DIY

Must go on. Got to keep the place to a standard, as Ray would say. But then of late as we ummed and ahed about the painting, carpet and bathroom regrouting, he suggested we should go shabby chic.

When the cleaners were here a couple of weeks ago, the man ripped the seal off my shower door to clean it. Pointless really and he broke it. As you can see, it had yellowed as well. He put it back cleaner but didn't say he had broken it. 

I took the damaged one with me to the big green shed, deliberately choosing to visit when the sausage sizzle run by each weekend a different volunteer organisation operates, and naturally bought one. I felt like another one when I was leaving but I resisted. 

The seals were a bit hard to find, but I did. Oh, is it 8mm or 10mm, as these were the options. I carefully matched up the old one to the 8mm one, and I was sure that would fit. Cost, $13. Happy.

Once home I cut it down to size and pushed it into place. While my shower door opens in or out, opening out was best but for the seal to be in the correct place when showering, the flap part need to face into the shower. It wouldn't as the seal was large and didn't give much, and so I put it on backwards as a temporary fix, making the door usable at least.

I called the company who supplied and fitted the bathroom furniture and it has moved stores. Nah, not driving all the way to Ringwood. They can post it. Staff brought up the information from when the work was done and she straight away knew what I needed, but ouch, $20 plus $10 postage. Well, I have to have it. 

Normally if it is sent by Australia Post and you aren't home  to receive it, it is left at the post office, which is across the road from us. It should have arrived and I checked using the tracking facility and it was at the post office. A card should have been left in my mailbox but it wasn't. When I collected it, staff wanted to see my ID, which I showed, but it wasn't there under my surname and neither of the first names I'm known by. Staff asked for the tracking number, which I showed in an email on my phone, still puzzlement. Then as was about to close the email, I noticed the information from the job  seven years ago was in Ray's name and that is who it was sent to. Duh. Proof of address was now needed. I apologised to staff.

It was in a tube, capped and taped, with the seal wrapped in bubble wrap. (Hey, I can pop bubble wrap at home with no one to complain.) I thought the postage cost and the good packaging, perhaps $10 wasn't so bad.

This seal was a tight fit to get on, but just perfect. I was happy.

The old one on the right, the chunky one that did not work in the centre and the new perfect strip on the left.

Two days ago we had a howling northerly wind, which knocked out power in one area. It disturbed the sleep of my neighbour HH who is on the north eastern corner of the building. Me on the south eastern side, was quite unaware and I slept soundly. 

It was a different situation the next night, with squalls coming across the bay from the south west. Twice heavy showers beat against one of my bedroom windows and woke me. Wind from that direction at that strength only happens in winter. Every year the same things happens, a terrible draught comes in under the balcony door. My lounge chair is a bit over a metre away and I can feel the draught. I've looked online at options to seal the door at the base but I found nothing suitable. 

I know. An old fashioned solution, a sausage dog. The store I call Big Trouble You had several different types but they were all 90cm and not the 110cm I needed. I had to visit South Yarra today to buy some meals, so firstly I went to the store. I eventually found them, quite logically with door mats, and while they didn't seem to have the expensive ones I saw online, they had the cheap type, just over $5. One weighs just under 2kg and I had something undeveloped in my mind but and so I bought two. There was cream, black and grey. As the new carpet will have grey highlights, I chose the grey.  At nearly 4kg they were quite heavy to carry and then the meals I bought weighed around 1.5kg, I had quite some weight to carry and tram my way home.  

I made them a bit tidier than when I took this photo, but it seems I will have to do some cutting and sewing to turn two draft excluders into one. Do they work? Oh  yes. Brilliant, and although the sliding door rests against them, they don't interfere with the door's operation. When they aren't needed, most of the time, I can put them beside my armchair, almost invisible.