Inner illumination

Woo hoo!  The batloft ceiling's finished - plasterboarding, skimming and everything.  We now definitely have aching shoulders.  To skim the bottom half you have to sit on the floor and reach out far in front of you, putting pressure upwards at arm's length at the same time.  Good job to have got done and, yes, of course we're celebrating in traditional manner - cheers!

Next jobs are to chase cables into the stone walls in the lounge and end bedroom (do you notice I'm now calling them by their room names instead of 'barns'?).  This can take a while because you can't just angle-grind out channels - that would look awful on bare stone or whitewashed walls.  So, we have to find a route as direct as possible, but round the stones and then dig out as much mortar as we can so the cables sit well in the gaps.  I then take a photo before we point them in so we can always look back at them to see exactly where the cables are should we need to.  We have the electrician booked for the last week in March, so that gives a deadline to work to.  We do seem to get on better when we have a deadline.  I think I'll do the above while Bob gets on with panelling in both rooms.  As I said before, we had to tank the end bedroom because it's built into the hill.  On the wall between there and the lounge the tanking comes up about a metre (that's about as far as rising damp rises), so we need to cover that up and will do that with tongue and groove panelling.  That's an easy way to hide cables as well which is handy.  In the lounge the other side of that wall will be panelled in the same way.  In there we carried the damp-proof membrane from the floor up the wall, so that will be behind the panelling.

This morning we went shopping for all the bits and bobs of electrical gubbins we didn't already have including a light for the 'crog loft' which we'd completely forgotten about.  We also got a little LED light for the draft hole between the bedroom and the lounge.  Because these two rooms were barns they have these little holes built in to allow air to circulate.  We copied them in the extension, you can see them on the picture with the brick surrounds.  Anyway, from the lounge there is one hole through to each of the bedrooms - not really ideal when guests are staying!  We thought for ages about how to 'block' the view - brick them up, blinds, shutters.  Then we came up with the idea of putting opaque glass in them.  But what sort?  Ordinary bathroom glass would look a bit naff. 

So, we went to visit a glass maker during the Open Studios weekend a couple of years ago and between us came up with a cunning plan.  We have found various bits of iron, nails, etc and even some little tiny 'horse-shoes'.  They may actually be donkey shoes or even the bits put on work boots, but they were quite cute.  Anyway, Jan (the glass maker) agreed to have a go at incorporating some of them into glass panels along with bubbles and coloured glass.  After several tries, she gave up on the horse shoes, but did manage to incorporate some of the old roof nails.  We got two done for one of the holes and this is where the LED light comes in.  That will go between the two and illuminate from within - bit trendy innit?!

We managed to plan a bit of time off as intended, but it didn't quite go to plan.  We had invited some neighbours (Roy, wife, daughter and dog) for afternoon tea on Wednesday, but unfortunately they had to cancel at the last minute because a little girl they look after had to be collected from hospital after a fall at school.  So, we did a session of skimming instead and then hauled Phil and Ann in off their walk to help us eat the lemon cake I'd made!  Yesterday we went to the seaside.  We went to have a look at the bit of coast that is closest to here - due west to the Barmouth/Harlech area.  The plan was to start at Barmouth have a walk along the beach, get some lunch at a teashop then go on to Harlech and explore the beach there and finish with tea and cake before driving home.  Barmouth was quite a nice little seaside town . . . . from one end and then you get to the Las Vegas Amusements, nightclub and tattoo parlour end.  Not to worry though, there were loads of little cafes, but not a single one was open, not one!  Luckily there was a nice deli/cafe open in Harlech later (good job, because by then I was busting for the loo!). 

Bob's just pretending to look cold, it was lovely
and hot really!

Barmouth has a very long railway bridge over the estuary which you can walk over, so we did that.  There were lovely views back up the estuary to the mountains beyond and then the other way out to sea (obviously).  When we were about half way across a little two-carriage train came out of the tunnel at the Barmouth end and pootled over the bridge.  It just looked like a model railway setup.  We did have a walk on the beach too, but by then it was really quite windy and chilly.  So, on to Harlech which is a much smaller, nicer town.  Had lunch, quick look at the castle and then along to the pottery to see if they had any nice mugs or jugs . . . .closed, aaarghhh!  Guess March isn't a good time to do this!  So, we were ready to come home by 2pm!  We thought we'd stop at the Canoe Centre near Lake Bala to see what we could see and have a cuppa in their cafe while we watched the watersports.  We were on our way there to go white-water rafting the very first time we saw this place.  The cafe there was . . . you've guessed it . . . . closed!  So, we watched a raft and several canoes go down the rapids and then came home.  Not exactly the day out we'd planned, but that said it was a lovely drive through Snowdonia - beautiful, beautiful countryside.  It is really lovely round here, but within 40 miles you feel as though you are in a different country - well, you are, you're in Wales - but you feel you're a lot further from home. 

Poor little Elvis isn't doing too well.  She seems to be doing a penguin impression most of the time, all hunched up and she doesn't move around much at all.  We have to carry her up and down the steps.  She is still eating though.  She's just like Molly was in her last few days and so we're not expecting her to be around much longer.  She has been a real little character and a real fighter.  It's funny, all the ex-battery chickens have been real characters, but the two 'normal' chickens we have just don't have anywhere near as much personality.  I'll keep you posted on the Elvis front.