I was not expecting much progress today, we knew that it would be a one man day as Marcus is off on a course - when I asked Simon if Marcus was his apprentice he told me that I was incorrect and that Marcus is self employed and that he specialises in timber buildings. He seems to think quite a lot of Marcus and is happy to give him a task and let him get on with it. Simon soldiered on in the rain, not forecast by the Evening Herald but present anyway, he completed the lining up of the drains around the outside of the extension and put in two manholes and all the fittings required to line up the loos, the sinks and the showers and then cemented them in place - they still have to be passed by the Building Inspector but Simon is quite convinced there will be no problem. The pipes and fittings have been laid on a bed of shingle that had previously been used around the house as a walkway - it means that when all the work is completed we will have to buy several tons more, but at least this time it will all be the same colour.

While Simon was beavering away outside Hilary and I continued with the indoors packing, all of my bathroom hippos have been carefully wrapped in tissue paper and packed in a box and they will then go out to the shed to join all our other boxes. Much of the study has been packed, well the books and knick knacks at least, of course I can't box up my computer stuff until the new laptop arrives tomorrow! Yes we have finally taken the plunge and ordered a 17" Toshiba, I have been watching the price carefully and decided that last evening was the latest that I could order it if we are to have it up and running with all its software before we move the desktops into storage. Where the printer and scanner will go I have no idea.

We also had a visit from John the Electrician today and he looked in awe at our antiquated fuse box and pre-war wiring. He was another tooth sucker and head scratcher, especially when I told him that we wanted the whole house rewired and also a new armoured cable run out to the garage. He also almost had a heart attack when I showed him the American washer/drier combo that I drive with a very large step down transformer. He is a friend of Tony's and I understand that we will get a quote after they have "had a chat".

The weather did clear up around midday although we had a few heavy short showers throughout the afternoon and this turn in the weather enabled me to see Simon without his yellow waterproofs on for the first time. He has done an amazing job on his own today for as well as fixing all the drains in position he has levelled the inside of the extension, laid the radon proof membrane, built the radon sump and then laid in the thermal insulation. Tomorrow the plan is to add the reinforcing steel and fill the slab with concrete.

This radon thing is daft. For those who don't know radon is a gas that is common in the South West on account of the granite that the land is surrounded by. Someone, God knows who, has decided that radon gas is carcinogenic and that all new buildings in the area have to have protection against it. This means that a permanent membrane covers the slab so that the gas can't rise into the building but escapes into a nearby sump where it disperses into the open air. Why it seems daft to me is that our old houses are so full of leaks anyway that radon will easily disperse and the only effect of a radon barrier is to concentrate the gas into one specific place. Doesn't make sense to me, I would rather be in an atmosphere with a little radon floating around than have a special place where it is very concentrated.

So this concludes a surprisingly good day when I expected very little and received more than I expected. Maybe tomorrow evening I will be writing this on a Toshiba laptop!