31.10.2022 A better bit of gardening.

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 Monday 31st 54F. Up at 5.30. It will take time for my body clock to adjust to the clocks going back.

 06.30 Slightly misty. I can just see the silhouettes of the trees out of my windows as the sky lightens in the NE. 66F/19C upstairs this morning. The unusually mild weather meant another evening without the wood stove needing to be lit. 

 I am seriously thinking about fitting a second banister rail to the very steep [55º] stairs. There was never a handrail fitted on the wall side. It would need handrail support brackets and well anchored screws. 

 Very bad timing. Considering I have just filled and painted the plywood cladding on that wall. The wall is solid and rendered on the kitchen side. So presumably a rougher version of the underlying brickwork [?] lies just behind the plywood. Which flexes in and out. Making the task of screwing anything to the wall even more difficult. Do I really want to remove the plywood and expose yet another hideous wall?

 8.40 54F/12C. I have returned from another brisk walk to the lanes under a grey sky. Too warm in a jumper and fleece jacket. Two, large, brown, birds of prey were roosting in a small tree. I have seen lots of birds of prey recently. 

 I passed a field on my ride yesterday. Where there must have been well over 1000 geese. All sitting on a low, grass-like crop. They were ringed on all four sides by gulls. An odd contrast between very dark grey geese and the almost white gulls. 

 Plans for today? A matter of priorities. Should I lay the self-levelling compound in the entrance hall? I was going to make a bridge from low, wooden blocks and a plank of thick plywood. So I can reach the toilet while the compound is drying. About an hour? I can make the jump from lounge to bathroom easily enough. In fact I have done so repeatedly. I don't want to drop any debris from my shoes onto the still wet compound.

 I still couldn't find my ancient [mains] hammer drill. So I went out and bought a new rechargeable one on special offer. I have been struggling to drill bricks and concrete using a normal, rotary drill. Without the hammer action even the smallest masonry drill struggles to penetrate.

 11.00 The entrance hall floor is now primed with Lip54. I vacuumed the floor well beforehand. The primer takes an hour to dry and I recommend rubber gloves. The little I got on my hands is persisting. Despite repeated washing. 

 I still have to decide how deep a layer of self-levelling compound I need. I do not want to raise the floor too much. Just level it enough to lay the tiles evenly. So, just enough compound to fill the hollows. Which requires it be feathered off on higher areas.

 14.00 57F/14C. Heavily overcast. I mixed enough powder for 1L of water. It made enough compound but would have been better if it had been "wetter." So that it ran out to a thinner edge. Never mind. The tiles will have a level base for the fixing mortar now. That is all that matters. 

 The afternoon was mostly spent outside. I trimmed back the overhanging branches of the larch trees on the approach drive. Then used the hedge clippers to level this year's growth in the flower bed at the drive end of the house. All the trimmings were raked up and dumped in the trailer. Ready for a trip to the recycling yard. Then I mowed the parking space.

 Dunner was mackerel on toast followed by tomato soup and a roll. Dreadful picture quality I am afraid!

~~

30.10.2022 Worthless Siemens ceramic hob!

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 Sunday 30th 54F/12C. 64F upstairs. 63F downstairs. Still no stove required. Up at 6.10. Except that I forgot about the clocks going back. So I didn't change them before bedtime. Up at 5.10? It is going to be a very long morning! Grr? 

Image from yesterday's walk.

 Another walk to the lanes.

 I have run out of tea bags. Only one or two shops sell it. In opposite directions to each other. I fancy a ride today. Seven miles to either shop is a nice distance. One is reached by an very over-familiar, busy, main road. The other by beautiful and quiet lanes. With multiple sub-choices of route. Choose one.

 I chose the pretty route into the wind. It added up to 19 miles or about 30km in total. Going one way and returning by another. I was too warm and I had to take my cycling jacket off. To ride in just the cycling jersey and shorts. The tea was 50% more expensive than a year ago. 59F/15C outdoors on my return.

 13.20. 61F/18C! Just enjoying lunch. Greenhouse door open. 66F/19C upstairs in warm sunshine.

 16.00 59F/15C outdoors. 67F/19.5C upstairs. I spent the afternoon in the observatory. Where I managed to capture some pictures of the sun through thin cloud. It has been unusually warm today for this time of year. More temperature records have been broken throughout Europe. Climate concerned citizens are marching in Denmark. Including, somewhat ironically, politicians. With their empty climate promises for the elections.

 Somebody has to do the washing up. Or there will be no afternoon tea. Let alone any dinner.

 Dinner was cod in batter. With frozen peas and boiled potatoes. I threw the peas in with the potatoes for the last five minutes. To save heating another saucepan on a non-existent heating ring. 

 The Siemens ceramic hob is proving a damned nuisance! The two oversized rings are utterly worthless to me. These two rings are only suitable for the very largest of frying pans. I have hardly used either of the two oversized rings in all the time I have owned the hob. In 7 months! 

 All of my four saucepans are smaller than the largest ring. My largest saucepan fits on the back left [middle sized]ring  but I never use that saucepan! 

 The heating rings on the Gorenje hobs, at the cooking classes, are all the same size as the smaller rings on the Siemens. Which means all four can be used at all times with all sizes of pan. Rather than only [ever] two in the case of my useless Siemens hob. 

 The Siemens was an incredibly poor purchase choice on my part. One which I did not consider in my haste and inexperience to have a new hob. Immediately following my wife's death. Just so I could start learning to cook from scratch. After throwing her old and rusting Gram cooker out. Which she would never allow while she lived. 

 There were only two hob rings still working on the Gram. While the top, oven heating element drooped halfway down across the door almost from new! The brackets which were supposed to support the element were never fitted. Or were removed by the dealer. Who lost out on a lucrative and ridiculous standard installation charge.

 I am going to have to buy a replacement hob. Making the Siemens a complete waste of money. I am no longer willing to put up with a two ring hob on a four ring glass plate. 

 Shuffling my smaller pans around two rings is a complete bore! How m I supposed to cook and keep several things warm at the same time? 

 I just hope all hobs have the same cut-out size in the worktop. The struggle I had to bring that new worktop into the kitchen. Is still burnt deeply into my memory!

~~

29.10.2022 Not all gravel is equal.

 ~~

 Saturday 29th 50F/10C. Up at 6.00. I keep hearing a roaring sound in the early morning. It sounds like muffled,  heavy rain on the roof but it isn't raining. Or strong winds. Again, there is no wind. It may be tinnitus but doesn't sound like the sound of blood pulsing in my [deaf] left ear.

