Last night our "homework" got the better of us and we were so dog tired by 9.00pm, having worked non stop most of the day as well and then carrying on by halogen lamplight, that it was not possible to give you an update of the day's work. The plastering is now almost complete and there are now only two walls in the small bathroom downstairs that need doing and as it was fine part of yesterday Simon continued with the outside rendering and we now have one sort of rendered wall. Luckily this is the one that has the round window in it because today Orchard Windows came and fitted our stained glass window into its frame. There wasn't much sun around but when it did finally peep out Hilary and I popped into the master bathroom to photograph the sun streaming in through the window and this is the first photo for tonight. This is one photo that you really need to click on to see it in all its glory. Everyone who has seen it has had a different opinion as to its rotation with some wanting the turtle to be swimming up, some swimming down and others wanting it moved "just a smidgeon". Anyway it is fixed now and by the way that the fitters were forcefully hitting the frame with a rubber hammer I for one have no intention of asking them to take it out of the frame to twist it slightly.

Tonight's second picture shows the reason for our late night last night and we have fixed, but not grouted, 15 rows of tiles in what we hope is a random pattern. Hilary was able to get 4 different colours but not in equal quantities so we laid them out on the counter top and changed them around until we thought that they were OK. Because we liked the mix so much, and partly because we were lazy we duplicated the pattern on the other side of the kitchen. We still have to carry the design around the corners and fill in the section over the gas hob - possibly further if we buy a range style cooker! John the electrician has wired up all the sockets and went around testing some of them today, it seemed to go well and we are still hoping that we may have some power over the weekend. It doesn't seem likely that we will have lights though, apparently lights have to be tested as bare wires, then after the light fittings have been wired in and lastly after all the bulbs have been fitted.

Most of my day was spent fitting out the new study, we are taking our two old desks and merging them to make one long one so that we have a good sized workspace without intruding on the window area. We will probably put a Venetian blind over the window so that we can raise it when we need the light and lower it when we need some privacy. We only made one mistake with the layout of the study as we have blocked off one of the sockets with the side of the right hand desk, but as we have plenty of other outlets available it shouldn't be a major problem. We don't intend that the floor will be red tile permanently as we expect that it will be covered in the same wood flooring as the kitchen, lounge/diner and small bedroom. It is now too late to get this down before we go on holiday so the study along with the small bedroom will be without skirting boards until after the new floor is in.

The double vanity that will grace the master bathroom saw its first light of day since it landed in England back last January. Tony took the covers off it so that he could work out the positions of the pipes for the taps and the wastes and I took the opportunity to take a quick photo. Our weekend will be taken up with flooring the master bathroom, painting the wall cladding so that it is ready when Tony comes to fit the loo and radiator and finally we will be tiling the big shower - Tony has promised to fit the curved shower enclosure tomorrow so that we can tile inside it rather than have to fit the enclosure over the tiles.

Tomorrow we are off to Tavistock to get the final round of wages (we hope) and this will be for the past two weeks and for next week which we are paying in advance as we probably won't be going to the bank again before we leave. Tony thinks that most of the work will be complete by then but he is asking for a house key so that they can put the finishing touches on before we return in September. All of the workmen are having two weeks holiday while we are away and I have no doubt that there will be a few bills for materials waiting for us when we return. Should be able to give you a further update tomorrow and then our weekend homework will be upon us. See ya.