August 2007
Yet again I have ignored you - it has been a bit busy.
While I am slagging people off (see later under lounge floor) the delay has been largely due to the complete failure of our broadband. It simply stopped one morning 3 or 4 weeks ago during an electrical storm. Orange (was Wanadoo - was Freeserve) were useless and I was quite unable to get them to check the equipment in the exchange (which had been fried last year due to a lightning strike). We have now got a BT service installed on the other line. It is significantly faster and will be half the cost after the initial six months of discount. If our bandwidth demands keep growing we may get a second BT connection on the original line.
The first half of this page dates from the second week of August
Took most of these this morning....
My pergola has been extended and the clematis is already getting settled in.
Meanwhile out at the front the courtyard is being paved.....
This was taken a few days ago.
The sand base is levelled to billiard table standards. This is the crushed stone base for the driveway, there's 20mm of sand to go on here,
These two were taken this morning.
The living area is now looking like a home.....
The oak handrails are in with metal spindles. Neil stayed till 8 o'clock last night to get this completed.
Two views from down in the living area.
And from the lobby looking towards the conservatory.
The pantry (sorry for the dark shot) with its Belfast sink. The tiles were Neil's idea and look lovely.
The grey shelf to the right is a chunk of Thornback which came from Trev's quarry about 12 years ago for the Park Mews kitchen.
Meanwhile down below.....
The utility room is taking shape with some units from the old kitchen.
And.....
The wine cellar has grown a second tier of storage and the shower room is fully functional.
The lounge floor (finally) arrived last week, no thanks to Real Oak Floors who do NOT come with our recommendation.
These pics do not do it justice. The decorating should be finished in two days and then we can start moving stuff in.
Currently we are moving the last stuff out of the old spare room over the kitchen.
Other news, we have a new toy...
Its a 2.5cc glow plug engined four wheel drive truck. It is very different to what I used to race 30 years ago.
It has a two speed automatic gear box with reverse(!!) but due to the lad's enthusiasm for jumping it over steep ramps and landing on a building site, it is currently laid up waiting for a new wishbone. As you might imagine it goes like stink.
A week or three on (actually just in September)......
The truck is now dismantled for a rebuild. (Me thinks the lad is becoming a mechanic!!)
Some new pics, latest ones taken about 5 minutes ago....
The kitchen and dining area is becoming quite cosy.
We did our first roast in the Aga today and it worked fine. The lad has served pancakes to the builders and they have gone on to be generally upset as the big red beast blows cooking smells out into the courtyard.
The living area is looking good, though somewhat lacking in seating. We are torn between an "L" shaped or conventional sofa.
Meanwhile we lie on the floor!! Thank goodness for Brufen!!
The old front door has gone! Andy took it away!!
Meanwhile the first wall of the wine cellar is done. The formers are still in the top two arches until the cement hardens.
We bought an old gas-light sconce on Ebay. It took a couple of weeks but I finally got a wire down the tube. It has a 12volt bulb and I think it looks good.
I have cleared out the "mile a minute" from the footpath between us and "The Cottage" (known to us as Sarah Winterburn's Garth". I've put up a fence along the wall above what will become our Japanese garden-cum-patio.
This was the start of breaking up the concrete under the hall floor where it had bulged upwards. Neil has officially handed the job over to me.
To date it has been stripped out (revealing what we reckon is the old back door step and and a door frame hole, The new cement has gone in the is weekend.
The non-fun part of the job is cutting the old pitch off the back of some 200 or so oak blocks. I've made a jig for the circular saw and so the job can be done - but what a mess!!!
Meanwhile back in the kitchen.....
and the dining room (to become the "music room"
The window of this room gets cut out tomorrow to make a French window.
The Aga and a couple of its four little friends.
A few views of the driveway and courtyard...
This lot has been sorted a bit to give a still rather steep turn from the garden onto the courtyard. View down the hill a day or two before the job was finished.
Final section up to the gate. A trio of vehicles. The digger has finally gone home after over 10 months here. The roller was just for the drive.
A flashback!!!
Bye for now!!