Still not finished!

Be prepared for a moanathon - things have not been going well at the Worst House. If this was a property programme it would definitely be time for the mournful twangy music and long shots of rubble and semi-derelict bathrooms.


I'm forcing myself to update this so that it will be there for us to look back on and laugh. Maybe in about 20 years. I think today has been one of the worst yet. We've had nearly a month in super comfy rented accommodation and in my friend's beautiful house, where we spent Christmas while she handily had a holiday in Australia. Christmas was wonderful and I have really enjoyed the luxury, but I am now completely spoilt and we have to move back to the WH next week. It's still NOWHERE near finished. I mean not even close!

I went to have a look today and came away feeling pretty depressed. The stone eyebrows and sills for the front bay window finally arrived after a 12 week wait - and guess what, they'd got broken in the lorry in transit. Back to the drawing board on that one. Until the replacements arrive (March?!) the brickwork at the front can't be finished off, so the house can't be painted, so the place still looks like the crazy people's house. Aggh. Inside, we still, a month after it arrived, have no boiler. The megaflo has been installed though, which means there is some hot water. However, there is still no bathroom. All the bits are there but except for the basin they're not plumbed in. No kitchen, washing machine or downstairs loo, naturally. The underfloor heating pipes have been screeded in, but as they're not connected to anything they might as well not be. (Between them the builders, plumber underfloor heating company and architect managed to get their wires so completely crossed that my utility room had no space for the washer and dryer it was designed for, but plenty for a tangle of wires and heating manifolds proudly mounted right in the way. I gather this is not uncommon.) No floors or ceilings in some of the rooms. No glass in the window in my daughter's room, which has no floor either. The glass roof is on the extension but there is still no glass in the French windows in the sitting room so it is open to the elements. No freezer or fridge ( the builders broke that.) Oh and the garden path has been dug up to replace a water main so I have to wheel the buggy through the mud to get in. Oh joy. Really not looking forward to next week - but we can't afford to rent any more at £100 a day.

The kitchen, which we ordered in a fit of enthusiasm in September, arrives on 7 Jan - we can't put them off any longer.I hope white corian is weatherproof...

I could cope with it slightly better I think if I knew that the '3 or 4 weeks' they've said they need to finish ( which would mean they are only six or seven weeks over schedule) was in any way accurate. My feeling is that my daughter's second birthday at the end of March could well be spent on a building site.

We need some good news soon - it's all getting a bit much. I've got to spend New Year's Day trying to make two filthy and cramped rooms at least clean and habitable for the family.On the plus side there are four builders on site most days, which is pretty heroic between Christmas and New Year.