 I need to get busy on the house again. It feels as if I have begun to drift. I need to set goals to achieve. At the moment I am hampered by all the boxes and "stuff" on the floor in every space. None of it lends itself to stacking. I ought to have completed the entrance hall floor by now. Lay self levelling compound followed by tiles. I have mislaid my old mains drill. So I can't power mix the compound. At least, that is my excuse. 

 I am very disappointed in how the compost covered parking area has softened up in recent rain. No matter how gentle I am with the car it cuts deep grooves. I am having to reverse the 100m down my own drive. Just to avoid causing more damage. It is a shame because the sewn grass is doing very well. If I add gravel to the surface it will wreck the mower. 

 It needs to be sharp gravel too. There is no sharp gravel available locally. It is all washed prehistoric river gravel. Round and slippery in all sizes. Like ball bearings! With zero bedding power if I fill the potholes in the main drive. The self stabilising gravel is far too soft and uses the same, round gravel mix.

 Fine, asphalt road scrapings have proved the best drive surface so far. It stank in sunshine at first and looked very black. Now it has filled in with grass, gravel [and weeds] it is much more gentle on the eye. I can easily mow over it where it grows greenery in the middle of the drive. Where the car tires can't run. The individual pieces lock together well and bed into a solid surface. Do I want that on this stuff on the parking area? I am really not sure. 

 Alternatives, like blocks or slabs would be costly. Probably require vibrators and experienced labour to do it properly. I have hardly made a dent in the concrete slab outside the house. 

 I started to break it up with my sledge hammer. Then ran out of steam as other projects reared their ugly heads. The pick-axe handle had rotted away too. I found a new handle but swinging a pick is much harder work than I remembered. 

 I spent years excavating the space beside the house in Wales. When we bought the cottage there was a steep bank. Literally leaning on the house up to roof level. 

 Every teaspoon of this rock-hard moraine had to be picked free and removed. Shovelled up and wheel-barrowed away. To build up a useful flat surface where there was none before. I wore out two picks and several shovels and builder's wheelbarrows. The picture shows about a quarter of the area I removed. Later owners built an extension and conservatory on the space I excavated. My wife built the slate waste, slab wall. She was gifted at that sort of thing. A natural, dry stone, wall  builder.

 The slope and depth of the ground is clearly evident from the sloping field just beyond. This field allowed sheep to walk straight onto the roof. I moved huge boulders over twenty yards. Using only levers. To build up the level in a marsh. So that it eventually became dry and level and even grew into a small wood. We planted hundreds of trees on the reclaimed marshland.

 8.00 52F/ 11C.Almost light enough to risk a walk now. It looks overcast. Though it seems to be an illusion caused by small dark clouds. The remaining leaves on the trees are beginning to move to a light SW breeze. I am going to wear the same fleece jacket again but without the jumper.

 A day of persistent vapour trails. Depending on altitude. The cloud had piled up in the east. Causing it to be darker than usual. It was well after nine  before there was the first glimpse of the sun trying to break through the layers of cloud. I walked down to the village. Then turned right onto the track to the forest. 

 Turned right again. To follow the forest edge up to the summit. Then finally descended by the direct route. Just as I did yesterday. I managed to walk off my aching back. The fleece jacet over a t-shirt was very comfortable in today's conditions. Mild and no wind.

 Plans for today? I have a grocery shopping list but really ought to get on with something useful at home. I am looking for inspiration. Always tending to do things which appeal in the moment.

 11.00 I have repainted most of the woodwork in the entrance hall. The door frames were given a second coat. Half of the boarded ceiling too. I can easily reach the ceiling with the paint brush but dislike tilting my head back for very long. The inside of the bathroom door needs a first coat. It was easier to work flat on a trolley last time.

  12.20 56F/13C Sunshine! The bathroom door is painted inside and two architrave pillars fixed either side. There is no clearance for a top rail to match the 90mm wide uprights. I'll add a timber profile across the top  to hide the absence. It should vanish when it is all painted white to match the rest.

 14.30 57F/14C Returned from the shops. Caught up on the groceries while the paint dried. Rehung the bathroom door.

 17.30 55F/13C  It had been getting darker. Now it is raining.

 20.15 Dinner was a salmon pasty, tinned tomatoes, pasta and lots of mushrooms. I split the mushroom pack in two but even a half is still too much for one sitting. If I split it in three they might go off and be wasted. There would also be too many repetitions of mushrooms. 

 Having pasta allows me to use all of the tinned tomatoes. I used to have to sieve it with a slotted spoon. Then throw away all the juice. Now I can keep it all without the plate swimming. I freeze the pasta so it can be easily broken by hand into small pieces. I have also discovered that I can chuck the frozen peas in with the pasta. That saves needing an extra saucepan and ring on the hob.

 

 ~~

28.10.2022 Gorgeous dawn!

 ~~

 Friday 28th 51F/11C. Slightly misty. Two forecasts today. One offers sunshine and record temperatures for the end of October. The other says cloudy and no mention of high temperatures over much of Europe. Choose one.

  Indoor temperatures remain stable at 64F/18C upstairs and 60F/15C downstairs. No stove or greenhouse required. Though I am wearing a fleece jack indoors when I am sitting still. 

 Deciding what to wear for my morning walks is increasingly difficult. I usually get far too hot on the way back. I left my jumper off yesterday and was still sweating in just a T-shirt under my winter jacket. I need a lighter jacket. Perhaps I should try just a fleece jacket over a T-shirt.

 Up at 5.30. Weird dreams and constantly reliving the past with my wife. I have a bottomless reservoir of 55 years of random memories to dredge up. I should be grateful but haven't been able to convert these memories to feelings of happiness.

 I still struggle to add any real meaning to life. With, or without her. It just feels as if we [all] hide from the absolute certainty of death with our pointless activities. It doesn't stop me from being happy and cheerful when in company. Though, once it is over, I am left wondering. Why we two could not have had a reasonable social life. One outside the confines of our mutual and hideously dysfunctional families.

 7.40 and the sky is brightening in the east. I can begin to think about escaping to the over-familiar roads and lanes. I could travel further afield but have no desire to cycle in the rush hour. Nor leave the trike unattended while I walk new ground. Cycling is a very different pastime to walking. The first achieves far greater distances but lacks some of the therapeutic advantages of walking. 

 I am extraordinarily lucky to have the countryside all around me. For miles or kilometres in all directions. Covering most of it would take hours on foot. Only a mountain bike would take me to the quiet places away from the roads. There are remarkably few public paths.

