THOUGHTS ON THURSDAY

Once again I look back on the week that was and find as many 'rights' as I can.

1.  I had not heard from my doctor re the x-ray I had done  on 22 April (the follow up one from 2 weeks previous 8/4) so I rang the surgery and was told by his receptionist "Everything is fine" so that was a big 'right'.  My GP always sends a letter to make an appointment if any test we have done needs to be followed up and when no letter had arrived I 'thought' all was OK but needed to be reassured.  I will definitely seek confirmation when I have my next B12 injection in a couple of weeks but he's never let us down before so am confident all is well.

2.  The grouting in our kitchen was done last Thursday and it looks really great so another 'right'.  With the lighter bench tops and the white tiles it is all so much lighter and brighter AND I am getting used to THAT sink, albeit slowly.

3.  A good 'right' was going down to celebrate our third great-granddaughter's second birthday last Saturday.  It was so much fun watching her open her presents and even though she is only two she is so 'grown up' in the things she does.  As you know I always enjoy seeing our little family and we spent an enjoyable few hours together.  Had hoped our grandson would be there but he may have been working so we missed seeing him yet again.

4.  We had rain last weekend and although we would have preferred to have more we feel the season has broken with the days and nights cooling down and all days below 25ºC.  That is a big 'right' in my world and I actually had to check what the noise was when it rained.  It was of course the rain on the patio roof which is just outside my workroom and, not having heard it for so many months, I truly didn't know what it was.  Silly me!

We are now looking forward to having the new vinyl laid this morning but it has been quite a bit of fun with what has been happening the past couple of days.

On the 6 MARCH we had a visit from a Mr Tyler from Western Building who looked at all the damage caused by me flooding the kitchen.  He then submitted his report to the insurance company.  We then had a visit from Aquacare to assess whether the floor coverings needed replacing and we were told the vinyl in the kitchen definitely had to be replaced and also a section of carpet in the hall that had got very wet.

So far so good.  We then had a visit from Reece whose cabinet works had the job of manufacturing and installing the new lower kitchen cupboards after, of course, removing the old.  We are more than satisfied with their work although they did lose the covers for the 3-pin plugs and we are hoping they will be able to rectify that problem as it rather spoils the overall appearance.

I then rang Aquacare to ask about the floor coverings and were told they only inspected them and reported their findings but did not do any replacement work and we would have to ring the insurance company about their replacement.

I rang GIO on the Wednesday before Easter (16/4) and was told I'd need to speak to our Client Manager and they would have that person ring us (I think I've mentioned this previously).  I had heard nothing by the following week so rang GIO (23/4) again and this time was transferred to a gentleman who said he would set the ball rolling.  The following day (24/4) I then had a phone call from Mr Anderson from Western Building to tell me to expect someone from Allen's Carpet Court about replacement of the floor coverings. He didn't mention which so I expected it would be both the vinyl and carpet.   We then of course had the long weekend for Anzac Day.

On Monday (28/4) a young man rang to say he had been asked to come and measure up and quote for replacing the kitchen vinyl and some carpet but not just the hall carpet but the living area as well.  I queried this but he was adamant this was correct.  "Mmmmm" thought Phil and I "we'll believe that when it happens".  As he left he handed me his business card but he was not from Carpet Court but from another carpet firm "Choices".  This I must admit left us rather confused but we thought we'd just go with the flow and wait to see what happened.

On Tuesday (29/4) we had a call from a gentleman from Allen's Carpet Court (it was actually Allen himself) who said he would call after lunch.  He arrived and proceeded to measure up the kitchen for the vinyl.  When asked about measuring the carpet he said he had only been told to replace the vinyl.
Curiouser and curiouser!!  Later than afternoon Allen rang to say he's been given the go ahead and his workmen would be hear Thursday morning to do the job.  He had brought samples with him and we had chosen the vinyl we would like and also some carpet in case he was given that job as well.

Yesterday morning (30/4) Phil took a call from a man saying they had received an email from GIO in Melbourne and been given the go ahead to do the work (both the vinyl and the carpet) and would we please come in and choose the patterns we would like.  He also said they would move all the furniture if we would remove the books from the book cases and other odds and ends and smaller items.  Phil is never fully awake for the first half hour or so in the morning and when I queried who had been on the phone he said it was a chap from Allen's Carpet Court but not Allen himself as it was his RDO.   Phil said he may be a brother as they both have the same accent (we knew Allen himself had been born in Wolverhampton but had lived in Bolton so had a north England accent.  (Phil, being English himself, recognises most English accents).

I was not at all happy with this so checked the phone screen for the number and found it to be a local number and not one from north or the river so knew it was not Carpet Court.  I then hit redial and the man who answered the phone did indeed have the same accent as Allen but he was from Choices carpets.  I explained to him about Carpet Court being given the vinyl job (he knew nothing about this of course) but perhaps they could still do the carpet replacement.  He said he would get in touch with GIO and try and clear up just what was going on.

If you've got this far I hope you are still able to understand what is going on.  I just had to write it all down because I was beginning to believe it wasn't really happening but of course it is.

I also rang Allen from Carpet Court and told him about this call we'd had and his response was that the vinyl had been cut and his workmen would be here to lay it this morning at about 8.30 or 9am.  I told him not to worry that the job was still his but I just wanted to keep him in the loop and he could still go ahead and quote for the carpet if he wanted to do so.  He said he would do that.

I then thought it perhaps judicious to speak to either Mr Tyler or Mr Anderson of Western Building to find out just what the situation.  Mr Anderson transferred me to Mr Tyler and his explanation completely floored me:

It seems that floor coverings, such as vinyl, that are stuck down are part of the building are covered under one's building insurance, but flooring, such as carpet, which is not stuck down is covered by the contents insurance.  Western Building therefore had only been give the go ahead to have the cupboards and vinyl replaced as they are part of the building and when he had contacted Allen's Carpet Court the instruction to them was to replace the vinyl only.

I then telephoned "Richie" at Choices and told him Carpet Court were going to replace the vinyl and it had already been cut, but hoped they would they still go ahead with the carpet.  He said he had just been on the telephone to GIO (who apparently were the ones that had contacted Choices without telling us so no wonder we were confused) and they were going to look into the matter and would email him (Richie) this morning.  We are right now waiting to hear back from Choices in the hope of having this conundrum settled once and for all.

It is beyond my dreams that all the carpet will be replaced although we were told by Choices that insurance companies will sometimes do that if the area is not too great and it definitely showed that about 52 square metres were to be replaced (I saw that on the work sheet but am not sure if that included the vinyl as well).  Richie said the area was less than that so it should be covered OK.  As the hall carpet is part of the whole living area it would be nice not to have different carpet in the hall. We could of course ask for a quote to replace the lot if GIO say only the hall carpet is to be replaced and it would depend on just what that quote would be.

I wonder if all the above has been part of the reason I've not been having restful sleep over the past few nights.  I've been warm enough without too many many aches and pains and am hoping when all this is resolved I will sleep peacefully once again.

Sorry to have burdened you with this (that's if you manage to wade through it all) but I just had to get it off my chest and as you know my blog is wonderful for doing just that.