Last week we had a temporary loo installed in the downstairs cloakroom, which, if you'll pardon the pun, was something of a relief! (see left). Although during that weekend Philip walked past the newly installed loo to see Ronnie happily ensconced reading his paper - we now also have a loo door!

The double glazing arrived on 24 July, this was most exciting as we knew that this would make a huge difference to the house. Prior to installation, all of the frames and glass were stored in the lounge (see right and below). Pictures of the double glazing frames probably aren't interesting until I say that the lounge window alone was 10 feet long, so you can imagine the size of the other windows.

Anyway, enough of the nerdy stuff - last weekend (or was it the weekend before?) Philip decided to beat back the wilderness that was the back garden. We had previously discovered a bird bath and some steps, but as you will see from the pictures right and below, we have uncovered nearly all of the back now.

Saturday 28 was the wedding of our friends Rhian and Jeremy, so we spent the day away from the house, we knew that the crew had been there working but when we decided to pop over in the evening and have a look you can imagine our surprise when we discovered that there was no windows in the place, not a one! See the "no windows ..." series below. I have to admit this was probably my lowest point seeing the house in this state. Since we bought it last month it has seemed to have got progressively worse! After the windows and the long hot day (the best man's speech finished at 7 p.m.) I went home and pulled the duvet over my head!

On Sunday morning things looked much better, see "new windows going in", plus the lounge had been re-rendered ready for plastering.

This weekend saw all of the windows in, a new front door (hooray!) and a toilet and sink in the bathroom ... I mean a real flushable toilet, and a sink with taps which actually run water when you turn them on, Rhiain uncovered the circular flower bed in the front garden, and the front of the house around the lounge window was rendered. Its all very exciting and I need to take loads more pictures, but for now my final picture is "the double glazing is in", which is how we left the house at about 10 to 7 last night. Just a note about the white going on the front of the house, I know its patchy but its only stabilising solution, the masonry paint will go on soon.