 I got rid of the mountain bikes I had picked up over the years for small change. They were all far too heavy to enjoy the experience of riding them. Buying new and lightweight, with full suspension, would cost a small fortune. Adding a battery and motor even more so. 

 Trikes are uniquely unsuited to off-road use. Due to the very limited capacity for lean without toppling. Not to mention the need for three free wheel tracks. Though that hasn't stopped me trying in the past. I have ridden typically deep grooved, forest tracks made by motor vehicles. Dragged the trike bodily by the scruff of the handlebars. Where I could not ride.

  8.15 Light enough for a walk.  I went south for a change. Wearing another fleece jacket over a jumper. To be greeted by a gorgeous orange dawn. With orange beams shining into the thin mist. I kept snapping away with the TZ7. Not all my pictures were equally sharp. Nor captured the amazing light with a suitable landscape. 

 I climbed up to the forest by the steep, field track. Where a small herd of deer was grazing on a grass crop. Several made a run for it. Though seven were left. Standing their ground and watching me from their safe distance. The thin mist may have been hiding all of us from each other. My snaps of them came to nothing. 

 I made the descent back home by the direct route. Beside the fully regrown, field hedge. My boots picking up wet mud. Despite my deliberately seeking out and brushing though the stubble. My jumper had been tied around my waste since reaching the forest.

 I keep thinking I should find a cloth shoulder bag in a charity shop. That would give me far greater flexibility in my choice of clothing. I could discard jumpers, hats and gloves into the bag. To be easily stored with my hands still free for photography. Or moving impeding brambles aside. I haven't found a suitable canvas bag yet. Despite frequent searching.

 Spent some time in the observatory until it clouded over. Gave up and went shopping.

 13.00 62F/17C. Returned from the shops with a huge tub of white, wall paint. It had been discounted to below the price of the half sized tub I bought last time. I  also have enough architrave to complete framing the last of the doors. Inside the bathroom and beside the meter in the front hall. .18.30

18.30 57F/14C. After lunch I wasted more time watching clouds in the observatory. Then gave up and went back indoors to do lots of filling of cracks with a new cartridge. I had the greenhouse door open all afternoon and ended up with 67F/19C upstairs and 65F/18C downstairs. It is still the same temperature up here at 18.30.

 20.00 Dinner was poached eggs on toast. They were absolutely perfect. The trick is to lower the eggs individually in small cups facing the side of the saucepan. Then to wait and only very slowly tip out the eggs into the boiling water and gently remove the cup.

 This avoids the whites exploding into a horrible mess. I turned off the ring and let the water boil to a standstill over a couple of minutes. The yolks were perfect too and the taste was wonderful. 

~~

27.10.2022 A better bit of wood.

 ~~

  Thursday 27th 55F/13C. Cloudy.  Up at 6am. I forgot to take the dustbin along before five. So I took it along after six. Just in case the dustbin men come later than usual. I walked blindly. In the pitch black. Unable to se the ground or my feet. Relied on memory. What memory? Ever the optimist.

Thursday cooking class today. I have printed out today's recipes. Which the class leader usually sends via PDF attachments. I must remember my pinny. 

 8.40. Finished morning coffee. My usual walk to the lanes started in semi-darkness. I stepped onto the verge every time a vehicle approached. Traffic heavy at first but much lighter on my return journey.

 14.00 Back from the cooking class. That went well. With the usual banter, discussions and laughter.

 14.45 I was just hanging some towels out when there was a cloudburst!

 18.30 A late cup of tea. I haven't done much at home today. Just made a piece of wood fit over the skewed joist under the hall ceiling. After a bit of filler around the edges and a coat of white paint it should disappear. More work required on the decades old crack in the wall just below. I have run out of cartridge filler and wall paint. Another trip to the builder's merchants with grocery shopping in parallel.

 I remembered the green recycling dustbin and dragged it along the drive before it was dark.

 No need for a full meal this evening. I had a huge meal at lunch time at the cooking class. It's mackerel on toast, again, I think. 

 In reality, I ate and drank nothing all evening while I watched episodic series on TV.  Bed at 11.00.

~~

26.10.2022 Serial home improvements exceed the sum of the parts.

 ~~

 Wednesday 26th 52F. Up st 5.30. Farm museum day.

 I forgot to mention that I put up the coat hooks in the hall. They had been beside the entrance door for years. Where bulky, down jackets impeded ingress and it was also a cold, outside wall. 

 So I have moved the coat hooks diagonally across the hall. Over to the internal wall nearer the kitchen. Being on the hinge side of the kitchen door maximises freedom of movement through the hall. There really is nowhere else to hang everyday jackets for easy access. Though I could take down that wall and make a cupboard under the stairs.

 You may well laugh, or even sneer, at my silly images of these very minor progressions. While I would argue that photographs give me a unique insight. Into what has been a largely unchanging vista for over two decades. Things show up, glaringly, in photos. Which my eyes no longer register. Unpainted surfaces and unfinished improvements. Cosmetic "untidiness" which would otherwise go completely unnoticed. 

 For example, I still haven't closed off the gap at the top of the wall. Where the original joist is badly skewed relative to the hall walls. So it remains unpainted. To remind me of another job to be completed. The slots formed by the profiled ceiling boards above the kitchen door need to be filled. They draw the eye upwards in an image. While going completely unnoticed as I move around the house. Where I am usually looking down to avoid obstacles.

 Filling the gaps in the woodwork is time consuming and demands patience. Once achieved and painted over, it lifts the appearance of that particular "component" of the house to very desirable invisibility. Hopefully without totally removing all the character of an older house.

 Besides which, these images represent a record of my clumsy attempts to make the place acceptably attractive. Lifting the hovel, little by little, by its own bootstraps. All my little projects form a series. Which may one day may prove vital. All adding up to persuade somebody to actually buy the place. Instead of it being abandoned to its fate. I also get to live in far more attractive surroundings during the twilight years I may have left. Where I am actually able to see indoors without needing a torch!

 One should not ignore the other advantages I gain personally. Empty time is filled with real purpose. Each project completed offers multiple rewards. I gain confidence for having achieved my small goals. I am hopefully making visitors feel more comfortable. With the potential to attract more. Or to reduce my inhibitions against inviting people to my home. For the first time in well over two decades.  

 Visitors aren't simply measured in numbers. They each drive me to improve the place as quickly and as well as I am able. There can be no more pretending. The visitor may be too polite to point out the hideously obvious. Yet they still see everything which jars in my images. Visitors do not get the carefully framed views which I share publicly. They must cower at the overall shabbiness. The lack of basic painting and decorating throughout. The inability to simply relax. Both their eyes and their expectations. An untidy house is a "noisy" house. We paint and decorate our homes to make them quiet to our senses.

