So sorry for not writing

I have been very remiss in not writing.  My only excuse is that things are very busy right now.  The extension is continuing to roll, with the last bits of plastering inside being done this week.  Tail end of this week to finish off the plumbing which is going under the floor, then early the next week the insulation and floor screed will be laid, just before we go to the Isle of Wight in the 'van, a perfect time for everything to dry out, ready for painting when I get back.

We then need to lay the floor, something that has been the subject of much discussion, most of it at cross-purposes, with the builder.  We have now resolved our differences, are on the same page and are just doing a bit of shopping round for the right price for the inside stuff, a multi-coloured slate, which will match pretty well the corresponding external stuff, also multi-coloured slate, but twice the thickness (and from a different source) to withstand all that mother nature will throw at it during the year.

Finances have been stretched, and dreams of sofa and TV coming out the building budget are fading right now, but time will tell, since we still have the hope that we have over-estimated one or other of the remaining costs.

Other news sees Maggot 1 part of the Cub Box-Cart team that took first place at the recent district championships.  Now, this may not reach the front page of the national press, but I can say with some confidence that in these parts that is just about as good as it gets.  The main leader who drives this activity was actually on holiday, and when he is tracked down by The Sun will undoubtedly say that he is "Gutted not to be with the lads", but this is the third attempt to beat another pack who are, if not our arch enemies, at least the pack over which we like to gain the advantage, so not only did we achieve that, but we only also went and blinkin' well took the shield for first place as well.  Result.

We are really starting to feel the pain of the building now.  We have a tarpaulin across the kitchen again, to keep out the nasty fine dust from the plastering, and in preparation for a skim coat where our kitchen tiles and coving used to be, we also have a couple of kitchen cupboards off the wall, and one floor cupboard unhitched from its fittings and pulled out for the final bit of stud work behind the breakfast bar.  This has lest our dining room table full of cereal, tea and sugar.  The sense that the house is slowly closing in on us is very acute right now.  I am not sure we can take much more of this, and the thought of returning from the Isle of Wight to start putting it all back again is, for me at least, something to which I am clinging with two hands and knuckles-a-white.