23rd November

Progress continues :  today I chose the roof window for the bathroom. I like the idea of clear glass so we can see the clouds drift overhead whilst showering. This will certainly be a come-down from the harbour views and neighbourly happenings we currently observe at ablution time but maybe the occasional pelican (pigeon??) will fly over to create some  action.

I had long follow-up conversations with Steve about the ethanol heater, the big sliding door, the front screen door, the cistern, the exhaust fans and carpet. The best news he delivered though, was that the neighbours had sent in their builders yesterday to apply membrane over the holes in their wall as a temporary measure to stop the water entering our place. As Lester said, "But where is the water going to go now?" No answers yet. We are hoping it will rain soon when the success of the venture will, or will not be, revealed.

The issue of a screen door onto the street remains vexing. I am trying to resist living behind bars and I am still regularly visiting a site called overwrought.com  which makes creative doors. There is a great one that is a spider's web pattern and another with swirls, (far superior to bars), and several with trees and birds and even a cow. My fear is that one of these may be too attractive to the drunks and grafittists. Today I "did the test" on both Bernie and Kieran with mixed success. Bernie reckons that these doors denote  places  for Tarot card reading or Indian Take Away! I will just put this in the TBDL folder - to be decided later.

On the Stocko front, I worked all day packing and sorting "things". I have had some interest with my first eBay shedding attempt but I will have to wait a few days to see if it comes off. By things, I mean, boxes of Warhammer Games and miniatures, old architecture models and the contents of my "craft" cupboards.  I have the front room filled with boxes of books to be taken to the second hand dealer and another room with boxes of books to keep. I am torn about selling any of them, especially after what happened last night.  I went into Ancestry.com to check on my family trees and found that there had been a lot of activity, mostly people taking snippits from my trees to add to theirs, which I always find fascinating. Six degrees of separation etc. etc. By a fluke, I came across  the "UK Waterloo Medal Roll 1815" and on the list was my great, great, great, great grandfather's name. It turns out that Christopher Trevisick, (on the Brady line) whom I knew had been a soldier as he was listed as a Chelsea Pensioner, was actually a:  Private in the 3rd Battalion, 14th Regiment of Foot in Captain William Ross's Company, in the Battle of Waterloo. I immediately sprang up to consult my excellent collection of books on Napoleon only to remember that they were packed away in the front room to be sold! Needless to say, I did some UNpacking today and did a little bit of reading on the topic. I love having my own reference library. You never know when it will be handy.

The stairs and the toilet are taking shape



The cavity slider is in place.




Cavity slider door. As yet, no walls!