 Which still leaves me with the colossal problem of all the boxes of "stuff." All the boxes and tubs full of china and glass. All the boxes and bookshelves filled to overflowing with books. I can't go on hiding it all forever. 

 What will become of it all? Do I hire or buy a shipping container and hide it all in a quiet corner of the garden? That may actually be easier than you think. Given the tree filled spaces to the north of the house. It is very tempting as a quick fix. Provided the delivery lorry could actually reach the spot without sinking. Or even knocking the house down in trying to get there! I could build another shed just for storage. 

 What if time and old age bring an end to my endless activities? What will become of it all then? Nobody else will have a clue what to do with most of it! Nor how to distribute it into the hands of those who would really value it. 

  8.00 Finally, it is light enough for a short walk under a leaden sky. Where I met my new neighbour in passing. I have been invited to a small neighbourly gathering nearer Christmas. I gratefully accepted. What a wonderful change to have intelligent, social and cheerful neighbours!!!

 14.00 Back from the farm museum. I started by cutting breeze blocks with a large angle grinder. Then it was onto leaf clearing. The huge trees drop drifts of the things everywhere. Followed up by window removal and storage. There is restoration work ongoing in ashed just inside the portal. The brick infill of the timber framing had become unstable and close to collapse. A highly skilled bricklayer and carpenter have been making the repairs over the last few weeks. Using recycled timbers where possible. Or green oak, where the timbers were structurally important.

 Then I was clearing the old kitchen, wash room and cellar of all the [heavy] historical equipment. Including a wooden washing machine over six feet long, four feet high and four feet wide. There were half barrel wash tubs over four feet wide. All being cleared in readiness for major structural repairs to several walls. Which have dropped or become unstable due to structural failure. The timbers at floor level are always subject to damp and woodworm.

 After that I was screwing the corrugated steel sheets to the machine room extension. The shed looks twice as big inside with the ends now covered. The sun came out later in the morning. Otherwise it would have been the first day without sunshine in all the time I have been volunteering at the museum. During the morning coffee break. In the long dining room. One of the lady volunteers asked me why I was so fit and strong. I told her it was due to all the projects I build. Usually working alone.

 17.00 After time on the computer and a nap I painted the downstairs chimney white. I made no attempt to fill it first. Just primed the rough mortar beforehand to let it dry. There are lots of dents, damaged corners and holes from screw fixing into the chimney in the past. I wanted it to be honest. Showing the history of the place. I shall see how I feel after a while of living with it white. 

 Those are computer cables dangling near the top. I had to paint behind them. So I just pulled them from their clips. I might be able to run the cables above the ceiling if I take the present, plasterboard tiles down. I am sick of the sight of the cables running along the exposed, ceiling beam. [Brown, near the top of the image above.] 

 The L-shaped lounge was once two rooms. Separated at the chimney into one very long room on the north side. With a smaller room facing south. Somebody put the timber beam up to support the bedroom floor after removing the dividing wall. It springs more than it probably should.

  It is far too dark for photography without flash. Even then the Lumix TZ7 flash isn't powerful enough. I'll take some better pictures tomorrow when it is light.

 Dinner was fried eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and boiled potatoes.

~~

25.10.2022 Pumpkin time again.

 ~~

 Tuesday 25th 54F/12C. A rather cloudy day is promised. Partial solar eclipse max at 12 [CET] today.  Don't look at the sun without approved protection! Cooking class.

 Decorative quash/pumpkin stall beside the road. Pay for purchases using a mobile phone app. Note the clever trolley. To aid wheeling the goods back and forth.  

Up at 6.15. I have been having strange pains over the last two days. Muscular and internal. Back and shoulders. Stabbing pains in my stomach and abdomen. The muscular pain could be the painting. I haven't lifted anything heavy compared to working at the farm museum. I also have a slightly sore throat when I swallow,

 Only a short walk today. I have to shower and get ready for the half hour drive to my cooking class. Partially cloudy and quite breezy. 

 12.00 I tried but it was far too cloudy to photograph the partial solar eclipse.

 13.45 Returned from the cooking class in blinding sunshine. It had rained briefly and the wet roads were worse than the sun in the sky. We all had a good time with lots of joking and laughing. The food we made was all beautifully presented and delicious.

 My aches and pains vanished except for my sore throat. It feels like the right side when I press my neck.

 14.00 I have the greenhouse door open to take advantage of the sunshine. Though not for long. More cloud than sunshine. I rinsed a load of socks manually, after the washing machine failed to do it properly. Then spun them dry. I put them out in the rain for further rinsing overnight.

 Netto tried to rob me again. Charging higher prices on the checkout than the labels on the shelves. It's odd. You'd think that, even if Denmark has no consumer protection system, then the EU would step in. 

18.00 54F/12C. Overcast. My throat still hurts on the right. Probably picked up something at the doctor's surgery.

 19.00 I have primed the downstairs chimney ready for white paint. It is very rough lime [?] mortar. I am hoping it will look the part in white.


 19.15 I had a multi-course meal at lunch time. So I am just having cheese on toast this evening. 

~~

24.10.22 Once a hovel. Always a hovel.

 ~~

Monday 24th 53F/12C. Up at 4.45. 

 Today I am recording my fluid intake and release. This is as a back up to recent blood tests with an eye on my prostate. Prompted by frequent waking in the night to relieve myself and getting worse over time. I was surprised to discover that the familiar tea and coffee mugs hold only 250ml. 

 For years I had been working on the completely false assumption of their holding half a litre. No idea where that figure came from. Based on this new information my fluid intake may actually be too low. Perhaps confirmed by colourful urine rather than clear. 

 Plans for today: More painting. When it gets light enough. The plywood beside the stairs needs a second coat. I have filled the cracks between the boards to give a more uniform appearance. The stairs will need painting too. When I get around to it.

 The chimney badly needs painting. Both upstairs and down. The chimney is central to the inside corner of the L-shaped lounge. Central and free standing upstairs. Yet it was left as rough, lime render and ugly patches of filler for all the time we lived here. 

 Only one side was covered in antique tiles. From floor to ceiling beside and behind the stove. I fixed the tiles myself from discovered stock in a retired tiler's barn. 

Some of my wife's red oaks catching the early sunshine. The wind vane anemometer mast is actually leaning.

 The rest of the chimney is/was downright ugly. Literally from top to bottom. Now I think back I never sat on the settee which faced into the room. So the chimney was never really noticed. At least, not by me. There are patches of some hideous and very dark wallpaper still to be removed from the chimney upstairs. Another project rears its [very] ugly head.

