Is My New Handrail Transforming My Life?
That may seem a rather bizarre question to ask, but then I live on the first floor of my house and I do have to carry quite a few things up and down stairs. This picture shows the stairs from the bottom.
My Stairs
Note that there are rails on both sides, so when going up and down, if I can, I use a hand on each rail. Just as I was taught on my extensive Health and Safety course at ICI.
Take last night. I keep a spare roll by each toilet and as it needed changing, I put the spare on the holder reader for use. As I keep the bags of rolls downstairs, I usually forget to bring one up and the inevitable happens next time.
But last night, I immediately went down the stairs and collected a new one. I’d have never done that before the handrail was installed.
I also now change the rubbish bags when they get full and take them to the bins, rather than let them overflow and leave them to my cleaners.
I have a gammy left hand, due to a school bullying accident, and I neglect to use it. There’s probably nothing seriously wrong with it, that using it as much as possible wouldn’t cure!
But now coming up the stairs with shopping, I’ll put the bag in my stronger right hand and guide myself up with the left, pulling as required. In the last few days, I’ve found that instead of walking up and down stairs on the right at places like Underground stations, I now go with the flow, even if that is on the left.
And then yesterday, my personal trainer came and we used the stairs to do various aerobic exercises on the stairs. Who needs to buy expensive equipment that takes up space?
I would have never thought that such a small thing would change my behaviour so much!
You do wonder how many people have been seduced into buying an expensive stair-lift, when all they really needed was to fit a handrail, that was worthy of the name and strongly fixed to the wall, so they could hold it properly, as they walked up and down.
I’ve Now Got Handrails On My Staircase
The handrails are now fitted on my staircase.
They were made and fitted by Handrail Systems from Sheffield. I did think about brass, but in the end I settled for more affordable powder-coated steel.
A Typical Annoying Problem Of Living Alone
I want to fit a grab rail in my bathroom and these pictures show the position and the rail.
I want to put it at an angle so that I can pull myself upright safely to get out of the bath.
The first problem is positioning it in the right place. The easiest way is to lie in the empty bath whilst someone else holds it tightly to the wall.
The second problem is that the tiles are very hard to drill, so I intend to use a strong epoxy to glue the grab rail to the wall.
Mixing the epoxy and getting it in the right position is definitely a job for at least three hands.
Perhaps we need a Rent-A-Hand Agency, where someone can help you out on a barter or mutual basis.
Where is my late wife, when you desperately need her?
Always Have A Flat Piece Of Oak Handy
I don’t have access to short lengths of greenheart cutting sticks from his state-of-the-art, made-in-Glasgow Grieg guillotine that my father used to use as padding to stop a hammer damaging softer woods.
Always Have A Flat Piece Of Oak Handy
So I just used a nice piece of oak! I could always go to B & Q and buy a rubber hammer.
Would Anybody Like This Pre-Loved Expedit Storage Unit?
Because IKEA has changed from Expedit to a new form called Kallax.
I use a lot in my house, as it means I can use the same inserts everywhere.
This 4 x 2 in brown-black is a bit tatty, but with a bit of glue and perhaps some other work, it would be ideal for a lot of places.
I live in the Dalston area close to the Islington border, so if anybody would like it, let me know. I may have some others in the future, as some will have to be replaced to fit with the new style.
Doesn’t it get annoying that IKEA have discontinued the old design. Hence the reason for the Bad Design tag.
Do Builders Ever Finish Jobs?
Just look at these pictures from my house.
I’ll accept the lack of mirror in the bathroom as my fault, but the others are just bad workmanship. Anyway I have a better idea for a mirror!
How Where I Live Now Looked In 1949
This is an image of Dalston from Britain from Above taken in 1949.
Dalston In 1949
This is the same area today from Google Earth.
Dalston In 2014
In the Google Earth image, the Overground lines are marked in orange and Dalston Junction station is marked by a red arrow.
In the aerial image the following can be clearly seen.
1. The platforms at the old Dalston Junction station in the bottom right hand corner.
2. The A10 road stretching away to the North.
3. The Balls Pond Road stretching towards Highbury Corner.
I can pick out more, but then I live in a house that was built ten years ago and is or would be in the bottom left hand corners of both images.
Farewell To An Old Friend
I’ve finally given up on trying to shut up my thirty-year-old Workmate. What my builders had used it for to bend, I know not!
So I put it outside the house with an appropriate note.
I suppose the fact that it got bent was because I broke rule one of dealing with builders. I didn’t lock all my stuff up in a safe place.
At least now, I’ve taken the decision to only have a builder in my house, when the project is defined down to the last nail.
It’s not surprising news to me, that we have a shortage of habitable houses and apartments in this country. Many builders couldn’t put a up a shelf on budget and to an agreed time-scale.
What is the collective noun for builders?
I would put forward a never-on-time-or-budget of builders.
Where Did That Go?
Jerry had put up this awful piece of granite as a splash back in the living room.
Jerry’s Bad Plastering
Perhaps he put it up, as he had a spare one and it would cover up his dreadful plasterwork. I sometimes wonder if Jerry’s surname was Boughton.
Before I went away, two guys took it off and down the stairs, leaving it on my patio by the street.
I then put a stick note on it, saying that anybody who wanted it could take it.
And take it they did!
I wonder how many hernia they got lifting it into the back of their car?
It really was a case of good riddance to bad rubbish!
It Must Be Warm, As I’ve Put My Electric Blanket Away
I’ve taken my electric blanket off the bed, as I have found I’ve not used it for some months.
The bed ceretainly feels more comfortable and the only new problem I’ve got is that I can’t fold it up to put it away.
The Anonymous Widower 