We've got power!!!!

Yahoo!  We have real electricity in the house, as opposed to borrowed electricity via extension leads.  The electrician has been here for the last three days and we now have working lights in the kitchen and utility rooms, sockets upstairs and downstairs working and all the outside lights work!  Wow, it's so strange to walk in and just flick a switch or just plug stuff in without trundling extension leads from the temporary sockets in the meter box.  We're now waiting for it to get dark so we can go and see what it all looks like. 
The light Bob is hiding behind will be over the table, so eventually we won't bang our heads on it . . . . . in the meantime, we have a tally going of who bumps into it most and Bob's winning so far.

These spotlights will shine on worktops, cooker, etc rather than straight down the walls as they do here, hopefully (looks a bit like a museum with them like that).  Except for the ones mounted on oak in the kitchen, we went for plain white sockets and switches with rounded edges and definitely no red blobs to tell you they're on.  We seem to constantly be battling to find things without writing, coloured bits and lights on them - think at this stage we're capable of knowing when a socket is switched on without constant reminders (sorry, this is one of my bugbears)!  Finding a cooker switch that wasn't bright red took ages and we did get fobbed off at one stage with a brass one with a red switch being told that they had to be red.  Luckily I didn't believe them and checked t'internet and found this one (right-hand one in the picture), phew, good job I checked.

The pile of 'spaghetti' in the corner of the utility room is a bit tidier now with the first lot of cables stripped and attached to trip switches in consumer unit number one.  Below that will be a smaller one for the six underfloor heating trip switches and next to that is the immersion heater timer.  Under all that will be another box to house the underfloor heating controllers.  I feel a cupboard coming on to hide all that lot!  I think the electrician was a bit disappointed not to have got more done, but he worked flat out for the three days, so he can't do more.  Connecting to the mains wasn't straight forward.  Scottish Power had mounted the box really low down with very little room to get the cables (which are very thick and unbendy) in and then something wasn't done properly which meant our electrician had to take his life in his hands to tighten a screw between two live wires - he said his heart was thumping!  I think the lights in the kitchen took quite a while too.  In all there are twelve separate lights - goodness that sounds awful!  They are all small lights rather than one big one . . . . . no wonder it took a long time really is it?

It has been quite awkward to get on with things as we don't want to get in the way, but at the same time want to be available to answer questions/help as necessary.  We installed the basin in the en-suite and Bob has been on hand making wooden pattresses so that the lights sit well on the uneven stones.  This afternoon I felt like a bit of a spare part so I did some very much needed hedge weeding.  Everything either stung or had thorns so my arms are tingling, red and covered in bumps and scratches.  I've done about two thirds of it, but I expect it'll all have grown back again by the time I get round to finishing it!

The chickens have found a new bath . . . . . in the remains of a bonfire!  Oh, what a mess they looked covered in black dust.  I think it must be the chicken equivalent of a dead sea mud spa treatment!  Needless to say, Elvis didn't see the need for such beauty treatments!  Tomorrow we're doing the village hill walk.  It is an annual event to raise money for charity.  16 miles over the local hills with the option of a shortcut . . . . 10 miles!  We'll be taking the shortcut!

Christmas shopping . . . . . aarrghh!

Ho, ho, ho!  I should now be feeling christmassey having had a mega Christmas day yesterday.  I was starting to feel a little panicky at the weekend having not done any Christmas shopping at all and hearing all sorts of people saying they'd just about finished!  So Bob and I went Christmas shopping on Monday . . . . well, we drove over to Stockport to collect out cast iron radiator which is our Christmas present to ourselves, so that was two presents done!  We had to go to the bank in town on the way home and managed to pick up another couple of things.  Then on Tuesday I booked a day off with the boss and went to Shrewsbury vowing not to return until I had got everything - and I managed it!  I really wasn't looking forward to it - you know, shopping is just not my thing at all.  That said, it wasn't tooooo bad.  I have to say, Shrewsbury is a much nicer place to shop than the places I used to go - Northampton, Peterborough and Milton Keynes.  Everyone always seemed so stressed there, pushing and shoving with grumpy shop assistants.  But there was a really nice atmoshpere in Shrewsbury, shop assistants were helpful and cheerful and other shoppers just seemed more friendly, holding doors open, smiling and joking - just much nicer.  Don't get me wrong, I still don't like shopping, it just wasn't as bad as it could have been.  I got home at about 4pm having popped into Oswestry to get a couple more bits and then I spent all evening wrapping it all up.  Phew, all done!

Yesterday, the last day before the return of the big freeze, we made more mortar and put the last two extractor fan vents in, then used up the rest of the mortar around the back boxes for sockets.  Have you ever tried getting sockets straight and level on a random stone wall, wel it's not easy!  They are packed out with bits of slate, stones and mortar which will hopefully hold them in place.  Today we have been trying to clean up the purlins and woodwork upstairs.  Some parts of them are a bit dodgy so we have tried to remove the soft bits, some parts have been whitewashed which is fairly easy to get off and other bits have several coats of amazing paint.  However they used to make paint, it certainly sticks to wood.  Some bits just won't scrape off and if you use a hot air gun on it it kind of melts and soaks into the wood a bit more.  The same if you use paint stripper and sanding just seems to polish the paint rather than removing it!  We've tried all of them and there is still paint there, so we'll just have to keep having a go.  Once our shoulders and arms could take no more above-head sanding, we moved onto other jobs.  Bob boarded in the bit in the utility room where all the cables congregate ready for the fuse boxes (I know, they're not called fuse boxes anymore!) to be screwed on.  Lets hope he has all the cables grouped together properly or the electrician will be confused!  I have done some more insulation in the walls in the kitchen.

