking one of the tiles – fortunately the tiler was a lovely chap and came back the next day to replace it.

Glitch three: dust everywhere all the time, every day.  Who knows why I thought that a major renovation like that would be tidy…

But, by and all, the bathroom was ready with heating units re-installed a couple of weeks later. Ceiling painting and light fixtures still needed. Never mind accessories: that has become a nasty word in my vocabulary and merits a blog of its own.

Glitch four – the shower room sink, medicine cabinet and cabinet under the sink were not available or delivered on time although the company from whom we had ordered had said that they were. The shower stall had to be ordered once the receptor was installed.

Meanwhile as the two ceilings needed painting I foolishly decided that perhaps it was also time to paint the stairwell and all the doors and frames in the house: none had been done since May, 1981 and what with two sons growing up in said house and our normal wear and tear things were a wee bit shoddy – not that we noticed. Also in the attic the room that younger son currently occupies had lots of dings in the plaster so add that to the list.

Of course I also had no clue as to what that would entail and perhaps that is a good thing as it has been 6 days of dust, paint odors, handles and light switches taken down, doors as well sometimes missing. Poor younger son also had to vacate his room and as he would put it – his life.

Still today was to be the day that the plumber finished: painters here as usual at 8 – their last day.

Then the upsets, flexibility issues continued: I arrived home from coffee, plumber a no-show. Checked my e-mails and he had had an unforeseen impediment, could he come in the early afternoon. I answered that in a rush before leaving for lunch up the lake with a friend, leaving the painters to answer the door bell if ever - and the one painter's cell phone number to the plumber just in case (younger son also aware of the situation but leaving at 15:00 and I was not sure to be back by then thus the painter solution).

I enjoyed a lovely lunch with my friend in Morges (just the two times a half hour train ride to catch up on Monday's and Tuesday's papers was great), which I had fortunately not cancelled as when I returned home straight without any shopping it was to find still no van in the driveway.

No cell phone message. Younger son hadn't heard anything nor had the painters. Ah ha, there was a call on my fixed phone - he had called just past noon. Called him back only to find out that Getaz Romang still hadn't the merchandise, which they had said would arrive yesterday so he couldn't come and would do so tomorrow. This of course entailed calling the electrician who was scheduled to hook up the last bits tomorrow morning.

When the painters left I needed to dash up to another friends as she is having problems with her computer (after her granddaughter pushed something... the daughter had been able to at least turn it on and supposedly fix it the other day, but now she had no sound on Skype and couldn’t shut it down either). She had said no rush, but I know how I would feel in her position and what with my schedule changing hourly things that are done
are done is my current motto.

So tomorrow the plumber will come around 9, the painter boss as well to check the worker’s job, then the electrician in the early afternoon so that, barring any other upsets, my housemate and her husband will return to a fresh new house.

And I haven’t even mentioned the other upsets and schedule changes already this week.

Back to the original phrase: what with all the having to change, swap, re-adjust, re-schedule and in general be flexible I have had no time to “act my age” and settle into mundaneness: there are days when I would welcome a more even life, but that would probably be boring and heck who cares, the

SUN IS STILL SHINING.