On a schedule

This was the sunrise from our bedroom window yesterday, lovely purples and pinks.  Then the rain started.  I have a feeling the rain may have set in for the winter :-(   

The washing gets pegged outside if there is the slightest break in the clouds (I would so much rather dry washing outside if possible) but today it was back in again within twenty minutes.  Ah well, at least I have space inside the house to dry on the airer if necessary, it just takes a lot longer.

Plasterboard 'sealed' with diluted emulsion; skirting board screwed to wall and first undercoat; arrows on floor marking position of battens

Man . . .

. . . and woman at work (boilersuits essential, just wish it came in my size!!)

We have had to draw up a 'schedule of works' for the conversion - we're both finding this last phase of the renovation a bit of a chore, if we're honest, and we need to stay focussed to see it completed.  It hasn't helped that N's knee has flared up again making it very difficult for him to continue with some aspects of the work so we have had to shuffle the workload around a bit.  Every little extra bit we get done is one less bit to do, so while N cooks the dinner, I paint the skirting boards; while he unpacks the groceries, I paint the loft hatch.  We are reminded, yet again, that there is always so much more to 'paint the woodwork' than simply painting the woodwork; it's all the preparation - filling in screw-holes, sanding down, two coats of undercoat, at least one topcoat etc etc - what, on paper, looks like a couple of hours' work will probably take two or three days, allowing for paint to dry sufficiently between coats.  Never mind, we are just very thankful that we have the time to do all this ourselves, thus keeping the costs as low as possible, and that we are not only capable of doing the work but actually enjoying it as well (and learning new things at the same time).

So we are aiming for next Friday.  Completed.  Finished.  Fingers crossed.

Lofty issues

We had a bit of a situation with the loft hatch a few days ago.  The hatch-cover is/was really quite heavy and great care needs to be taken when opening it to ensure it doesn't over-swing and hit the door to the sewing room . . . . 

Sadly this is exactly what happened, one of the hinges ripped off the hatch and it was left swinging precariously.

Now, I have already had issues with this loft.  Soon after we moved here, I nearly lost the end of my ring finger when the loft ladder slid open on it's own (it was incredibly heavy and cumbersome and had a mind of it's own), and since then I have had a complete phobia about using it.  So this second loft incident prompted us to take action.

Firstly N made a new loft hatch, and a very nifty job he's made of it, too.  It just goes to show that odd bits of wood, accumulated over time for a 'just in case' moment, really do come in useful.  Then a new lightweight loft ladder was bought, and there followed an interesting couple of hours while we attempted to fit it.  A little patience was required, and several practice attempts, but we got there in the end.  And I'm now confident that I can gain access to the loft without fearing for my fingers, which is certainly something of a bonus!

All I need to do now is have a declutter in the loft . . . 

I need to mention the weather.  It seems to be raining a lot lately.  Pouring, in fact.  Last week the roads were flooded again, drains unable to cope with the volume of surface water.  I seem to remember it was like this for a lot of last winter - wet and windy almost all the time.  And we've had thunder and lightening far more frequently than usual (last night, again).  I'd much rather have a dry, cold winter than a wet and windy one but I don't think I'm going to get my wish, somehow.  

Remembering through art

For the past couple of weeks, the country's imagination has been captured by a piece of art.  The Field of Poppies in the moat of the Tower of London has been installed to commemorate the outbreak of WW1, one hundred years ago.  It comprises nearly 900,000 ceramic poppies, each one representing a British or Colonial military death during the War.  Yesterday I met my daughter in London, and we went to see the Poppies.

The scale of the installation was difficult to grasp, as was the very visual representation of the sacrifices made.  As a piece of art, it was beautiful and mesmerising.  The poppies encircle the Tower, and in places fall from windows and over walls.  

It was quite stunning and very moving.  I am sure many families have a connection to a fallen soldier in the Great War - I am aware of two within my own extended family - and I found this commemoration had a real resonance for me.  A time for remembrance and reflection.

The queue on the opposite bank of the Thames - we were in the queue on the opposite side to them!

The flip-side of the popularity of the Poppies has been the thousands of people who have flocked to the Tower to see them.  The queue was long indeed.  I have to say, I haven't been in such a crowd like that before.  Even my daughter, who lives and works in London and is therefore used to lots and lots of people thronging around at popular events, said the crowds were pretty special. However, queues aside, she and I had a very lovely day together.

No longer a garage

It's done.  The garage is no longer a garage but a guest bedroom and a storage area.  Strictly speaking there's a bit of decorating still to do before it's fit for guests to sleep in but it is definitely no longer a garage.

We are really pleased with how this project has turned out, and that we managed to bring it in very close to our original (and slightly optimistic) budget.  N has learned a huge amount through working alongside a builder of many years' experience, picking up lots of very useful hints and tips.  The electrician was in today to finish the wiring, and to test the circuit.  

The new storage area with the guest bedroom through the open door.
The retro kitchen unit fits perfectly!

Now the dust sheets are put away, we've swept up and started to put furniture back.  We're gradually reclaiming our home again.  The plaster is still drying out, we need to fit skirting board and box in the meters but we can now see the room it will become.  

This morning, when I drew the curtains, I had a bit of a shock to see the shed roof was quite white.  A definite frost last night; I forget we're already a week into November.  We have taken to throwing a quilt (or two) over the bed at night and it certainly makes it warm and cosy!  After a bit of trial and error with the radiators and thermostat we seem to have found a balance, and with the colder weather these last three or four days, we have had the heating on for a couple of hours in the evening.  The house seems to warm up quickly and then retain the heat; it's early days but we're happy with how the system is working.  

