Day 1



so the first day has passed. the main thing they did today was clearing out the bathroom and toilet. and i really mean clear it out. it's as bare as it could be and there's some new concrete slathered about the place. today's supposed to be the dustiest and dirtiest day cos of all the destruction. i hope that's true cos it really is fucking dusty and dirty. i've finally gotten a shower and i'm feeling relatively much better and cleaner. i spent the whole day wandering about the neighbourhood with my bag full of stuff. stuff to ease my boredom. and finally in the afternoon went to get some stuff with my mother. bought a new heater and some light fittings for the bathroom and toilet. this is the list of the places i went today -



1. downstairs for breakfast after the workers came to start work and everything was underway at about 9am

2. to the CC to use the toilet

3. to the post office to pay bills.

4. to shaw balestier to hang out at macdonald's. tea costs way too much there. i got incredibly bored and sleepy sitting there waiting for my mother and eventually i...

5. walked sllloooowwwlllyyy back to my block and ran into my mother downstairs.

6. walked to the contractor's main office to check out the colour of the toilets offered and to see the study and rest rooms they've provided for the residents.

7. walked to toa payoh.

8. from there took a shuttle bus to turf club.

9. came back to toa payoh.

10. took a bus to kitchener road to get bathroom stuff.

11. came back home. reached home at 5pm.



by then the demolition of the bathroom and the toilet was done and i was like hurray we got back just in time. BUT we waited outside the house for them to clean up the place and put up the portable toilet inside until around 9pm. yes 4 hours. sweet. so after that we went down for dinner and then finally now i'm all clean and settled. kinda. i was so tired and tired during the day. man. it sucked. i think i'm gonna go hide out in town or something tomorrow. but trust me. trying to spend a whole day out of the house is not easy. especially when you start early in the morning.



good news is tomorrow they're starting work a bit later so we don't have to get up so early. but actually that is most probably bad news cos they might end later also. fucked.



anyway here are some pictures.







the first few workers showed up and the bigger shot is taking photos of the bathroom and toilet. it's procedure so that they have proof of how the bathroom and toilet looked before they destroy and rebuild them so that owners can't go like hey there was this thing in there before which wasn't. anyway i took a whole load of pictures of everything i could think of so that they couldn't get away with fucking something up and saying they didn't do it. so i've got them under scrutiny too. the other guy is proceeding to tear down the doors to the bathroom and toilet.









here's the cardboard and plastic laid out onto the ground so that they don't fuck up the ceramic tiles. those two fellas are all deer in the headlights cos i accidentally switched the flash on while taking this picture. well. at least they know they're being watched.









the outside of my house. on the floor you see the cupboards that they've stripped down from the bathroom and toilet by this time. and the plastic thing on the iron grill door? it's their effort to make a sealed passageway so that not too much dirt will get to areas they don't need to be in. it's probably for some security reasons too. anyway if you don't get what i mean, you will soon in the subsequent pictures.









the mirror above my sink and the light cover from the bathroom or toilet. all going to the dump. i'm still wondering what the metal container with the blue lid is for. i'd like to think it's full of beer but it's probably for cleaning purposes. or maybe even a septic tank. i think most probably a septic tank. i know that i could ask the workers what it's for but i'm playing the part of the quiet amused son while my mother is playing the part of fussy housekeeper. it's a good cop bad cop thing. if the workers get irritated with my mother at least they see that i'm understanding what they feel too so they don't get too irritated in the end but feel amused too. hey this is all psychological man. and anyway, i don't feel like trying to understand what the workers say. i mean, they're not terrifically bad at english but i'd rather not try. they're actually really hardworking and nice guys. not surly and sullen.









here's the sealed passageway i'm talking about two photos ago. huge sheets of plastic held up with adjustable poles. and they even put up this doorflap thing in the doorway to the kitchen. pretty nifty. that's my mother going to give them yet another instruction. it was so dusty by then cos they already started breaking stuff that she retreated quite quickly after lifting the flap a little. at one point one worker exclaimed "aundie, go!" cos my mother was getting in the way and telling them a lot of stuff. ah that was funny. if you think my mother is fussy, all i got to say is hey you wouldn't want your home to be undergoing this shit and then end up having it all fucked up and not as you want it either. i'd be fussy too but i got to keep in character.









right i wanted to put this photo and the next up yesterday but blogger just wouldn't show the photos. this is the bathroom before today. it's looking pretty empty cos we cleared it for today. the shower gel is looking really forlorn and lonely on the floor. and my shokubutsu and shampoo aren't speaking to each other anymore.









and this is the toilet. goodbye squat toilet. it's the end of my squat toilet days at home. i don't hate it but sitting down is really less tiring.









here's the bathroom after being destroyed and partially patched up.









and here's the toilet after being destroyed and partially patched up. that white pipe is the pipe from the portable toilet. that object next to the pipe. i have no idea what that is. i didn't really look closely.









and the glowing cubicle of relief. the portable toilet. yeah it's a portable toilet but i really don't think it'd be a good idea to do a no. 2 in it. seeing how it has no flush. i just took a cold bath in it and i really feel a whole lot better. tomorrow it gets dismantled i think to make way for more construction work. i'd be really surprised if it isn't. then it'll get all assembled again at night when they clean up again. this is a special portable toilet cos it's actually the display portable toilet at the contractor's main office cos they ran out of portable toilets. and in the morning someone said that we didn't want a portable toilet in our house after the cleaning up so they didn't prepare one for us. so they had to lug the thing all way from the main office which is like maybe a kilometre away? and it being a sample display toilet. we can be assured that no one's used it before and that all the fittings are new. we know it's new cos we saw them ripping open plastic bags to reveal shiny new fittings to put in the portable toilet.



yep so that's it for today. i really hope tomorrow will be much cleaner. actually it's not so bad cos they clean up the place pretty well. i'm just hoping for a less tiring day tomorrow cos i ended up really hot and tired and sticky today after all that wandering about the place.



one thing. i made a mistake. EVERY room in the house is undergoing upgrading work. cos all the windows will be changed.



1 day down.