Swinging from the rafters

Well, not quite. I'm not actually quite sure what that phrase means...!

Anyway the ceiling is well and truly down, my nice clean house is an inch thick in black dust, the front garden is full of sacks of rubble and my husband and I are sleeping in a small room surrounded by most of our possessions. Sounds awfully familiar - only of course it's nothing like last time as despite the big black footprints everywhere and heartbreaking smudges on the white paintwork we do actually have heat, light and plenty of space and running water. Oh, and 2 flushing loos - unlike 2007-8 when we were flushing with buckets!

The rewiring's done, the radiators are in - four of them just to make sure - and the shower and basin are plumbed in. Bathstore delivered everything a mere five days after ordering, so I was very pleased with them. I know not everyone's a fan but it's always worked for me so far. ( Mind you Dawid hasn't unpacked the shower cubicle yet so we'll see how that goes!)

We have sold the Audi estate ( thanks Gumtree!) tonight and I collect the new miniature mobile tomorrow. It's going to be very odd not being able to just pop out and pick up a few radiators or a stack of tiles when I fancy it. The boot in the new car is no more than a glorified parcel shelf. Perhaps buying it is a deeply submerged psychological hint that I need to control my appetite for renovation! ( It's probably telling that our old car was bought by a builder, too!)