14.9.05

Down with Imperialism!

Emma's starting to get a bit stressed about the progress of the new kitchen... she hasn't said anything... and I know she's carrying extra wait, but there's a lot of huffing and blinding going on. Being green (... or tight) is quite a bitch sometimes. I'm trying to re-use as much plastic and copper piping as possible - hence lots of careful cutting, working out, re-cutting, trips back&-forth to get different connectors/adaptors/stoppers/valves etc etc.

It seems that 40mm pipe can sometimes be 38mm pipe and sometimes 42mm ..but seldom does it actually measure 40mm. It all depends where you buy your pipe from. And if you happen to stumble upon
www.diy-not.com looking for advice, you'll find lots of hardcore DIYers swapping hate stories about how and why a certain "hardware" store is not "the real deal" at all. Hmmm - very sinister - then again, they're quite a helpful bunch - replying to my somewhat bashful queries about basic plumbing & electrical techniques that any self-respecting man about the house should already know.

Anyways, I started this post to have a bitch about stupid imperial measurements... I'm sorry Victor papanek, I know it's all very romantic to measure everything based on whether or not you can carry it from one village to another... or whether you can stick your thumb in it or whatever - but Victor, how's that going to help me when all I want to do is stick two bits of plastic pipe together? I thought that the UK government started the official switch over to metric back in the 70's, but the other day I found out that it was more like 100 years ago. FK me, hardcore plumbers are old!

2.9.05

Kitchendraw


Ric gave me some amazing CAD software which is apparently used by the pros. I've gotten quite carried away with all the different variations. Thank God I've limited myself to re-using as much of the existing cabinets as possible, otherwise I'd definitely go mad. The full 3D rendering and virtual tours are quite addictive... but I've almost finalised the design. I say almost, apparently I was just using a free trial that has now expired - the only way to recover my carefully constructed plans is by leasing the software. Now, don't get me wrong - the concept of leasing is brilliant: always up-to-date, no need for physical packaging, much harder to crack etc. But why do they have to make it SO expensive? Once again... thanks a lot Ric!