Tuesday 29th September - I promised pictures...

 The electricians have just gone home for today. Although it might seem as though they have left it all in a mess; look again; the cables are laid out ready to start straight away tomorrow morning.

The new kitchen door (the fridge-freezer should just fit in the corner);

The new kitchen window; (the sink will be underneath, with the dish washer beside it)

The new french windows; (the two central doors open outwards, the windows either side tilt inwards from the base or open inwards from hinges along the outer edges)

 

And The Big End Window! It is frosted glass as it looks over our neighbour's garden. The actual floor level in the extension once the insulation and screed have gone down will be level with the sill of the existing patio door, near as makes no difference. 

This is the back wall of the house. The patio doors will be removed and the space left open;

And the current kitchen door into the house; again the door will be removed and the space left open. The right hand side of the existing  kitchen will become a shower room and downstairs loo, leaving space for the boiler and washing machine (both out of sight in the corner) and the left hand side utility room/storage/kitchen overflow.

The plaster is also coming tomorrow to start covering the outside with render. We needed to choose the colour for the final coat so we took the colour chart outside and put it on the terrace. If you zoom in, you will see that we have marked the second and third colours down on the left hand side, 'parchment' and 'honeysuckle'. Final decision tomorrow...

I've started calling it the 'terrace' rather than the patio. I've always thought of a patio as being at ground level, but we've got a sort of raised platform, like paved decking. Whenever I go out there I feel as though I should be declaiming Shakespeare or singing an aria... If I get out there tomorrow I'll take a picture to show you what I mean.

Just one more thing; the electrician is incredibly neat; just look at the way all the cables are coiled symmetrically in the switch boxes, like pince-nez spectacles... 'I've got a thing about symmetry' he said...

BB has Strongly Dissuaded me from putting stickers of eyes (I have a reel of them) on the screw heads inside each loop of cable. 

  
 

Monday 28th September - a houseful

 Today we had six workmen on site. Suddenly the extension seemed very crowded.

At one end, two electricians were drilling and fixing supports for all the sockets and switches that we thought we might need, plus more that we hadn't realised we might need. It was so noisy!

At the other end the big end window was being installed. It is in three large, heavy panels of opaque fire-proof safety glass, because it forms the boundary wall. Each panel took four men lift each one into position. Between them they fill the top half of the end wall. 

We chose to have the glass rather than a cheaper and easier solid end wall to appease our elderly neighbours who were most upset at the thought that our extension would take the light from their garden.

That window has caused so much angst!

I don't think it will make any difference to their garden, but it does make our extension lovely. I  think it also makes what was our dining room brighter. So although I'm more than a bit miffed about the expense and delay, I reckon it has turned out for the best and will be worth the money.

I'll take pictures tomorrow; it's been a long and tiring day!

Saturday 26th September - lists

 A friend was asking me about the 'rules' for drawing the 10-minute journals. 

'Rules' ?

Make them up as you go along, sez I! 

I picked up the idea of 10-minute journalling on substack here from someone called Adam Ming, so can follow that link to see how he does it.

Anyway, here's today's, and I noted the time I started and finished. 

I have a timetable for builders and trades coming in next week... I think that's the first time I've had such a thing!

We'll notice the difference when the back door in the kitchen and patio doors in the dining room are taken out. The space will be boarded up while the dusty work of lining the walls with ply, to take the weight of the kitchen cabinets, and then plasterboard and finally the plastering. It's only for a couple of weeks (I hope).

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Some bloggers post their meal plans...

Here's what we had this week;

My writing seems to have become a scrawl...

Friday 25th September - procrastination

Somehow I have gained a couple of stitches across a row in my current knitting again, and I am in the process of 'tinking'* a few rows, to avoid 'frogging'** which is what I ended up doing earlier this morning. Patience is an acquired skill and I surely am getting a lot of practice!

* if you spell 'knit' backwards you get 'tink' which means working backwards along the row, 'unknitting' every stitch 

**'frogging' is when you abandon 'tinking' and just pull out the needles and 'rippit, rippit' back. Apparently that's what frogs say in USA instead of cro-ak in England. Helpful hint; have a needle several sizes smaller to hand to pick up those pesky little stitches. Your chances of success are instantly improved. 

