Congratulations to our American readers for celebrating your independence from the British Empire, we also had a days rest. Hilary and I endured the constant hammering and sawing until midday and then decided to go out again, we went down to Warner Village ate as much as we could at the Pizza Hut buffet and then went over to see Shrek 3. We were planning to go to the 2.30pm show as we got to the box office around 1.55pm only to be informed that there was still time to go into the 1.40pm showing as there was at least 20 minutes of advertisements before the picture started. We entered a 2/3 full cinema, picked out our seats and waited for the performance to begin, we both enjoyed it but I know that our eyes closed at least once and although we missed none of the sound we didn't see every frame of the film.

While we were away lots more work was done inside, we had a full crew including Sam who has recovered from whatever mystery bug that dragged him down yesterday. We even had John for a while and he was with us just long enough to put in the wiring for the study and take down some of the old "knitting". I did manage to get the wiring done for the washer dryer so now it is theoretically possible to do some laundry, I have no intention of going through the laundrette humiliation again next weekend. I still need to connect up the hot air outlet for the dryer but I will wait to do that until after the hot water tank is delivered. Now promised for tomorrow.

The first picture shows that one side of the new bedroom ceiling has been plastered by Simon who had Sam mixing in large buckets outside and then carrying them upstairs. It was interesting to listen to Simon yelling instructions on how to mix plaster from the bedroom window. Sam had only mixed and carried one bucketful when Tony ordered Sam to put down large drop cloths across the kitchen floor, through the living room and up the stairs. This certainly helped as it is still raining and it is very muddy outside the kitchen door, we will probably lay some silage bags down at the weekend and then gravel it over. Now that the foul pipe for the upstairs loo has been connected to the outside world it shouldn't be a problem for the workmen.

Speaking of the foul pipe you can just see the bottom of it in the second picture which shows the progress on the new study. We did our homework last night and ripped out the last of the asbestos walling in the study and the first job for Tom and Marcus this morning was to pick up the huge cardboard box we had stored the asbestos in and carry it out to the pile outside. The picture also gives an indication of the new size for the window and how the insulation is going into the walls. One of the things that has amazed me about Tom and Marcus is how they manage to use lasers for every little measurement. I'll say this though, they get things a lot straighter and more level than I do, which is probably not too difficult.

Our last picture for tonight shows some more of Tony's plumbing and this time it is for the wash basin and you can finally see the famous Durgo valve that was last mentioned umpteen weeks ago. We have been reassured that this valve will allow air in when the loo is flushed but will not let niffy smells out. All of these pipes will be hidden behind a partition wall that will come up to the level of the top of the vanity unit splashback, then there will be a recess with a mirror in it and above that one of the mirrored lights that we have bought. We have still to talk to John about what other lights we can have in the bathroom. The original plan was to have 6 halogen spots but then we heard that there was not enough headroom but now John thinks that there may be room after all but that the lights have to be IP55 waterproof. One decision that we have made is that the lights will be operated by a pull cord switch just inside the door.

OK, that's it for Independence Day, we are hoping for a warmer and drier day tomorrow with more progress on the plastering.