Me on Monday - Discovering the source

Stage one: removing floorboards

Stage two: removing the ends of the joists

Respite from the builders meant that Mr M and I did very little over the weekend. Saturday was a sleazy day when I sat in my chair with my legs elevated and knitted and dozed and tried to make my mind stop with the "where-shall-I-put-all-the-boxes" kind of circular thoughts.

Sunday Mr M decided he had to go shopping and I decided I didn't. He remembered that Delectable Daughter was without a car so he took her with him. She said he forced her to spend too much money. What he actually did was point things out to her, like he does to me.
"Oh, look" he says, "They have packs of little Mars Bars on special offer" I have learned over the course of 36 years together to say "Lovely" and move on. She was out of practice.

Monday morning The Builders were back and it was time to roll back the carpet and start lifting floorboards.

Stage Three: preparation for hand rails and spindles

They make it look so effortless. They soon had all the boards up and out and the ends of the joists were close behind. Then they did some neat fitting with the plywood to cover the ugly stone wall and make the stairway look just beautiful. They have put up a temporary rail to stop me falling into the hole and tomorrow they will do the floor in the cellar and then they can move the freezer down and then they can put the proper rail and spindles in place.

My new kitchen arrives on 25th November, by which time I will have emptied the cupboards and they will all be in the cellar.

The really annoying thng? well, a few weeks ago we sold our tent. We decided that we were never going to be able to go camping again as neither of us can get up off the floor without a crane. With the tent we sold the camping stove and the gas bottle. It would have come in handy when the new kitchen is being fitted - sigh -.
The builders called me into the cellar while Youngest Son was having a shower and showed me the water pouring into the cellar through the wall. He turned the shower off and the flow of water slowed down. So now the back yard has to be dug up to fix the pipes that the council inspector said were not damaged.
We have proved once again that we are right, and the council inspectors are ... well, the word sounds like Bankers

My thanks to Sian at FromHighInTheSky for inventing this meme and keeping me writing