What happened to the New Year

I cannot believe that it is nearly the end of January and the clock is ticking away the minutes until our opening in March. The repainting at the front of the hotel is now proceeding rather slowly and I am wondering why the scaffolders are not demanding the scaffolding as we have had it for so long.

The situation at the rear of the hotel goes from bad to worse as we now discover that the room at the back used to a conservatory ....in fact the old glass is still still visible under the leaking roof. More expense as we now have to remove the old and broken glass and then replace the leaking roof.

Then we have the sagging floor, rotten windows, damp rooms, leaking showers, missing floorboards, faulty guttering and a heating system which defies everybodies efforts to get it up and running. The kitchen isn't arriving till late February and our contractors have now all gone on holiday.

In the meantime, our TV aerial has given up the ghost and the quote for replacing the aerial and running cables to all rooms came to £3000 + VAT. To add insult to injury, we also received a letter from TV licensing informing us that we were liable to prosecution and a fine of up to £1000 for not having a TV license.

Surprisingly, we are all still determined to meet the opening deadline and we have even drafted in a few extra friends to help us - thank you Trevor and Gary. If you fancy a decorating weekend then you are more than welcome to join us too.

No more pictures as they all look exactly the same as the last ones!!!

Christmas in Eastbourne

Christmas has come and nearly gone and still our minds are very much focussed on the hotel and whether we ever will be open in time for March. The repainting at the front of the hotel is coming along just fine but well over budget as we find that the rendering needs replacing and the majority of the windows need renewing. The situation at the rear of the hotel is not much better and the damp in some of the rooms is entirely attributable to some nasty cracks which will also need attention.

In the meantime, we managed to remove the floorboards in the back room and found out why the floor isn't level ..... the joists have all rotted away so there is another expenditure we didn't bargain on - the good news is that the rear of the hotel isn't subsiding! The kitchen is gutted and we would have the plans finalised had it not been for the fact that Frank cannot tell the difference between inches and centimetres. The fire alarm system is now in place and we eagerly await the lighting system which is all planned for (but not paid for).

Of course we are not neglecting the Gladwyn and have already redecorated the lounge which is now looking rather nice although I say it myself. Regardless of everything going on around us, we found some time to decorate the Christmas tree and decorate the front of the building so the whole place has a Christmas feel. We are now working on the hallway and then room 6, room 4, room 3 and room 1....in that order. If we ever finish that before opening then my one and only Christmas wish will have come true.

Here are some of the latest pictures of the work in progress

Too busy to blog

Perhaps it is a measure of how busy we are that it has been nearly a month since I last wrote here. The answer to my last question was five skips and still more rubbish to go. In the meantime, the scaffolding has gone up at the front and the gardens are being sorted at the back. The kitchen has been completely gutted , the second entrance hallway reinstated and we have removed the carpets from the hallway and stairs….hooray for that.

Frank made the big mistake of deciding to strip room 104 of the woodchip wall paper and one week later agreed with me that this was probably not going to be a priority (if we still intended to open in March 2008). We have some ambitious plans for the other rooms and I have been busy commissioning artwork and collecting paintings and prints for the Kandinsky, Lowry, Monet, Rothko and Van Gogh rooms.

Today saw the launch of the hotel website at www.davinci.uk.com and I am grateful to Frank for the hours, days and weeks which he has put into this .... I hope you agree that the effort was worthwhile. In the meantime, a big thank you to all our friends and family who have turned up to help us with the project. One day I promise to create a roll of honour and include your names as testimony to your support and encouragement.

Some pictures for you too look at....

Upstairs and downstairs

Day 5 and we are now beginning to wonder what the hell we have let ourselves in for. Our initial view about the place is beginning to be tempered by the fact that, downstairs at least, the place is an absolute disgrace. Upstairs, the bedrooms are not looking so bad and the front rooms are OK although the reception had to go - just a pokey cupboard under the stairs. Downstairs is another matter and how anyone could live down there is an absolute mystery. The floors and ceilings are falling in, the carpets are too dirty to walk on and the furniture is an absolute disgrace ....heaven only know how many skips we are going to need to move this lot!

Completion at last

Getting this place was never going to prove easy but when your solicitor says completion by midday and you are still pacing the room at 3 o clock then you know something must have happened. For some reason I now have two solicitors on the case and both think the other has got the money. In fact they are both wrong because the money has gone to the clients solicitors as I discover when I start ringing around myself. Fleurets ring to say the place is now mine and the keys are handed over on the doorstep at 3.30pm on Thursday 1 November 2007. The hotel is ours and the journey begins.

Falling at the last hurdle

My solicitor rings to tell me that the other buyer is intending to exchange within the next 48 hours. He is quite calm about the situation which is more than can be said for me. This journey has been too long to fall at the last hurdle. Besides which, we have bought the website address, planned the colour schemes, sorted out the furniture, discussed the staffing and thought of an appropraite name. The solicitor tells me he will see what he can do. By 4 o clock he rings to tell me that we have exchanged and we are now the proud owners of a derelict hotel in Howard Square . Completion date is agreed for Thursday 1 November 2007.

The race is on

My solicitor tells me that the other solicitor is now talking to him and has told him that I am not the only person pursuing the hotel. My temptation is to tell the lot of them where to stick the hotel but it has been a long journey and I do not intend to fall at the last hurdle. I warn the bank that we may need to move fast and I know my solicitor is on my side when he gives me his home number. The race is on and I now believe that whatever will be will be. If we do get the place then it was destined to be.........