Which reminds me; I learned last night on Micheal Rosen's BBCsounds podcast 'the last word' about Scottish Gaelic that sheep say 'm-e-eh, me-e-eh' in Gaelic and Welsh, not 'Baa baa'. There you go. You can now speak Welsh, or Gaelic. But I doubt this will be a useful puece of information...

 So, back to procrastination; I an doing everything except tinking, which is why you have got a blog post. 

Ang's squares arrived yesterday afternoon, but before I started posting I made a pot of tea. I'm not quite as fussy as DS George Cross in the Tim Sullivan books, but I do like a things done a certain way if I'm at home (although I'm happy with what comes my way when I'm out!)

I prefer herbal teas in my glass teapot, with a glass cup, so I can admire the leaves (if I'm using loose leaf) and the colour. For ordinary tea I  like a cup and saucer and loose leaf tea in my blue pot. Although I'm happy to use certain mugs for convenience. My current favourites are these blue and white ones. 

What's this got to do with Ang? 

Her flat gifts were a selection of herbal tea bags (I've already sampled Mint and Verbena, very good, thank you!) and a sweet little wooden spoon which fits perfectly in my tea-leaf jar. I tested the spoon and it delivers exactly the right amount of tea - how did you know that, Ang? The rest of the tea bags will join the others in my 'Tea Ration' tin. Excellent!

And the square? It's beautiful,  a lovely textured stripe pattern with chains of slip stitches going up. I love it. She's knitted the opposite colourway for herself. Block 157, 'Up and Over' from the book by Jan Easton that we are using.

Now, I  MUST carry on with this current square; it's a bit 'three rows forwards, two rows back' at the moment but I won't be beat! I WILL have just 33 stitches instead of 35 by lunch time or BURST!

Thursday 24th September - new kitchen, more squares

#1 So...

Yesterday- no builders, but we have had the radiator delivered. I found a sketch I made of the kitchen-to-be;

I've done it as though I'm standing in the living area of the extension. My main reason was to try and start thinking about how to use the drawers and cupboards. We have changed the end cupboard on the right to drawers. I've seen how easy it is to deal with plates and bowls etc if they are in drawers instead of cupboards in other people's kitchens. 

It's going to be a half width electric induction hob, because I never, or hardly ever, use three pans at one, what with the airfryer and microwave. And we're going to have a counter-top oven instead of a built-in one. Ah, I don't think I have drawn it in! There's always something you miss out!

Another good idea is to label every drawer and cupboard with what lives inside... like our church kitchen. 

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Ang told me that my Double Knitting squares were delivered yesterday so I can post pictures now;

I'm encouraged by how straightforward this was to knit; hardly and 'twinking' happened. The bottom square, which is the one I sent to Ang, is a slightly brighter turquoise than the photo.

Our minds have been running along the same lines for what to do with the squares; we've both been investigating the feasibility of a patchwork jumper... I think I worked out it might take around 48 squares which would mean quadrupling my rate of production.  I'd better get on; I currently have two squares with different patterns on the go and a third waiting for its partner!

I can't stop laughing at these parrots... Just put 'four parrots' into YouTube...

Tuesday 22nd September

 Yesterday we signed off and paid the balance on our new kitchen. To be delivered in the week beginning 19th October in time for the fitter to start on the 26th. I hope that the extension will be ready!

We've had peace, but no physical progress on the extension yesterday and today, but a certain amount of texting and telephoning on my part has extracted the information that

The new radiator will be delivered tomorrow (not sure where to put it!)

The electrician will be back from holiday in time to start 'at the end of the week'

It's likely that the hup! team may perhaps possibly be able to install the big window 'later this week'.

So I shall wait and see... this whole project has been an exercise in patience!

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Going back to Sunday, we had a lovely walk with friends through Nymans Gardens. I didn't take any pictures, I was too busy looking at leaves and flowers and views... we spent some time watching a wren hopping through a flower border, invisible except when we caught a flickering of movement through the leaves. 

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I've not been keeping up the journal pictures, but here's one for today;

The short daily reflections on my CofE app are themed on National Retreat Week. Yesterday looked at 'Silence' and today was on 'Still'. 

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I finished reading the first Tim Sullivan book 'The Dentist', and also finished rereading Rosamund Pilcher's September. Now for 'Time's Testimony' by Lynda Gillard...