Moving again, metaphorically

Not actually, thank the gods.  Both Paul and I have discussed this, and have decided we never want to move again.  We'll make do with what we've got.

But that doesn't mean we can't improve it - and those changes are finally under way.  Having waited since last October, a couple of weeks ago we got the plumbers in and the maze of pipes crossing the dining room walls have gone, replaced by one neat copper rising main and two neat water pipes coming down in the far corner to enter the kitchen.  Unfortunately, one gas cap was on a T-piece, and so couldn't be buried in the wall; but that's the wall with the two water pipes that need boxing, so we might just batten and plasterboard it, and skim over - swapping 30mm for a smooth wall.  The ceiling's an horrendous mess, but that was always going to need re-doing. 

We're now waiting on the builder to fix the roof and take part of a wall down.  (He was supposed to do us a quote back in January. We're still waiting.)  This is somewhat embarrassing to the plumber, who recommended him, and is poking him with a stick on our behalf.  The only reason I'm not pushing it is that the next couple of weeks are going to be mental, work-wise; and I'd rather space the stressful events out a bit, much as I'd like everything to just be done.  We should get there by summer, fingers crossed.  (The garden is a different matter, but you can usually get away with letting it ride for the first year, just to see what comes up.  The forsythia we didn't know we had was a nice surprise when it started flowering last week!)