Day 57

Yes, day 57! How did that happen? Two solid months of hard labour, and ten years off my life. My back hurts, by shoulder aches and I still haven't shaken this nasty chesty coughy thing.  I've slipped from daily posts to weekly ones, and I have to admit, I'd rather just go to bed than recap the misery that has left me so shattered.  Feel free to skip the next couple of paragraphs if you're not interested in hearing a woman rant about the ineptitude of the staff at the Tower Junction Bunnings.

It's the cork. That bloody cork has nearly killed me. At first, I thought the peeps at Bunnings were being fairly helpful, but then I had to deal solely with a woman at the Tower Junction Bunnings and after our first delivery of 54 packets (with the promise of another 56), I began to realise she was COMPLETELY USELESS. She couldn't tell me when these other packets were coming, where they were, how many were coming etc etc.  At first it wasn't a problem, as the 54 packets kept me going for some time, but then I ran out.  No more tiles.  And that's when a little bit of panic set in.  I went into that damned Bunnings store at Tower Junction every day to see this lady and ask for an update, and all she could give me was a shoulder shrug and "I'll give you a call tomorrow" (she never once phoned me, and never came to the phone when I called).  And I'm sorry, but Tower Junction is feral. The carpark, the people, Bunnings,  urgh - it sends shivers down my spine.

Anyway, I may have slightly lost my temper with her (no tears, but close), and suggested that I maybe do the chasing up as she was so useless at it. So I went home and called some other Bunnings to see if they had my tiles.  And guess what? They didn't have my specific tiles, but just about every fucken Bunnings in the country had got cork tiles back in stock except Bunnings Tower Junction.   And then I got really angry.  Someone nice at the Wellington Central Bunnings gave me the name of the distributor who I rang - a really lovely guy named Rob. Rob let me know that yes, cork tiles had been back in stock for a couple of weeks. Then he told me exactly where to get them - Mitre 10 in Beckenham, Shirley Bunnings etc etc.

I jumped straight in the car and went and got my tiles elsewhere. And left a passive aggressive message at Tower Junction saying I'd managed to get my tiles myself.  At some point I suppose 56 packets might turn up there for me, but I'd actually be surprised. I think they were bluffing the whole time.

SO.

Here's where I left off a couple of weeks ago (when I had the disaster of too much glue):

So I got some better quality glue, and a proper metal trowel, and use date exact right amount, and although it was better, they still turned up a bit at the corners, and I needed the help of a lot of bricks to get them to stay down. :

But I got there in the end (finished yesterday in fact), and after sanding, they came up ok:

Nearly 900 tiles, all laid by me.  Badly. 

I started varnishing yesterday, and some parts have had their final coat.  Which means we are actually starting to roll towards the finish line.  

Know anyone who might want to live here?  It'll be ready to rent in a fortnight I reckon.