Reflections on 2018

This was a year of major remodelling on the house. The enormous and ridiculous staircase, which took up half the house, was to be replaced by a more compact one up both floors. This creates two new rooms and a lot more light throughout.

The work started in June, but soon became a catalogue of woe. There was a detailed plan drawn up by an architect, but the builder decided to follow his own gut. He installed the staircase in completely the wrong place which would have meant the two new rooms would be virtually non-existent.

Then, when a new design was agreed, the staircase up to the second floor was short by 2 inches. This meant the whole thing had to be pulled out and redesigned. In the end, the work was completed towards the end of November, but the builder disappeared before the building inspection could be completed.

The other big move, work wise, was relocating from Bristol to Bath with Pure Planet. The commute was roughly the same length, but I had to go by car rather than train.

I would park on the outskirts of Bath in the Park and Ride and Lansdown. Then I would walk in, which was reasonably quick as it’s downhill. That left me with a walk uphill at the end of the day. So all in all, this extended my daily commuting time by 1.5 hours, but it was the only way I could get decent exercise.

This reflection was written in January 2024.