There was no entry last week so there's two this week. Last weekend was so messy and tiring we never got around to it. Once again the indefatigable Andrew enabled us to finish the job by helping to load all the mess into the skip. The roof was full of loose-fill insulation, which looked a bit like finely shredded cardboard. Once in the skip, it had to watered down to stop it blowing all over the street. Which led to the bizarre sight of Charlie in a hooded suit and mask stomping around in the skip with a watering can.

The linkabord arrived this week, and was swiftly installed so that some of the soil from the bottom of the garden where the shed is going to go could be used to create raised beds for growing vegetables. It was during this time that I decided to move the Hibernog from its position at the bottom of the garden to a new home elsewhere. I think you may have already guessed what happened next. Having gingerly moved some of the leaf litter aside and seen the mass of spikes poking through I quickly covered it back up and set about building a little shelter from some bits of scrap wood. Then I uncovered the creature fully so it could be moved into its shelter, only to discover it was dead. Properly dead, so much so that it sounded hollow when tapped. It must have been lying there for some time and would certainly have been dead when we first discovered it. The man who was injecting our damp proof course laughed when I told him I would have to break the sad news to Bec, who was looking forward to having the Hibernog as a pet. I buried it where it lay and felt sure it will pass into legend, as the mythical beast that once roamed around eating up all the slugs.

Having the damp proof course injected was a milestone in the renovation. It was the first work done on the house by someone other than an enthusiastic amateur wielding a crowbar. Some might argue that the chemical damp proof course is a waste of money but in the end we decided to go with it after finally being convinced it will help to stop the damp rising up through the bricks (in conjunction with the eventual saltproof plaster of course) and spoiling the decoration.

Also this week we found someone to provide a third quote for the roof so that we can have it fixed. We'll then try to convert the roof into a useable room, perhaps an arts and crafts studio for Bec.

Our surveyor has said it will take four months to clear off the party wall notices for the extension, so we will not be able to start work on that until at least June. Watch this space.

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