 7.30 The sky is just beginning to lighten in the east. The trees are moving in a breeze. No stove last night. 65F/18C upstairs. 60F/15C downstairs.

 8.10. A walk to the village. The sky was almost clear with decorative clouds. The sun rising behind the beech trees on the hill. Lots of traffic.

 9.20 Morning coffee over. Time to get busy again.

10.00 The plywood beside the stairs is painted. It still looks patchy due to variable sheen. Perhaps it will be more even when it is dry.

There are, no doubt, some of you who would automatically bring in skilled labour. To plasterboard the entire house, plaster over and then paint. Hovels do not get skilled labour. Which is why they remain as hovels. Even the [supposedly] skilled electrical and plumbing work is completed strictly in line with the hovel status. 

 So you [or rather I] get a plumber. Who cross threads the waste outlet to the trap and walks away. Then fails to notice there is a secondary drain in the draining board. So they didn't bother to connect the supplied hose fitting to the OPEN branch on the trap. You'd think that would have been a clue? No. The [unskilled] client has to point it out to the professional plumber.

 He ignores the general advice to bed an inset, new sink onto silicone sealer. To avoid the working surface becoming soaked in the sawn cut-out. By water running off the sink. Not to mention failing to turn up twice for their appointment. Nor even to acknowledge the presence of the paying client as they arrived. Greeted the electricians and then pushed past me to go indoors.

 The electrician runs exposed cable in wobbly and sloping, plastic conduit. Rather than channelling walls or feeding through ceiling spaces. Has no white sockets or switches in the van. So must install grey. Or a mixture of grey and white. 

 Who repeatedly blows a fuse. Because they lose track of the wiring in a socket. Who leaves with a few gaping holes in the kitchen ceiling for me to repair. From using hole saws where they failed to find a suitable spot for a ceiling outlet. Nor had any outlet cover plates in the van. I was expected to drive to their place of business to collect one and fit it myself.

 My longcase [grandfather] clock has been moved away from the dining table to make more room. The newly painted corner was too good for just stacking junk. The clock is upright but the camera has distorted the image. I was never allowed to run my clocks. Because the loud ticking got on my wife's nerves.

 Then leaves the client to wire up three ceiling lamp sockets through another round hole in the ceiling. That was after drilling a few skewed holes though the walls. To run further conduits highly visibly down the walls and corners. While still failing to provide all the wall sockets I asked for. I was left to fill all the ragged holes he had made.

 Then there's the local carpentry business. Whose boss promised to install my new bedroom widow repeatedly. But never turned up over a period of months. I was lucky the weather hadn't turned by the time I did it myself. Haven't any of these businesses heard of Trustpilot? 

  I had to go into town in the car this afternoon. So didn't get anything done at home. I nodded off when I got back.

 18.00 Windy but 56F/13C outside. It could reach 20C this week. In October! 65F/18C upstairs. Yet it feels quite cool sitting here at the computer. Where I can hear the clock ticking steadily at the bottom of the stairs. It will not be striking. I have enough problems sleeping as it is.

Dinner was cod in batter with tinned tomatoes and peas. Strange picture using flash.

~~

23.10.2022 Painting fatigue.

 ~~

  Sunday 23rd 52F. Heavy overcast and breezy. A cloudy day is promised but with some sunshine later.

 Up at 5.30. Endlessly reliving the unchangeable past. 

 No stove needed last night. October is heading for the record books as warmest ever. 65F/18C upstairs this morning. 

 The white paint is certainly bringing the light in. So well, in fact, that it exposes everything which is wrong with the place. Including the mess I have made. While pretending to tidy up! A second coat of white is needed on the brick wall under the stairs. A normal brush, with a shorter handle, would be far more sensible. I have been using a long handled 2.5" brush for most of the brickwork painting. The long handle was "handy" for reaching up near the ceiling. Without needing the small stool.

 After that I shall paint the plywood beside and under the stairs. I thought it would look awful but it just looks smooth so far. A second coat is essential. I am running out of wall paint. Still plenty of wood paint left though. I suppose I could use the primer on the plywood. To kill the suction. It might produce a better first coat.

 The redecorating of the house has been hugely beneficial for me. It provided an indoor project as autumn descended. Not only that, but each new area of white paint adds to the whole. It is becoming lighter as it gets much darker outside. Just moving about indoors becomes easier. It helps to lift my mood when I could so easily descend into misery and apathy. 

 Writing about the changes I make gives me a record of my recovery from the tragic loss of my wife. I may not mention Her quite so often but every day is still an uphill struggle. To escape from the whirlpool of the countless memories of our being together. Everything I see and touch has associations with her presence. The most unlikely memories barge into my conscious. Like the unwanted keys of a badly tuned piano being beaten randomly. 

 I keep wanting the nightmare of this being suddenly alone to end. Some mistake must have been made somewhere. She did everything right and still she died. It was so unfair and there is nothing I can do to change a single moment of our past. 

 I don't have the false comfort of religious belief. If She went to heaven. Then I must have been sent straight to the hell of my own making. To endlessly relive my countless failures. To judge myself over and over and over again. My tears can never wash away by feelings of guilt. They just bring more pain. As I wallow in my own self-pity. 

8.00 Finally it is light enough for my morning walk. 

9.30 Morning coffee is over. I took a brisk walk to the far woods. I needed a change of scenery. Though I didn't go in. There would be no sunlit views along winding paths though the gorgeous beech trees today. Not under this leaden and distantly misty world. No hundreds of pretty pictures. To take back for my wife's admiration and impatience. Nor her brutally honest, constructive criticism.

 10.30  The left brick wall under the stairs has been rolled and brushed for a second coat. I have primed the large area of plywood to the left of the stairs. Two hours to dry before overpainting. So I can't make it white until after 12.00. Right side plywood has had a second rolled coat of paint. It still looks slightly translucent but is satisfyingly smooth and cosmetically acceptable as a wall surface. 

 I need a simple, brass "U" shaped handle for the lounge door to the entrance hall. Despite the huge collection of stuff I haven't found anything suitable so far. It has had a simple cup hook fitted for 20 years. Now it just looks totally naff. This door has a roller catch. To allow effortless opening and closing on the way to and from the kitchen while laden. I might cycle into the village to check out the Sunday flea-markets.

12.30 Just returned from an 8.5 mile ride to the village and back. Stopped to chat to an ex-colleague. He had just lost his mother. Two flea markets the size of warehouses and nothing of interest. The sun is trying to break through now.

