Today's photos are not so different from yesterday's however they represent quite a step forward in getting the place watertight and they also show just how the window in the upstairs bedroom will look. Each night I have to climb the ladder outside the extension with a screwdriver in my pocket, climb through that window, clamber over planks and boards laid on the ceiling joists so that I can remove the screw that one of the workmen has put in the doorlock to prevent us from gaining entry into the work area. This is for our own safety we are told - the fact that it is far more dangerous for me to do all this climbing and clambering seems not to have registered with them. I think that it has developed into a battle of wills and I await the day when they take down the ladder each night thinking that I won't find another way up. Hah! They won't beat me.

This first photo shows the view that visitors will get from the window and at this time of the year it is mainly hydrangeas and the big decorative holly on the bank, at other times they will be able to see the magnolia, the heathers and the spring dafffodils and snowdrops. If you reverse the view and see the house from the outside then you will notice that today it looks a little bit like a Swiss chalet and it will stay that way until the cladding is put up. Incidentally that long ladder is the one that I climb up nightly so that I can open my own door into the house!

The last picture shows how far up the roof line that Simon has progressed with the tiles, he had a difficult job in the early morning rain and each slate that goes up against the lead valley has to be measured, marked, handed to Sam and then cut before being handed up again to be nailed into position. If you look carefully at the middle picture you can actually see the long planks laid across trestles that Sam has to walk to collect tiles and pass them up and down to Simon. Working in two teams on separate parts of the building seems to be a good solution as they don't get in each others way and also they don't have to stop and discuss the best way of doing a particular task. We know that next week we will be short of builders as Tony is off to New York for a long weekend and when he gets back from that he and Tom are off to the Glastonbury Festival, I say good luck with that one as it always rains and turns into a mud bath, that's one festival I have never been to, never wanted to and never will go to - unless of course they decide to hold it indoors and only have either modern jazz quartets or big bands.

Rain is forecast again tomorrow and for the start of next week, maybe we will see Simon, Sam and Marcus working on the inside walls if it is too dangerous to work on the roof. Now that would be nice!