Though I don’t intend to turn this into a building blog (!) I know that some friends are curious about progress here and so I’ll offer a short update as we reach the end of the first week.

In addition to our studio downstairs (which remains untouched and screened in plastic) we had a laundry, a storeroom and a cloakroom. They were connected by a (dark) corridor in which we hung coats and left shoes. (My Hero just pointed out that our right shoes were there as well…! ) One of our last tasks was to clear this corridor and the laundry, moving the ironing board and stuff upstairs into a bedroom for the duration - we can’t live without such things! But the washing machine and tumble drier needed to remain downstairs and plumbed in and the best place was going to be the garage.

On Wednesday, builders J and A’s task was to move the machines into the garage where they’d share the power supply with the essential kettle and the water with the hosepipe.

By the time I returned from my book group, they’d been joined by the fridge freezer which had been in the storeroom.

*Side note, my bookgroup read - and loved - The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, Highly recommended and a really great read!

Overnight, the fridge acquired a little friend in the form of the cement mixer…

Then yesterday, a wheelbarrow came and joined them. Quite a little party going on in there!

But what of the actual work…the source of the noise and the dust?

Well, we began like this…our old storeroom here.

Soon, it looked like this - the storeroom wall demolished and the wall between the corridor and the old cloakroom gone too. Plenty of rubble because we live in a stone house with heavy block walls!

By the end of yesterday not only had all the rubble gone, but all the walls had gone too! What’s left is a huge empty open space that will, in time, become a new storeroom, laundry and cloakroom but in a different, more practical arrangement.

The rubble had been taken outside and the small digger put to great use, which prompted a conversation with my book group friends, one of whom said “Oh, I’d love to have a go at driving one of those!” Well, my WI has a “Bucket List”; a white board on which any of us can share a wish in the hope that one of our friends would like to join in the fun. Currently, a group is walking the Cotswold Way because one member happened to mention that it was something she’d always wanted to do but didn’t have anyone to walk with her. She soon found half a dozen others who were eager to join in the endeavour - great! Next meeting then, “Drive a digger” will appear on that list, I’m told - and someone has found the perfect place for our next day out! Oh my…

Meanwhile, back on site, I find myself wondering just what these power tools are all used for - I get the drills but there is a whole raft of other interesting bits and pieces that arouse my curiosity. We approach the end of the first week with optimism and relief. J and A are delightful, considerate and incredibly hard working. Initial issues with our security system have been overcome and it’s all now working well again (thank goodness….) We look forward to welcoming dear friends next week for a few days and have - I think - managed to maintain reasonably normal life upstairs.

Except.

There’s a doormat in a very odd place, at the foot of the stairs between the first and second floors.

Because…

Easily sorted, though there are limits as to how many times we want to hoover the top of the stairs!

Soon, we’ll leave J and A to it, we’ll go off on our travels and hopefully, when we return, those stairs and the other, concrete stairs will be gone. I think that by then the doormat will be redundant!

Exciting times.