Almost there, coming to the really tricky bit. After much deliberation wifey and I (more wifey I must say though it was my suggestion) have decided that timber floors look nice but take too much maintenance so we did what we have done in our work building, vynil floors, non slip in the bathroom and imitation wood in the kitchen and entrance hall. The rest has been carpeted.
This weekend I'm removing the old kitchen furniture. When it was installed, many years ago, the units were built by a cabinet maker and installed very strongly. In many respects it was difficult to replace them they were that well built, I could have had new doors and work surfaces made but we (read she) fell in love with a modern set up.
Anyway the regulations for buildings have changed and there were some features in the house that needed changing so they had to go.
The waste pipe from the upstairs bathroom passed through the kitchen, inside a trunking you understand, so I had to install external waste pipes and remove the internal one.
Because the current building regs require 50mm more cavity insulation in the walls the walls in the new part of the kitchen stick into the room so a man is coming on wednesday to put a plasterboard wall up to take the kink out, before this (remember I said this was tricky) the electrician is coming to rejig the electric points on monday.
The guys who are laying the floor are coming tuesday pm to lay the latex self levelling screed (yes Yes Yes) if they finish their tuesday job early - if not they come on wednesday first thing and I'll have to rejig the plasterer to friday - they are laying the vynil on thursday. The new shower cabins come on wednesday, the new kitchen furniture comes on friday and the kitchen fitter starts on monday.
God I hope it all slots in.
I'll let you know how it all slots in.

Jake McNiece
Jake McNiece, who has died aged 93, was the leader of the “Filthy Thirteen”, a crack US Army demolition unit that inspired Robert Aldrich’s macho classic The Dirty Dozen.


The “Thirteen” was an unofficial unit (in fact consisting of up to 18 men) within the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. It was parachuted into France hours before the D-Day landings to take and hold a bridge over the Douve river, in a bid to prevent German reinforcements from moving into Normandy.
The group derived its nickname from the fact that they showered just once a week and never washed their uniforms — as well as from their insubordinate attitude to authority. “We were absolutely undisciplined,” McNiece recalled. “We did not greet the officers and we did not speak to them by saying the traditional 'Sir’. We used to call them by their nicknames.” Following the example of McNiece, whose mother was a Choctaw Indian, the men prepared for their mission by shaving their heads into Mohican haircuts and smearing their faces with war paint.
Shortly after midnight on June 6 1944, McNiece and his men parachuted behind enemy lines. By the time dawn broke, they had destroyed two bridges and had taken up positions on the bridge over the Douve. They held it against German counter-attack for three days until the structure was bombed, apparently in error, by the US Air Force. “I was submerged by anger,&#...Continue Reading