Site under maintenance

And here we were last night at the end of several days of hard work demolishing the falling-down-but-still-quite-structural lean-to at the end of the stables, starting to get the hedges back under control, removing the ivy smothering the walnut etc etc. As you can see, the last bonfire was good but this is going to be the Mother Of All Bonfires. Party, anyone? Alan is sat in the evening sun in the paddock contemplating it. The G&T in his hand is adorned with ice and a slice from our very own lemon harvest. The birds are singing in the trees. It's the end of September and still warm enough to sit outside and enjoy it all. Perfect!

Not bats - and that's official!

Firstly, a celebration that just over two weeks after we moved in we have internet again. Hurrah - and it's amazing how difficult it has seemed without it which must be a lesson in some way, but not necessarily a good one?! Next, to start to catch up on what's happened. We had the ecology survey done and the Bat Lady says we've officially not got roosting bats. The survey has to be done all evening from just before twilight through to dark in good weather - apparently bats can sense pressure drops and don't fly. The day she was originally scheduled to do it we'd been flying and there had been virtually no bugs to clean off the leading edges. I queried whether this was why she had cancelled ie the lack of prey activity, but apparently not, it was due to the pressure dropping and potential rain forecast. She was very interested to hear that some days are buggy and some not - hadn't considered convection/insect flight and how that might affect bat activity. So the sport of gliding may just have contributed something to ecological intelligence...

We're in - but not in-ternet..

Well that was hard work! We moved over two days - all the house stuff on Thursday and the garage/workshop/garden stuff on the Friday. Impressively it all fitted....just... Anywhere storage could be arranged, it WAS arranged. Lots more stuff got slung. A week later, we've tidied it all to the point that there are even spaces on some of the shelves. Everything seems to work. I've even uncovered the yard by the stables, formerly an inch deep in mud and moss. Alan's started on the marathon task of subduing the hedges. We've met most of the neighbours. And it's all entirely splendid. The one bugbear is communications which is why you've had none from me since we moved! They were due to install the phone the day after we moved in but it being a Friday, the technician decided to skive off rather than install it. We then had to wait over a week for the next available appointment. There is of course no mobile coverage so we've had to drive out of the village to the top of the nearest hill in order to make a call. And there's no 3G there. Finally they have installed the phone line but the broadband isn't working and they haven't sent someone to fix it yet. I will post some pics when it's all done.

Moving Day Eve

I'm on my way home from work to Digby House for the last time - tomorrow starts a new chapter as we move into the bungalow. We have a floor plan of where all the furniture is going...but...will the remaining stuff fit into the storage we will now have? Tomorrow/Friday we should find out... Last few bits to pack this evening or first thing tomorrow while they're loading the van. This has been rather more a move-house blog recently than a build blog as it's been somewhat squeaky to get the move organised on time - however we had a great meeting with the architect yesterday and once the boxes are unpacked we will catch up with what's turning into an stunning design for the new house. Although - there may be a slight delay as the phone is due to be connected on Friday - but will it? watch this space! - and even when it is, will there be broadband? Nobody will commit to this. The one thing we do know is that there is no mobile phone signal unless we go up to the top of the hill or down to the pub....difficult choice...