13.30 56F/13C. Lunch over. Watery sunshine. I have the greenhouse door open to share the warmth.  I decided to paint the plywood white before lunch.

15.30 57F/14C. I have been filling lots of cracks with a mastic gun. It is a huge cosmetic improvement. Not to have the eye automatically drawn to black lines. 

 20.50 Dinner was chicken and mushroom curry There was lots!! No need for the stove. It is 66F upstairs. 19C.

My arm and shoulder are aching from all that painting. Unaccustomed exercise.

~~

22.10.2022 That "Somebody!"

 ~~

 Saturday 22nd 54F/12C. Very misty! Another cloudy day. Possibly with rain. Up at 6.30. 

 I lit the stove last night. So it is 65F/18C upstairs this morning. All thanks to the unusually mild conditions so far this autumn. I left both front hall doors open between the lounge and the kitchen. To spread the warmth. It worked too. With the most gain on the lounge and upstairs.

 I have discovered that the beech firewood. For which I paid extra for being "oven ready." Is now absorbing atmospheric moisture. This is despite being stacked under an overhanging roof. Moisture content has increased from 12% to 20%! Presumably from the very humid air. Which is regularly causing mist. 

 Perhaps I ought to bring the firewood indoors? I could store it in the greenhouse. There is plenty of wood stored out there to test for its moisture content. Before I start moving the big stack. I could easily have a few days worth indoors. Stacked to dry near the stove before use. Fetching wood from the greenhouse would be far more sensible. Than repeatedly going outside. Having the outside door open to the wind and cold of winter. 

 I have just checked with my Morsø moisture meter. The wood in the greenhouse is between 4% and 6%. Regardless of how long it has been out there. That is a really low figure. I'll bring in a good load of firewood. Preferably before it gets too cold to have the doors open. I can wheelbarrow it around the house and straight into the greenhouse through the double doors. I just need to tidy the greenhouse first. 🙄

 8.15. Time for a walk in the mist. I've done this walk before. Thousands of times. So I shouldn't have any problem finding my way back home. 🙄

 The mist was so thick that vehicle's rear running lights were totally invisible beyond 50 meters/yards. I started counting rear fog lights and was soon depressed at the low count. As I reached only one lit out of the first six cars to pass me. Only when they braked for the sharp, blind corners did they become visible again. 

 However, later drivers were much more sensible. Despite the mist having lifted to 100 meter/yards. I ended on 6 out of 13 vehicles [with fog lights lit] in half an hour of my brisk walking. Nobody was driving more slowly because of the mist. Some crash test dummies were speeding at well over the limit.

 Plans for today? I have a very long shopping list. Best to get the wall under the stairs primed first. Then I can paint it white when I get back. Or go shopping later and remain busy at home. That "Somebody" has to move all that firewood! At least an hour's work. Not to mention tidying all those boxes on the lounge floor! A lifetime's work.

 "Somebody" was my wife's nickname for me when I failed to perform some task. "The Head Gardener" was my nickname for Her. 

 10.00 Under-stairs cleared, brushed, vacuumed and the brickwork primed. The roller easily reaches the pointing with the primer. It produces a light foam when rolled. So is easily checked for coverage. I went over the bricks half a dozen times anyway. The paint is much thicker and needs a brush to reach into the pointing. 

Flash image of the steep, cottage stairs. Untouched since we bought the place a quarter of a century ago. Worn, oak treads suggest some age. Probably secondhand.

 There are large sheets of "decorative" plywood hiding a multitude of sins in this area. The walls behind are obviously much earlier than the exposed, brickwork walls. With low, thickly painted beams and rough mortar. I may chicken out of any further reveal and just paint the plywood white. There may be structural nightmares hidden behind it! I used a torch and had a sneaky look behind one board in the right hand corner. There is a large gap behind it. Where insulation would have been more useful than the mass of cobwebs I could see!

 I had the idea to open up the wall between the kitchen and lounge. So that the fridge-freezer would be half hidden under the stairs. That would provide much more room in the kitchen. Though sealing between the two rooms might require that I build a box. To close off behind the fridge. Who knows what is hidden behind that plywood on the left?

 Aerial photography shows the house was thatched and half timbered as late as the 1950s. Before being expanded and "renovated" by a new owner. The earlier, double-hipped roof was converted into squared ends to considerably enlarge the attic. 

 Though leaving an open balcony at the western end under the roof overhang. Which I subsequently enclosed with a selection of second hand, double glazed units. Found by sheer luck at an architectural recycling yard. They fitted the balcony opening perfectly. Even the uprights matched for alignment.

 12.30 56F/13C. Just returned from a shopping trip. The builder's merchants had no 2-way switches! Hopeless selection on display. I'll have to go into Assens. Lunch time soon. I'll paint under the stairs before I go out again. 

 14.00 Left brick wall under the stairs painted. No flash required despite the heavily overcast sky. Bringing the natural light indoors. Lens distortion and all.

16.00 57F. First sunshine today but not for long. The big shed discount warehouse in town stocked the 2-way switches. I bought two, some square, plastic conduit and a junction box. The modern switches have a large, flat, rocking plate. Which is easy to find in the dark. The old ones have only a small toggle. I'll finish painting the brick walls before changing over the switch units. That end of the room is already, remarkably brighter. 

 I took the lower picture with my Lumix G9 and 12-60mm with the bathroom door open. The TZ7 had too much distortion.

 The board/joist at top right needs to be painted white. The plain wood draws the eye upwards. As well as soaking up the light. I think the pine door is acceptable as it is. I'll only paint it white if I change my mind.

 18.00 55F. Right side brick wall 2nd coat. The pretend beam [above it] and the plywood in the corner have been painted a 1st coat. I used the spare LED light from the hall as a work light. "Warm white" is more like pale orange. 

 I hope you will agree. That the white paint is a huge improvement over red brick and brown, wood grain plywood. [Top image.]  

Dinner will be fried mushrooms and diced chicken. With something familiar to go with it. Except that it wasn't. I had the chicken and mushrooms cooked. But no rice for the curry I was about to tip into the frying pan. So I quickly boiled up some tinned tomatoes and poured that over instead. Sadly it was not the first time I had forgotten the rice while making curry. With typical cooking times of 30-35 minutes the rice has to be started long before the meat. I seem to have a mental block about this. 

~~

 

21.10.22 The sound of silence.

 ~~

 Friday 21st 50F. Overcast and misty. A cloudy day with rain later this afternoon is promised. Up at 6.45. 

