How filippin' posh are we?!

Oh, we are now sooo posh!  We have lights in all our rooms and working sockets too.  It felt so strange after the electrician had been on Monday to finally coil up all the extension leads and bulbs on the ends of cables.  We have never been here without trailing cables before.  The electrician actually seemed quite sad to be saying goodbye (after all these years!) and said we could do his barn up when he gets one (which is quite a compliment).  He seemed quite pleased when we said there was still the workshop to do and we were hoping he'd come back to do that.



This is one of the lounge lights.  They are made by an old company who used to make gas lights and have now moved on to electric versions modelled on their old styles.  Of course they will have glass bell-shaped shades and possibly different bulbs, but there's no point in getting too posh all at once - we do still have building work to do in there!  Just below this light (although it's not easy to see here) was where the wrens nested last year.  I did have thoughts of leaving the nest, which really was a work of art, and somehow covering it with glass or perspex, but realistically, it's probably not a brilliant idea as it would probably rot or something.  So last week we sadly pulled the nest out which was a shame.  I did manage to get a photo of the babies peeping out of the nest, so we are going to print that and hang it near where the nest was to remind us of our little visitors.  As you can imagine I had to nip in and take a pic really quickly before the babies ducked down out of sight, so it wasn't the best photo, but Ben kindly did a bit of work in photoshop or something to take away the glare form the stone and make everything a bit clearer so it should be fine.  Also in the above phot you can see we have put one small piece of plasterboard up on the lounge ceiling.  This is because a smoke detector has to be wired in that corner as there's a bedroom next to it so it was easier to put the plasterboard up before the electrician came.


And here's our chandalier in the end bedroom (ex-padded cell)!
This also has clear glass enclosed shades which are safely
packed away.  We're really quite pleased with how it looks
hanging from the new beam.  We bought this light fixture what
seems like years ago, so it is really exciting to finally see it
in place.  Makes my fingers itch to get decorating!



And here's the batloft and that wall I spent two days
pointing and smoothing off.  We quite fancy painting this
wall quite a dark colour and making this bit into a cosy squashy
den eventually.

So, with the electrician's visit out of the way, that's another deadline met and past.  Our next major deadline is Building Control sign-off which we have to have within three months.  Since moving here we have had self-build site insurance which covers equipment hire, contractors on site and quite a lot of public liability and is, therefore, quite expensive.  As of next week we have more traditional buildings insurance.  I assume that you usually have to have your Building Regulations sign off certificate for normal insurance, but this company will cover you so long as you get signed off within three months.  So, that's our next aim.  For that we need the electrician's certificate which he is now doing, that energy rating certificate I told you about which is in hand, a stench pipe which we've almost done (just need to get a couple of pieces of cast iron downpipe to finish that) and, of course, some stairs.  That will no doubt please a lot of people no end - it seems to be the thing that bugs the most people, except us!  Mum will definitely be excited when the stairs are in because she will be able to see our upstairs for the first time (dodgy knees don't lend themselves to climbing ladders really) and lots of other people seem really concerned that we don't have stairs.  As I said, it doesn't bother us really - we're quite used to our ladder.  Once they're done, the building inspector will have to come round and check all sorts of things - oohh it'll be like taking an exam!

Non-building things we've done include starting to thin out some trees across the path which make that corner quite dark and damp and spoil the view.  Bill and his new lady friend came round for dinner - she seemed very nice and we had a really good evening.  We were a bit concerned that Maggie may have popped round as we know she is really curious to find out what the new lady is like - now that could have got awkward,  but we got away with it!  We just got quizzed about her the next time we saw Maggie, but told her in no uncertain terms we weren't going to discuss it.  It's quite difficult trying to juggle staying friends with both of them!  We've also had the woodburner flue swept, and not before time apparently.  The other thing we need for Building Control is the commissioning certificate for the woodburner which the plumber was supposed to sort out but hadn't.  So the chap came today to do his smoke and draw test.  When he lit the bit of newspaper the smoke just billowed out, filled the room and set all the smoke detectors off!  That's not supposed to happen apparently.  So he checked the flue and pulled out loads of tarrey clinker and then swept out a tonne of soot!  Oops.  Apparently having the backboiler means the tar builds up more than normal (the water cools things and that's when tar forms) and so we should sweep the flue twice a year to include the middle of winter, but nobody told us that.  It is, apparently in the maintenance manual which comes with the woodburner . . . . we don't have one!  Once he'd swept the flue though it performed beautifully and the certificate will be in the post.  I was at work while this happened and when I got home I chucked a log on to up the temperaature to cook the potatoes in the oven and the temperature shot up past the top of the scale . . . so, it's made a difference.  Bill came round for a chat just as we were about to have tea, so by the time we ate the potatoes were very, very crispy - they actually didn't have much potato left in the middle!

Oh, I still have a job after next week . . . . until 28 April!  It's really quite unbelievable, but apparently they don't have next year's budget yet.  One of my temporary colleagues (there are three of us) resigned today which has them on their toes a bit! 

Isn't it nice now the evenings are lighter?  All the birds are in full voice and very busy doing what they do.  We were woken this morning by pigeons doing an awful lot of flappy stuff in the trees - guess there'll be baby pigeons around before too long!  We usually lie in bed in the morning listening to the greater spotted woodpeckers hammering away in a nearby tree and this morning a green woodpecker was cackling away close by.  Bob has heard the first chiff chaff of the season and the nuthatches have, once again, been showing interest in the old woodpecker hole in the dead beech tree.  Everyone's busy, busy, busy.