SAY HELLO TO WINGATE BERTIE

Psssst!  Rumour has it that I’ve acquired a cat.  

It’s true.  For once I’ve not had to beg, borrow or kidnap any of the neighbourhood moggies as I now have a furry friend to call my own. 

Say hello to Wingate Bertie.

 

At last a kitty of my very own

Bertie is a gorgeous 9 yr old tabby adopted from the local Cat & Rescue Centre at Sidlesham.  His previous owner had passed away so who better than Chi’s very crazy cat lady to step in as his new Cat Mom.  You know he’ll be spoilt rotten at our house.

So why Wingate Bertie?  Well we've kept both his known names as used by the rescue centre and previous foster family but we'll probably just call him Bertie for short. 

He’s a bit of a shy boy at the moment.  Hasn’t left his hiding place under the bed since his arrival almost 2 weeks ago but already with a bit of gentle coaxing, I’ve managed to get him to venture out for some kitty love and strokes.  With time and patience, I hope he’ll realise he can come downstairs and join us in the lounge.

 

I'm shy

Bertie’s arrival has put a bit of a spanner in the works for Blackie, our timeshare cat as we’ve had to try to keep him out of the house so as not to spook the new scaredy cat.  I really hope that both of them will be good kitty buddies in the future.

Paws off - she's my Cat Mom!

WAITING FOR 'SHEDOT'

Did I just hear a collective cyber-groan from all you ‘thesps’ out there?  Ok, I’ll admit it is a very bad title pun but I really can’t come up with anything better right now.  

Finally, after months of patiently waiting (and as I’m sure you’ll have realised by now, patience is NOT one of my virtues), the new shed has arrived at last.  Hurrah! 

 

8 X 6ft shed - Skinners Sheds, Chichester

I may have mentioned a few posts ago that I have plans for this wonderful wooden edifice.  It’s not going to be just any old shed, of course not.  Everybody has a bog standard old shed but then I’m not like everybody. 

Whilst the shed is mostly going to act as a storage facility for all my craft stall gear it is also going to double up as an emporium of curiosities, a home for all my perfect pebbles, sea shells, fossils and all those other oddities accumulated on life’s journey that don’t have a home elsewhere.

 

The Emporium of Curiosities

But there’s a way to go before the emporium of curiosities can be opened to the public.  First there’s the task of preparing the shed’s interior so that it’s weatherproof and decorated.  

Additional flooring support in the form of 18mm thick OSB3 sheets has been laid on top of the existing floor.  

The rear wall has been lined in spruce cladding laid horizontally across the wall’s timber battens.  These are going to be primed then painted black.

 

14mm thick spruce cladding laid horizontally across back wall battens

Clad wall ready to be primed and painted

The side walls have been lined with 6 mm thick MDF sheets.   Ply or cladding would have been better for these but I just need a flat surface on which to stick down wallpaper.  Yes, you heard right, I am wallpapering my shed!  Madness maybe but then again, why not?

 

Side walls need a flat surface suitable for wallpaper

6mm thick MDF sheets used as cladding

Flat surface ready to prime and paper

For the side walls I’ve chosen this lush tropical wallpaper called Holden’s Lemur, a beautiful rich teal background with accents of black, white, greens and yellows.  I think it will be an amazing contrast to a black wall.  I was lucky enough to get it for the absolute bargain price of £3 per roll from Ebay and I’m sure it will look stunning once up.

 

Holden Lemur teal wallpaper

Recycling being a key feature of many of our home improvement projects, I’m using the quirky glass fronted cabinets that were stripped out of the kitchen to contain all those fossils I lovingly collected from Kimmeridge Bay many years ago.  It’ll be a fitting resting place for them. 

Once finished it’ll be a real treat to go scouting for stuff at the bottom of the garden.  All I need now is a bit of dry weather and some higher ambient temperatures and it’ll be all systems go.  You’ll be able to watch the transformation from shed to emporium of curiosities over the coming weeks/months.

PARTY WALLS

Unlike the Tories, I haven’t attended any good parties lately and it’ll probably be some time before I can throw caution or facemask to the wind and let my hair down but in the meantime, I’ve a different kind of ‘party’ to contend with; the complex issue of party walls.  Yes, walls not only have ears but they have parties too! 

It’s very easy to forget when you’re wrapped up in your own personal DIY cocoon that there is a raft of building rules and regulations you need to comply with and one of these is the Party Wall etc Act 1996. 

This piece of legislation was introduced to sort out punch ups between neighbours when building or repair work is being done either on a shared boundary or close to someone else’s house.  In our case building an extension that might be within 3 to 6 metres of the house next door falls under the provisions of this Act.

How close is your building to next door?

The provisions of the Act seem quite complex but simply, if you intend to build (or repair) a wall/structure that is on or close to a common boundary or property then your neighbours need to be informed and to consent to this work being done.  The legal owner of the property where the work is being done has to send a written Party Wall Notice to the legal owners of bordering properties that may be affected by the project. 

Pah!  Why should I bother telling the neighbours?  After all, what I do on or with my property is my business and they never bothered to tell me when they smashed out their attic to create an extra bedroom.  Well, apparently you have to according to this law.  Not only are you required to inform your neighbours in advance, in writing but you must also give them a set period in which to give their blessing.  

Failure to follow this procedure could land you in a whole heap of trouble once your project gets off the ground especially if the neighbours or legal owners in the case of rented properties object to the work you are carrying out. 

I've served my Party Wall Notices to both my neighbour and their landlord as I’ve discovered their house is rented.  Both parties now have until Monday to consent to my proposed building project.  And here’s the interesting part in all this – if either party fails to respond by the given deadline, then under the Party Wall etc Act we’ll be deemed to be ‘in dispute’ and have to engage the services of approved surveyors to act on our behalf to resolve things.  Sounds like a major headache if you ask me so fingers crossed they both give me the thumbs up. 

Everything you need to know about Party Walls and how it applies to you can be found here: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-resolving-disputes-in-relation-to-party-walls

Anything else you need to know about parties, just email No 10.

 

No10's email:  larry@catmail.com