This was a miserable day; it started when we found a big puddle of water in the laundry room and realised that the new hot water pipe which was supposed to be empty was gushing water every time we turned on the cold water tap. Apparently this is because the kitchen mixer tap does not have a non return valve on it and cold water flows back into the hot side, it may or may not be a problem later on but apparently it is easily fixed. Also it rained the whole time that the workmen were here - a full crew apart from John, we were forced into an even smaller space as Tony needed to store the radiators indoors, he needed to push pipes from our living area into the ceiling, while Tom and Marcus kept walking through with large sheets of plasterboard and then noisily screwing them in place. The whole thing felt like they were intruding on the only bit of our space left, they kept leaving the doors open and we were cold and miserable. The only good thing was that for most of the day the sun was shining at Wimbledon so we could watch the tennis.

Upstairs Sam and Marcus concentrated on plastering the ceiling and walls in the new big bedroom and the first picture shows the result of their endeavours. We now have both sides and the top of the sloping ceiling and one side of the walls completely plastered, they have managed to cover most of the diagonal beams which were a little bit of a concern for me as I feared that they would intrude into the room. You can just see a little bit of the old beam on the far left of the picture, apart from a section of the floor it is the only bit of the old study that remains in the new extension. Although I haven't photographed it today, Tony did a lot of plumbing in the new upstairs bathroom - he has stated that he would like to get this completely finished so that we have a shower we can use - perhaps he has detected an odour about us? He also fitted a new radiator in the bedroom that we are currently sleeping in, it won't make any difference to us as their is no hot water yet. But it is a psychologically important step forward.

Actually I had a bad day with the hot water tank today, it was supposed to arrive but when I 'phoned to check on delivery I was told that the manufacturers are in dispute with their courier about the number of tanks that arrive damaged and that they couldn't tell me when it will be shipped. I fear that this may be a cock and bull story but I am hoping for a good outcome. They took my money from the credit card back on May 30 so we should be covered if it all goes belly up but if I do not get some positive delivery news from them tomorrow I will let the credit card people know that this item is in dispute.


Downstairs Tom and Marcus completed putting the plasterboard on the inside and outside walls of the new study and the foul water pipe is now completely boxed in and covered in "fluffy", their pet name for Rockwool. When I asked if this was for heat insulation they said that it wasn't and that it was mainly for sound proofing. The picture on the left shows the inside of the study, as you can see the new window has yet to be installed. The one on the right is the opposite wall of the study and I took this to show how they have left the skylights at the top of the walls and this is where we will have glass panels. There is still a chance that these panels could be a representation of the hippo bath panel that Beccy painted and that we have had to take down, we will have to wait and see how finances work out before we commit to that.


The last picture shows that, albeit temporarily, we are starting to get some semblance of normality back into the kitchen. For a while now we have lived with the welsh dresser almost in the middle of the room together with one of our old kitchen cabinets. Now that the wall has been replaced we can push these back again and move the table to a spot where we don't have to keep walking around it. You can also see the skylights across the top of the study wall from a different angle, don't they look good! Once all the dust has settled, literally and physically, I think that we will have a nice kitchen/breakfast area with sweeping views through our new cut out in the wall through the conservatory door and out into the garden. Of course getting rid of all that settled dust will not be a quick job.