 Replacing the oversized, single-paned window in the bedroom has literally stopped the traffic noise. It took me a while to realise what was missing. The incredible silence of the house exaggerates every noise I make. I find myself looking around just because my tummy gurgles. Or I move my feet on the legs of the computer desk. 

 The dormer windows had been on the catch for ventilation until very recently. Now they are closed the new [triple glazed] window completes the sealing against external noise. One of my visitors mentioned how the house seemed better sealed. It didn't sink in as to exactly what they meant at the time. I thought they were talking about draughts. 

 I just checked on Google Earth. The road is never any nearer than 110m. Or about 120 yards away. The nearest sections are shielded by trees. Lorries and tractors have always been very audible. Until now. It was irritating to hear the traffic rumbling. The open plan of the house exaggerated the deeper sounds. Now it doesn't. 

 The closed-off balcony insulation was never completed. There was a gap in the rockwool along the eaves. This too has now been filled to a depth of 30cm or 12". Which further seals the house against noise and heat loss. 

 After my morning walk I am returning to working on the lounge door out to the entrance hall. I need to fit the architrave to rather wavy brickwork. Then seal the gaps in the joists above with boards or solid timber. 

 The dark red brickwork on either side of the door needs priming and painting white. That will help to light up a very dark end of the room. Right at the bottom of the stairs. Who would use bricks like these for a living room? [Flash image above.]

 There is a north facing window to the right. Though it has never had a chance against all the dark surfaces. That window is tall, antique, lanceolate and single glazed. It also faces tall trees. Which further robs it of light. I'll have to start saving for a shorter, modern replacement. 

 09.30 I have just returned from my late, morning walk. Traffic was highly variable. From long minutes of silence. To nose to tail and huge lorries in the mix. A solitary pheasant walked steadily away. As we both pretended not to have seen each other.

 11.00 I found a nice piece of sawn finish 1"x6". To fill the gap in front of the set-back joist to the right of the door. This makes it look like a real joist of solid wood. While allowing the cable to run freely along the back.

 12.00 It started spitting with rain as I walked back and forth endlessly removing 1/2º here and there on the the saw. Shortening the lengths by a smidgin. Note the difference in slope of the ceiling compared to the perfectly level door and frame. It should go unnoticed once the woodwork is all painted white.

12.45 I finally finished the architrave. I used the mitre saw, with a depth stop, to thin the back of the board. To provide relief for the protruding brickwork near the top. Now fitted, glued and pinned. [Flash image to penetrate the darkness.]

18.45 A mild 53F/12C outside. 60F/15C and 63F/17C indoors. I have been busy painting all afternoon. First the airing cupboard, double doors. Then most of the door frames. The brick wall in the corner of the lounge has had a one coat. To the right, beside the door I have been working on. First I had to wait for the primer to dry. So I ended up painting by the light of the distant bulb over the dining table. Daft really, because I have other, mobile lights I could have used. The wall was rolled first and then brushed to fill the pointing. It will need another coat in daylight.

 There is a similar, dark brick wall on the left of the door. Under the open stairs. I will paint that wall tomorrow. Once I have cleared the space beneath the stairs!

 Dinner was cheese on toast with halved baked tomatoes. I added the tomatoes as soon as the cheese was almost done. I followed up with half a tin of tomato soup and a bread roll. 

 The latter were strangely dry despite having a good "sell-by" date. Perhaps they were re-labelled? Some supermarkets are so desperate for profit that the prices on the shelves are lower than the checkouts. I bought three items in Netto and all three had higher prices at the checkouts. The slob on the checkout didn't even bother to check when I questioned this. He just handed me the difference in coins and moved onto the next customer. 

~~

20.10.2022 Always a Catch 22.

 ~~

 Thursday 20th 39F. Clear. Another sunny day is forecast. Up at 7.15. I have a follow-up, doctor's appointment this morning. Just to see how I am doing after the loss of my wife. 

 11.00 46F. Full sun. Just back from the doctors.  I had a blood test to confirm all is okay. Results next week. The surgery waiting room was empty. Very odd. First time ever in over two decades. Not that I am a regular visitor. 

 14.00. Just returning from a 14 mile ride to the shops. Gone for two hours altogether. Knees a bit painful at times and legs feeling tired too. The price of not going out on the trike for ages. 

 It was too cloudy to go over to the observatory. So I worked on the lounge door to the entrance hall. It had never had a solid crossbar flush with the door. So I made one out of a  bit of 2x4. [50x100mm]. To provide support for the architrave.

 Unfortunately, this meant moving an old fashioned, two-way switch. It switches the upstairs light on the landing. Its cable had always been clipped rather visibly across the top of the door. Which now had to be hidden above and behind the new crossbar. Otherwise I couldn't add the architrave across the top of the door.

 I think a junction box would be useful at the top of the door and out of sight. The cable drop is much too short. Leaving the switch about a foot above the rest of those in the house. Meaning the light switch would be much too high for comfort. 

 A 2-way light switch and ceiling fitting would also be useful for the lounge. Presently, if I want light in the lounge  have to walk the entire length in the dark. To use a socket switch on the wall. With a flex snaking up the wall and across the ceiling. To the light fitting over the dining table. No overhead light was ever installed in the lounge. The same is true in the upstairs bedroom. My wife and I used torches when appropriate. The torches always having to be returned to their allotted parking place.

 The upstairs floorboards [just above] the new crossbar proved to be 2cm out of level. Just over the width of the door. What was worse was that they were projecting over the badly twisted, supporting joist. I will have to cut back the overhanging boards. Without any obvious way of reaching them. Router? Oscillating multi-tool? Bayonet saw? 

 The latter did the job. By bending the blade as it worked. So that the blade guard wasn't in the way. I vacuumed up the coarse sawdust afterwards. Fortunately it just dropped straight down. Imagine the mess if I had used the router! The whole house would have been covered in dust.

Dinner was boiled potatoes, cod in batter and frozen peas. I lit the stove as indoor temperatures dropped.

 

~~

19.10.2022 Apple festival.

 ~~

 Wednesday 19th 41F. UP at 6.10.  The new light in the hall is bright but I am not sure I like the strip light format. It is rather "industrial." Will adding a second unit make it less so? I'm not sure.

 7.20 Just light enough now to see a thin [low] layer of mist over the front field. Dark clouds are visible from my north facing window. We are promised a fully sunny day. No stove yesterday. Despite this it is 63F upstairs. 59F downstairs this morning. [17C & 15C] I could probably boost that today with the greenhouse but I am at the museum today. 