Yesterday evening we had a go at felt-making at the smallholders meeting.  It was quite messy and made your arms ache, but we had a laugh . . . . . especially when we looked at the finished result!  It looks like an old rag . . . but we're proud of it!  Now who shall we give this wondrous homemade gift to this Christmas?!!  Any of our parents should be proud to own it shouldn't they?  Tee hee, don't worry we wouldn't do that to you!  Here's how you could make something just as wonderful!  Take some washed (and in this case dyed) wool which has been carded (this is were they kind of comb it to get all the fibres going the same way which is the stage at which it would be spun into knitting or weaving yarn).  Then you pull bits off and lay them on a piece of bubble wrap (this is a very ancient art, but I didn't know they had bubble wrap way back when!).  Then put another layer on top with the fibres going at right angles to the first lot and then a third layer going the same way as the first.  Then you put warm soapy water all over it, lay a piece of net curtain on top and rub round and round all over it using a scrunched up palstic bag.  The bag and net curtain are to stop the fibres sticking to your hands.  After a while the fibres start knitting together and then you can turn it over and carry on, and on, and on!  Eventually it turns into felt and is quite firm and strong.  I think Bob and I were being too gentle and kept getting thin bits and holes.  When it almost felt, you can decorate it.  Everyone else used sequins, feathers lace and sparkly wool - in which case you arrange the decorations on top then lay a very thin layer of wool fibres over and then carry on with the water and rubbing.  Bob and I decided on a punky version of a Union Jack instead - well, it made everyone laugh!  We've decided it's an old battle flag and has certainly seen some action - it even has a bullet hole!

Spaghetti Junction

Wow, look at the size of that.  Dave, the electrician, leant Bob one of his drill bits to do some of the holes while he was here.  Trouble was that it was so long that Bob couldn't stand back far enough and it did look quite funny.  Did the job though.

The electrician was here Monday to Thursday and got all the first fix done.  That's all the cables in place, but not actually connected.  He was brilliant - he really got on with things, listened to what we said and was very neat and tidy.  All the cables are neatly clipped in place, labelled and taped together where necessary.  I was helping him once, laying the cable along the top of the wall and then through to him in the next room.  That done, he continued to work in the next room running the cable down to sockets.  So, by the time he came back to where I was it was too late!!  I'd forgotten to put the cable under a metal wall tie and he had to clip it up above which completely ruined his neat pattern - oops!  It actually didn't matter - it'll all be covered up - but it spoilt the look for now!

I can't believe how many cables are needed and this is a relatively simple set-up.  Imagine if we'd had centrally controlled mood lighting, curtain opening, loo lid lifting, entry systems and retina scanning like you see on Grand Designs!  I am actually quite disappointed with this picture.  I wasn't quick enough to get a photo before he tidied up and bundled the cables together.  Believe me, before he did that it looked horrendous.  On this wall in the utility room we will have to have all sorts of boxes, so I think we'll hide them all in a cupboard.  When I told the electrician, he looked slightly hurt and said he actually quite likes looking at consumer units!  I managed to take the mick out of him for that for the rest of the week!  We will have to have one normal consumer unit (like the old fuse box), another for the trip switches for the underfloor heating, another for the controllers and contactors (don't ask me - I think they're something to do with doing the heavy switching) for the heating and another for the immersion heater controls.  So, that's most of the utility room used up!

Sparky is quite happy to come back now and then to do the next part in bits as and when we have done the insulation, plasterboard, skimming, etc.  The way it is wired means he could liven up (that's an electricians' term for connecting to the mains don't ya know!) the old house without us having to do anything to the rest.  That means we could move in to that bit!  Yeah! We might get in before the good weather comes . . . . we'll we've missed moving in before the bad weather!

This will be our third winter in the caravan and each have broken records.  The first was the coldest for something like 10 years, the next the coldest for 31 years and now this one has the earliest widespread snow for 17 years!  You can just bet that next winter will break some record by being the mildest since records began!!  We have snow and it is jolly chilly (if the Met Office website is to be believed, we should hit -9 tonight and it won't rise above -3 tomorrow . . . . Brrr!).  This morning the curtains were stuck to the windows by ice and the first loo flush of the day sounds as though there are icecubes going through the system.  So, today we have checked that the lagging is still in place on the pipes under the caravan, re-done the insulation around the outside tap and installed the double-glazing in the caravan.  We use the plastic film that you tape round the edges then warm with a hair dryer so it shrinks tight like a drum (that bit's quite good fun, but we overdid it last year and it started pulling the frames off!).  It does make a bit of a difference and cuts down the condensation, but it does mean you can't open the window so we leave some without so we can still freshen the air.

So, tonight we are having curry for tea . . . . with extra chillies!