Wet & Mild.

It was third time lucky today when the cavity wall insulation men actually managed to drive their van down into the yard. 

The van was rather long and they did have some difficulty turning it around when it was time to go (having made one unsuccessful try at reversing up the drive and around the bend). They would have found turning a lot easier if they had started in a better position and not ended up with the front almost inside the little wood shed. But who am I to advise 3 burly men? I stayed inside and hoped they wouldn't hit any of the garden walls. They didn't but there are some big ruts in the grass.

The work itself was not too messy though as the stone facing made it difficult to drill through from the outside they drilled all the holes, loads of them, from the inside. They tried their best to hoover up as they drilled and gave the sitting room a hoovering at the end but I need to go over everything. At one point the air in the sitting room was hazy with dust so my first job this afternoon was to wipe down all the surfaces that hadn't been covered with dust sheets. Most things have been put back now and when the cement they put in the 2+cms holes has dried I will have to fill, smooth and paint them. There are over 20 of these holes in the sitting room walls and probably the same upstairs. It's a good thing that I have left over paint from each of the rooms I decorated this year. Now we have this insulation, the place should be a lot warmer and we are hoping that it will stop the damp in the bedrooms. And all this has been virtually free, (£49 instead of £1,250) paid for by a government initiative to ensure that the country's houses have the maximum insulation which will reduce the overall energy being used for heating. We don't put our heating on unless it is really cold but it does mean we will be more comfortable.