23rd - 29th August 2010

Monday was decision day for the concrete and the men came and sealed two of the rooms that had been etched and they looked rather nice...
... so we let them loose in the living areas, where they made yet more mess and a lot of noise.

Meanwhile in the bathrooms, the tilers were very busy and had the magic effect of doubling the size of the main bathroom. Quite amazing!

Tuesday and the tiles appeared on the wall...


... and the concrete men spread their mess into the entrance hall.

Oh yes and we discovered that the benchtops for the laundry and the garage had both had their sinks mounted the wrong way round, so they went back to the factory just like the two parts of the kitchen bench had before them.

Wednesday and the bathroom looked rather smart...

... and we turned our attention to the garden and the new fruit trees that were ready for us. Fortunately it was a stunning day ...

... and Dave had dug all the holes and made the supports previously so it was just a matter of popping them in and tying up the nets.

There were some very small ones (this one is a walnut which should grow to be the biggest of the lot) ...

... and some very large ones (this one is a nectarine, yum) ...

... and one was missing altogether.

But at the end of the day our orchard was just about full.

We (well, mainly Dave of course) had also continued on with the internal painting at an amazing pace. At the beginning of the week we had completed 47% of the total painting (sealer and two top coats to all the floors and ceilings) and by the end of the week this had risen to 67%.Yay!!!

And now we had some yellow walls ...

... and some peachy ones.

And I finally bit the bullet and handed in my notice to retire. It had always been my intention to do this once the house was finished and as it turned out this just about coincided with my office having to move buildings. So it seemed perfect timing. And I was reassured that we would be able to survive without my earnings as I collected this week's harvest - 4 and a half very tiny potatoes, 4 broad bean pods picked a bit early before anyone else got them, plus one more daffodil bud that had been picked and pre-chewed for me. Looks like we might be needing those food parcels from our kids.