Having landed a new job, and handed in my resignation, I decided to take a week off between roles to get some more work done on the house. The week started with all hands on deck, my parents having travelled up and Chris being free for the weekend. With the additional help, my dad and I continued getting slates on the roof. Working along the final edge, it was slow going, as the gap to get up and down got smaller and smaller with each new slate added.

Inside, mum got on with the wrist breaking task of chisling out the old render from our central wall. With this wall planned to remain as exposed stone, the new mortar here needed to be particularly neat. Unfortunately, the old mortar seemed surprisingly tough and difficult to remove, compared to the rest of the house.

Freed up from roofing work, Chris started on the final lintel in need of replacing. Looking at the thin and rotten wood that had been take out, it was surprising the wall hadn’t collapsed years ago. With dad to lend a hand, the three of us lifted the first of the new concrete lintels in place, only to see the second lintels wouldn’t quite fit in. In order to squeeze it in, a corner would need to be cut off first, requiring the loan of a tool off Chris’s brother.

With mum and dad off to the aquarium with the grandkids on the Sunday, Chris and I continued plugging away at the roof. I finished off the last few slates, while Chris started on the ridge tiles. And then, suddenly, the last slate was in! Who would have thought we’d ever see the day when there would be no more slates to add to the roof. And with a little more work on the roof tiles and guttering, the roof will soon be done.

On the Monday, Chris headed back to work and dad returned from his jolly staring at fishes. In his wisdom, Chris left us in charge of installing the electrics for the sockets throughout the house. Having never worked on electrics I wasn’t sure that was such a good idea, but luckily my dad has some experience, and Chris drew us a handy little map.

Due to the nature of the house, with no gap between the ceiling and the floor above, and thick internal walls, installing the electrics involved a great deal of thought, and plenty of scrambling in and out of the attic. Luckily we were able to reuse some holes left by previous electrics, rather than spend hours drilling new ones. Still, one way or another, we got the majority of the socket electrics in place before dad was heading home.

Left to my own devices, and having run out of the correct cable for the last little section of sockets, I began purging the house of broken slates and other miscellaneous waste, filling our third skip of the renovation.

Although I had run out of human companions, I found a few woodland critters hanging around the house to keep me company, including a young smooth newt and a beautiful Herald moth. Although Disney might have taught me otherwise, they refused to do any work.

My next job was to smash up the false wall over a doorway that was going to be removed and bricked up. Inside I found a stash of old moss, suggesting a mouse might once have had a cosy little home above the entrance.

And my final job, before taking a rest day, was to pull up a floorboard next to the wall we would soon be removing, ready to install a steel beam above. Though it may not look like much, this well-nailed floorboards did not want to move, and took significant persuasion with a crowbar to prise it out.

And just like that, another week gone. Still, at least we get to work inside the house now it’s getting colder. And who knows, soon we might even have some light, and maybe one day, even heat. We can but dream.