 Solar heating, using a lean-to greenhouse, requires constant monitoring. If the sun goes in for too long. Then it could draw heat from the house. There is a simple way around this problem. Keep the doors shut. Use a solar panel to drive a fan. When the sun goes in, the fan stops pushing heat into the house. A thermostat controlling the fan is another option. If the greenhouse temperature falls then the fan stops pushing air into the house.

 Both of these solution raise the problem of returning cooler [house] air to the greenhouse. Sucking the air out of the greenhouse, without return vents, will pull in cold air from outdoors. Return vents need to be low down and large enough to be efficient. They also need well insulated flaps. For when they are not active and at night. Open windows can provide return vents but are limited to manual operation.

 Using a poorly insulated house, in this way, will not provide continuous comfort. The conditions for passive solar heating are far too infrequent and limited. Except in certain desert regions. With purpose designed, passive houses enjoying the benefits of almost continuous sunshine. Nor do they have hedges between their large greenhouses and the sunshine.

 In my case it is just my having some free fun. To save burning another log or two. My greenhouse already exists. So I am taking advantage of any sunshine. I would be much better off with larger southerly windows and a properly insulated front wall. Except that you can't dry your laundry, free of charge, with wall insulation. Nor have somewhere sheltered to sit out when greenhouse conditions are suitable. With efficient shade net to protect you from the blinding sun!

 8.00 Enough waffling. Time for a short walk. The mist was still forming close to the ground in places. I limited my walk to 15 minutes each way. To allow time for a shower and a change into suitable clothing for working at the outdoor museum.

 12.30 52F. Back for lunch. I have opened the greenhouse while I am at home. Today's museum projects were all to do with the apple festival. The many apple trees in the museum grounds had provided the fruit. The museum provided assorted machine for producing apple juice. These had to be made clean enough to do their work without contaminating the juice. So there was much scrubbing, tipping and lifting of the heavy implements. 

 The image shows a large, solid oak apple press. A bag of pulped apples sits inside within the arc of dowels. A ratchet draws down the handle via the rope. The bag is pressed and the juice runs out of the bottom into the huge, half barrel container. Ad infinitum. I was given the task of turning the handle on an apple shredder.

 After lunch I was back on lifting heavy, corrugated steel sheets onto the side of the machine shed extension. 

 Then I relaxed in the observatory before my English friend visited with his wife. The place looked like a tip! I hadn't put the books away yet. So the lounge floor was knee deep in boxes. I had the indoor temperatures up to 65-66F using the greenhouse.

 Dinner was a salmon pasty with pasta, peas and tinned tomatoes.

~~

18.10.2022 Chaos reigns!

 ~~

 Tuesday 18th 52F/11C. It looks clear to the north but with swathes of thin cloud to the southwest. Every window in the house is "steamed up" on the outside. High humidity. Up at 7am. No cooking lessons this week.

New Philips LED strip light in the hall.

 The rearrangement of the lounge has caused chaos on an unprecedented scale. The floor is full of boxes. Mostly books but lots of other stuff too. Taking pictures of the debris field is one, certain way to see the hideous reality in all its glory. And, no, I am not sharing the awful truth here. It all feels  a bit overwhelming at the moment. Every room has its full share of boxes and junk. 😱

 The bookshelves have been temporarily filled with fairly lightweight, storage tubs of "stuff." The hardboard backboards to the chipboard shelving units were only held with staples. These have mostly lost contact. Making the shelving units potentially unsafe if loaded with heavy books.

 I am still not convinced I like the rickety book tower dominating the corner. Yet I need to do something quickly to end the chaos. The books in boxes don't easily lend themselves to stacking. Removing books, to make the boxes lighter. Just leaves the top halves even more vulnerable to crushing. Filling them further just makes the boxes too heavy to handle safely. I am already using the smallest of the range of removal boxes. 

 I'd like to be rid of lots of books but have no outlet other than burning. Or dumping them at the recycling yard. Cardboard or paper waste? Choose one. I could leave some boxes of books in the charity containers. That leaves them responsible for choosing their fate.

 8.15 Time for a walk. To escape from reality. If only for a while.

9.30 Back from my walk. The sky was covered in vast, brushed feathers. I had the wrong camera and the wrong lens to capture any of it. A wide angle would have done it justice. The clouds were piled up in the east but seem more willing to let the sun shine through now. Should I abandon my duties for tidying and hide in the observatory? Probably not. It is clouding over with fast moving cumulus. No escape! 

 I'm catching up on the laundry backlog while I decide what to do about the lounge. I could stack boxes along the edges of the floor and cover with cloth. Get rid of the shelving units altogether. It feels too  much like triple handling. The local recycling yard isn't open until tomorrow. When I am at the museum. 

 There is another yard a few miles further on. I could dump the shelves outside overnight. Or, hitch the trailer and cover it with its tarpaulin. Ready to go in the morning. Then take a trailer load of charity container donations with me. I must start getting rid of all of this stuff!  It keeps breeding like rabbits. 

 It has no value to me but feels like a complete waste just to dump it. There are nearly 50 pictures in frames with glass. A whole variety of Danish artist's landscape "prints." Usually dull. Rarely worth hanging on any of my walls.  

 The new tiles, roughly laid out and viewed from the kitchen. It will need a straight edge [or cord] to avoid an untidy eyesore.

 As an escape from tidying I temporarily laid the new tiles in the entrance hall. To get a better idea of likely obstructions. The best spacing for an even distribution. Preferably without any cutting. Thankfully they were nearly perfect. Due to the tile size matching the hall dimensions. Perhaps more importantly, I wanted see if the floor was flat enough. Without needing the self-levelling compound. Sadly it wasn't quite.

The original edges of the hall were a few millimetres higher than the centre. Where I had relaid new concrete over polystyrene. That was after taking up all the floors. Then feeding 4" underfloor waste pipes and plumbing and heating Pex-hoses. Some in conduit, between the bathroom, the kitchen and the airing cupboard. So I do need to spread some self levelling compound. Whether I like it or not.

 16.00 55F. Sunshine. Just returning from the builder's merchants. I discovered I needed primer for the self levelling compound. Plus the 6mm corner crosses to separate the tiles precisely. A 20kg bag of ready-mix, fine sand and cement for filling the unfinished sections of the front hall wall. 

 I found two short, LED, strip lights which will work perfectly for the entrance hall. Heavily discounted for some reason. They will be much less harsh than the present, square, multi-LED plate. Compact too. So they will hardly be noticed when unlit. After dark I'll connect them both up. To see where they look best when lit. 

 I decided to fit only one light for tonight. I need to join two leads and dinner loomed. Which was mackerel on toast with tomato soup and bread roll to follow.

~~