The house we bought in Headlingley was an investment, or so we kept telling ourselves, but in dire need of some TLC. Fortunately I had a set of mates who were only too keen to help out - I think they saw it as an opportunity to make all of the mistakes on our property before buying their own. A training ground for DIY disasters. Quite amazingly there was no shortage of willing volunteers to come down to Leeds for the weekend, be fed pizza and tea, blast Britpop out of the stereo and smash hell out of a Victorian back-to-back house. I think by the time we had finished the project nearly everyone in Hartlepool had got their hands dirty. Usually, if she could swing it, Sarah would disappear to her mums, or anywhere else convenient, whilst we 'blokes' got on with the demolition.... err DIY.
The first task that we had set ourselves was to replace the kitchen - and it was a midden so had to be done as soon as possible after moving in. So the bat signal went up and two weekends were set aside for the job to be completed. Now that might sound like we set ourselves an over ambitious target until you know that we got the entire set of kitchen units in the back of my Ford Escort! The entire kitchen was transported back from IKEA in one trip. Mind you I was very nervous every time I went over a speed bump.
So with the kitchen unloaded and stacked in the living room, Sarah disappeared off to Liverpool whilst the Hartlepool Handymen moved in for the weekend. We only had four days to complete the task so at first light - well 9ish after several cups of tea and a fry up - we set about knocking hell out of the old kitchen. During the weekend we had several calls from the boss to check up on progress, and usually each one was met with a joke about having no water / electrics / ceiling etc. The plumbing was progressing well, which was surprising as we were making it up as we went along, but it was late on the Saturday so we needed to get the cold supply back on so we could have a brew. The plan was to bung the end of the cold pipe whilst we turned the water back on. The only problem was that DB was not sure which of the two open ended pipes was which......no wait he had remembered. Phew - that avoided a game of Russian Roulette with the water. So with me in the cellar by the stopcock and DB in the kitchen I turned the water supply back on. The pipes rattled and shook as the supply surged back into the house. All was quiet upstairs so everything must've been alright. Relieved, I went back up into the kitchen to sort out a brew and ......
.....water was spurting everywhere as DB had jammed his hand over the gushing pipe to stem the flow. But rather than stop the flow it has the effect of acting like a high pressure sprinkler. He had capped off the wrong pipe!
"Err..it might be an idea to turn off the water again...", DB calmly said. Scrambling down the cellar steps I managed to turn off the water......but the damage had been done. There was water everywhere......and then the phone went. I knew who this was,
"How's it going?", came the voice from Liverpool
"You are not going to believe this, but we've had a problem with the water and the kitchen is flooded", I explained.
"Yeah, funny - I'm not falling for that again", came the response, "See you tomorrow". Mmmm little did she know!
Those early years in Headlingley were great fun and seemed to be accompanied by a great soundtrack; Britpop was in full flow and albums such as this debut from Elastica kept us entertained through each success and disaster. We would work late into the night, with very few breaks, before heading off the pub but never tired because of the great music and craic that kept us going.
And this is a great album, despite some tracks sounding suspiciously like other songs. 'No More Heroes' anyone? Full of energetic, guitar driven, indie-pop gems. Fifteen songs in 38 minutes. Magic.
Like so much of the music from this time it, it takes me straight back. We were, and still are, lucky to have friends who were willing to give up their free time to help us out - even if they can't tell a hot water pipe from cold!
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