Fully plastered!

The new room is now fully plastered.  The ceiling was done today and now we just wait for the room to dry out completely.  This cold, damp weather we're having at present is a bit of a hindrance in this respect and we are considering popping the little electric heater in there tomorrow to help things along.  We'll see.  What we will be doing tomorrow is begin moving furniture around, sweeping up and going to the tip (again).  I think I have turned the corner with this project, in my head at least.  

I walked into town this afternoon to change my library books, doing my best to ignore the heavy rain clouds that were hanging around.  I was a bit miffed to find I was a day late in returning them and consequently I had a fine to pay.  Actually I had four fines to pay, as I had taken four books out, and at 40p a shot, that was £1.60 I would have preferred not to have paid.  I will definitely not be doing that again.   I can remember, when I was a child, library fines were 3d a book!  

I'm feeling more settled today, possibly because I made bread.  A wholemeal loaf and some soft white rolls which we ate later, with homemade burgers, for dinner.  Very tasty indeed.

After much deliberation, N finally bought himself a new piece of computer technology, and he has been acquainting himself with that most of the afternoon.  The laptop I blog on has been 'unhappy' for some time, and keeps crashing without warning so we are up-dating just in time.  I shall begin the task of transferring my documents and files to the new laptop in the next few days, hopefully learning some of the new applications in the process.  Technology changes so rapidly these days; last year's computers are out-of-date almost before they've left the factory, it seems.  Thankfully we don't need the specifications for gaming or downloading/storing music and films, and in that respect it seems we are a bit different from most computer shoppers/buyers/users  ;-)

Slightly disorganised

The first Christmas cactus flower of the year

We have four plastered walls in the garage/bedroom, and for a few moments we even had a door - very exciting - but that has now been temporarily removed to the shed.  This is because tomorrow the ceiling is being plastered and clearly we don't want the door being plastered as well (or the meter boxes; another use for old plastic bags).

It was cold and wet today, and the workforce got, well, cold and wet.  However, the end is in sight, and I should start referring to the new room as the guest bedroom rather than the garage.  It will be good to get ourselves straight again; this state of upheaval with nothing in it's proper place goes against my sense of order.  Apparently the shed is in a similar mess and N is longing to have time to sort that out too.  By the end of the week we should be in a position to begin reclaiming some kind of order again, thankfully.   I find dis-organisation very unsettling (I always had to tidy the messy office at work) and know that the house runs far better if it is clean and tidy and I feel better if I have done the cleaning and tidying.  At the moment, even if I do know where something is I probably can't get to it.  *sigh*  I know it's only temporary but I think I need to take some lessons from it . . .
  

In the meantime, I have a sewing project that requires my attention.

In the garden

Gulls on parade yesterday

Having had the warmest Halloween on record yesterday, November began in similar vein - sunny, blue skies and temperatures far higher than usual.  Which was just as well as I had a date with the back lawn.

One of the biggest lawn problems - creeping buttercups 

I may be a little late with my autumn lawn workout but I take the view that it probably won't do the lawn any harm and it might just do it a bit of good.  So I have scarified with a sprung-tine rake (the 'workout' was a much for my benefit as for the lawn!), followed up with another cut with the lawn-mower.  The idea is to remove all the thatch - moss, flattened grass stems, old grass trimmings etc, and I collected enough to fill a dustbin so I think the effort was worthwhile.  I'm having to work with the weather - rain is forecast for the next couple of days - but the next dry day, I shall aerate the lawn then top-dress it.  The front lawn will have to wait; tackling one lawn is better than not bothering at all and as we plan to dig up quite a bit in the front, I guess it can wait.

Early this morning we had a welcome visitor returning after a few weeks' away:

Our green woodpecker stayed for about half an hour, feasting on ants and other delicacies.  His plumage looked really bright.

Now for the monthly photographic round-up of progress in the garden.

On the left, onions; right, garlic

Four rows of spinach.  At the back in the grey container are carrots.  The rest of the beds are now under plastic to try to keep the weeds at bay.

Back lawn (before scarifying).  The bird table had a technical - normal service will hopefully be resumed shortly.

I took these photos first thing this morning, when the sun was still quite low in the sky, so shadows and indeed the sun itself caused a few problems.  I must remember that for the next few months (if we see the sun much).  This border is in desperate need of a make-over, and I have already taken out a couple of straggly shrubs and more may follow suit.  I'm trying to salvage the slate chippings that have been used as a decorative dressing as I hope to use them elsewhere.  This part of the garden spends most of the time in shade (so moss is a big problem in the lawn) and doesn't really dry out during the day.  The plan is to make this border at least twice as wide and to plant it up with a selection of perennials, climbers and one or two shrubs.

Side border - nothing's changed here.  Still not sure what to do with this area.

The front lawn is just this huge expanse of grass with a couple of shrubs stuck in for good measure.  Considering the property was built about 40 years ago it's surprising just how 'bare' the garden is; so little planting anywhere.  However, it does mean that we really do have a blank canvas with which to work.  It's just that there is a lot of work to do.  

N has been out of action all day.  Bed rest, anti-inflammatories and ice-packs have been the order of the day.  The swelling round his knee is reducing gradually and it's just as well that there's no work on the garage conversion over the weekend.  Hopefully by Monday he should be able to hobble around again.  In the meantime we are watching the plaster drying.  A bit like a watched pot, it takes it's time.