Miniature Sprouts

From our allotment, for dinner this evening. Judith's hand included for scale.

All Work Finished (For Now)

Our builder will be back later in the year (he is so recommended that he routinely has six months' work in hand) to construct some cupboards in the kitchen, the conservatory and the side passage), but in the meantime here's the completed staircase, with its hatch; and a couple of views of the attic, newly tidied now that we can get into it easily. The next step will be to have it internally spray-sealed, to reduce the degree of cold which penetrates from outside (there's no heat lost through the roof from inside, because the attic floor is doubly insulated) and incidentally guard against any possible moisture ingress (not there should be -- it's a roof, after all).

Up The Ladder to The Roof

Another one of the construction jobs we're having done as part of getting the house ready for our retirement is the installation of a staircase up to the attic, so that we can make proper use of the storage space it offers and don't have to rely on a stepladder for access (especially as we get older and creakier). Note that this is not an attic conversion: the pitch of the roof is too shallow to allow for that, even if one were to insert dormer windows (which we couldn't, given that we're in a conservation area and prohibited from construction work which would have a visible impact on the external streetscape).

The builder we've contracted, Daniel, comes from Loughton in Essex, and was recommended to us by a neighbour who'd engaged him to rebuild and enlarge her kitchen (she was similarly looking to adapt her house for her retirement). As well as the staircase to the attic, he's installed a dividing wall and shelves in our new understairs cupboard and constructed a false ceiling to hide the pipes from the boiler in our new conservatory; he started work on the staircase a couple of days ago, and was here today (apparently he prefers to work a six-day week, unless his clients say otherwise) to finish the risers and treads, apply a backing to conceal the woodwork, and block up the existing hatch. Below are some photographs showing the progress so far; he'll be back next week to apply plaster to the backing, construct the new hatch cover and install some railings and a banister to prevent users of the staircase from tumbling off to the side. Then it will be down to us to paint and carpet it (more DIY for my retirement!).

"Stairway to heaven," as Judith calls it. She is obviously a lady who knows that if the stores are all closed she can still get what she came for.

New Year's Day 2014

A typical holiday pursuit chez Hanna-Nicholas: doing a complicated jigsaw and leaving the sky (which in this case is orange) to the last.