More comings and goings and trucks etc - VF

It has been a busy week at the Berkley estate, and it is only Wednesday!!! The week feels just like the first 3 months of me living here felt was with men and trucks coming and going frequently. On Monday the towing company with a huge flat-bed truck came to take the Lexus away as it would not start. The truck was so high I could look the driver in the eye through the kitchen window! It filled the whole driveway (see photo below). Thankfully it was not the starter motor or the alternator, just an extremely dead battery that had not responded to Jamie’s several hours of charging with jumper leads (nor to their overnight charge). Whilst it was at the Lexus dealers we also got the 60,000 mile things done on it so it was a rather expensive couple of days.

Yesterday the troublesome furnace started making very scary noises. I phoned the same people that had come to fix it following Jamie’s recent episode involving several fire-engines at 3am assuming that it was related to what they had done and would be under their 30-day warranty and they said it should be ok overnight (it was) and they would come at 9am today. So this morning they came and said that the bearings were almost completely gone (I’m sure that Jamie asked them the other week what else was likely to go and they didn’t come up with anything else that should be replaced, but anyway….). The noise it was making was similar to the guy’s machinery that he used to winch the car up on top of the truck to tow it away except louder! After some calls to the husband and the mother-in-law it was determined that it was not worth spending several more hundred dollars to fix the 60-year old behemoth and that we should get a new one…. (see pictures below for action in progress. So once again, the door is off it’s hinges, there is a jackhammer making a hole in the external brick wall, there is much stomping of heavy boots, constant interruptions of ‘excuse me Mrs Finch can I use the bathroom’, radio sounds coming up through the floorboards and this time, large volumes of soot on the basement floor and up the stairs (previously this has been diesel, sawdust and dirt respectively). Meanwhile, the ‘Closet Factory’ carpenters were finishing the new sideboard/pantry in the dining room…. This process of building had started on day 1 back after our honeymoon so it has been a long time in coming.