Roof and other various news update

I think that almost all construction projects have issues and ours couldn't be an exception. Last Thursday the roofers announced that they were almost finished and they’d be finishing the next day. However, apart from replacing the roof tiles, they hadn't done anything on the facia of the house and the guttering as previously agreed! Or at least that’s what we thought we had agreed!

Anyway, to cut a long story shorter, the head of the company had visited us before providing us with a quote. We had talked about all the extra work needed apart from the roof tiles. He then provided us with a quote. That quote was very technical. It mentioned a huge list of items with types, measurements and everything. We went through it, concentrated on key words like roof tiles, guttering and facia. We agreed to the quote and the work began. However, what they meant by guttering was the line between our roof and the neighbour’s. What we meant by facia is actually called soffit! So, all this extra work we thought we’d get was not in the quote.

So, we began negotiations. The secretary of the company was telling us that apart from the roof tiles, nothing was meant to be done. We managed to get a hold of the head of the company though that agreed that we had really discussed all the extra bits but apologised for not including them in the quote. He was generally apologetic and we agreed that we’d pay extra only for the cost of the materials and nothing else. Which to be honest is generally a good deal. We should have paid more attention to the quote, even if it was a bit too technical for us. However, it’s an extra cost that we’ll have to cover.

 

Changing the subject, we’re planning a small holiday escape with JJ. Our budget is a bit limited (see previous story) and instead of flying to Zurich to my old housemate as previously suggested, we’re thinking of doing a road trip in the UK. We generally love road trips and visiting a rural part of England that we’ve never been before will be fun. For the time being we’re thinking of going to the Peak District National Park. I believe it to be an amazing destination to escape from the busy London life. We’ll try to go hiking and explore the area there. For the time being we’ve booked a car and we’re looking into accommodation that we’ll book most likely tonight or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to keep up with my running. I’ve registered to do a half marathon at the end of March and I’m trying to train for that. The weather is not really helping but I’m doing my best. I should remember next time not to register for a long distance race in early spring. It’s better to train in spring and run in the summer or autumn. So far this month I’ve run outdoors for more than 50 km. It’s not that great, but I don’t think it’s that bad either. I’m planning on my last run for January tonight after work, I’m hoping it’s not going to rain much. Then try to build up my distances to almost half a marathon two weeks before the race! Hopefully that will make me ready…