Firstly, if you’ve had issues accessing this site over the past few days, that’s due to the fact there’s a problem with the server. Thankfully, 34SP are moving everyone to a faster, hopefully more reliable server.
And this is their message…
Due to repeated incidents of failure over the past 72 hours all accounts on the server are to be migrated onto a new, more powerful server. The move is expected to last upto 8 hours. The move will result in no downtime for your site. No e-mail will be lost during the migration although delays may be encountered until the move is completed. If your site uses database driven content you may lose any changes made during the migration period. The 34SP.com status page (http://status.34sp.com) will be udpated when the maintenance commences and completes.
We understand the inconvenience of such a move and thank you in advance for your patience; A pro-active switch of servers should mitigate the risk of your account being subject to more severe failures on the queeg server.
Thankfully, just like last time they did this, I’ll be asleep the whole time.
Onto the new carpet. I totally failed to mention that on the day Daddykins ordered a new bed, we also popped into Carpetright and ordered a new stair carpet, seeing as the old one was totally past its best. It was aincient when I was born, so there’s been at least 30 years out of it. When we lifted it up this morning, there was a newspaper underneath, from May 1982. This wasn’t when the carpet was laid though, this is when the gas board dug up the hallway in order to fit a new gas pipe. The carpet, as I say, is older… and it shows.
Just a little bit of wear there. Except all of the stairs were like this. The rest of it, to be honest wasn’t too bad, once you’ve removed the pet hairs, etc.
Lifting the carpet was the most horrible experience I’ve been through for ages. If you’ve never imagined what 30 years worth of dust, gravel and basic dirt looks like, please don’t. Just don’t. It’s not nice. Admittedly, it should have been hoovered more than what it was thoughout the years, but scooping handfulls of dust out info the front garden was the most harrowing thing I’ve done since cleaning up after Senta when she was a puppy. I attempted to begin hoovering it up, and clogged the filter within three seconds of switching it on, which meant instead of sucking it up, the whole lot just blew absolutely fucking everywhere. Aaaaargh.
After a crash course in dismantling a hoover, I managed to get it to co-operate, and we were away. The hall was the first to get the treatment. I was amazed to find that someone previously had awful coloured lino!
Whether that was my parents or not, I don’t know. Though I’ll hazard a guess that was probably the previous residents, and the original carpet probably dates from shortly after my parents moved in. The cement line which the hoover is resting on in that picture is where the gas pipe was fitted, and where I found the old newspapers. The two dark dots on the red piece of lino was sweat dripping from my forehead just before I took the photo.
For the record, here are the stairs. The colour scheme is lousy… considering these houses have been up since the late 40’s/early 50’s, it makes me wonder if the person who painted the following on our stairs is still alive…
The workmen were due after 1PM. I finished the hoovering at exactly 1PM. It was simply now a case of sitting back, and waiting for them to turn up. I’ve had a cold and a bad chest for the past few days, so I went upstairs to blow my nose. It came out black. Not good. I coughed some phlegm up. That was black too. Grrr. At least the stuff that comes up isn’t making its way into my system. I suppose it’s lucky that I have this cold, and that my mucus production factor is up 500%. I wonder if there’s a condition called Carpeteers’ Lung? If not, there should be.
I suppose it’s my own fault, I should have worn a mask. Didn’t think of that at the time though.
Either way. we sat patiently waiting for the workment to arrive. By 3:20, there was no sign of them, so Daddykins went up to get Carpetright’s telephone number. By the time he’d got to the top of the stairs, they were here, and unloading our carpet.
My only job for the rest of the afternoon was to sit back and watch Countdown. It was episode 2 of the 3 I’d been to see recorded. For the whole of the recording session, I couldn’t avoid this woman. Seriously. After her episode was recorded, I almost walked into her as she exited the “Green Room”. That’s TV lingo for the room you sit in and wait before you go on. Exactly why it was called a geen room is still unclear, as I mentioned before, it’s painted orange. Maybe they have a Yellow room for when you’re too scared to go on?
Anwyay, yes. Despite almost walking into her, she followed directly behind me, talking to the failed contestant from the first recording. She was talking to him about talking to Des Lynam in Spanish. And, after we were on the coach to go home, she was stood outside the studios talking to someone on a mobile. Or listening to the speaking clock, one of the two.
Uh, anwyay. Back to the carpet. It was all fitted, and the guys diappeared. It was only after they’d gone that Daddykins informed me that I couldn’t actually close my bedroom door, due to the fact they’d fitted a new carpet grip which didn’t exactly agree with my door. What the *fuck*?
Said door had to be removed and hacksawed into within an inch of its life in order for it to be able to close. Just. The door now bends when you force it shut. And you thought that was bad, the slice of carpet in my room where the door is, has had to be removed. So, thefirst thing you see when entering my room is floorboards. Classy. This will, apparently, be rectified over time. Or, more likely rectified when hell freezes over. At least though, I can open the door to strangers and say “Look! We have a carpet from this century!” I’m liking it a lot. For the first time, I can post a photograph of the landing without being ashamed…
As for the colours of the walls, it looked much brighter in the tin. The yellowed handrail at the top of the stairs is something we don’t actually notice enough to have removed. And is that the hoover sneaking into the top of the picture to make its second cameo appearance of the evening?
Oh, and for those who’ve not noticed, I’ve been adding some images to my flickr account. I’ve been delving through the archives, and have started uploading some of the original, full-size images I’ve used on the site. If an image has a green box around it, that means it has a link. You can click it for “bonus” information.
Anyway, there’s probably more to talk about, as I’ve left a proper update for just under a week. I’m in the process of doing a Stats Run as I was running behind with them. I think I’ll go and lie down on the stair carpet for a bit.
Technorati Tags: flickr, hoover, new carpet, server move, stairs, stats, vaccum cleaner
