Long time no blog!

Dry days- 84
Days of rain-  62

We seem to be in the middle of a heatwave at the moment, yesterday the car suggested 28 degrees.  Too hot for me.

I have realised it's been a while since the last blog post- this is because we have been beavering away to get the house in a decent condition.  As with most old houses, little jobs are never little and have often generated a much bigger job.  Lighting has been a major pain in the ass,  the wiring has been botched together in the fittings so I've had to modify most of it as I change light fittings.  This in addition to the Doc's preference for fittings with no space for wiring have made for some colourful language.  All done now though.

We discovered that the oven on the range was buggered, as was the extractor hood.  I know about caveat emptor, but the vendors refused us access to look around again and check stuff.  I suppose that should have rung bells in itself.  Anyway, on Wednesday I managed to strip the extractor and range out and put them  outside for removal when the new one came.  When I went out five minutes later it had all gone, I can only guess some scrap merchant pinched it.  Now we have a fully functional cooker, although no hood yet as the back plate isn't in stock at present.

I have my pride and joy hi-fi in the house now.  The Doc has decided where it needs to go and wants the cabling run under the carpet.  I made a booboo and bought new cabling that was too thick, so I went back yesterday to swap it.  The new one is three times the cost per metre. I'm also getting a new stand, the Atacama Equinox being current favourite.  I'm picking the cabling up on Saturday so I'll order something then.  I have also lost my spikes on the old Target speaker stands.

Other than dressings with pictures and mirrors, the interior of the house is nearly there.  It's been fairly stressful though, but at least it's habitable now.  The garden and exteriors need blitzing, but that's not something I'm any good at so it's a case of getting people in.  But we are approaching the time when I can turn my attention to Board work..........

Busy busy busy

Dry days- 71
Days of rain- 58

What a week!  The Doc and I have spent most of our time trying to get the new house sorted after the dirty buggers vacated it in a right state, including piles of flour in the cupboards and live wires left around.  Cleaning is almost complete, but every room needed decorating.  This was too big a task for me so we have had to get someone in.  I've been fixing stuff, changing lights, clearing the garden, getting 240V shocks etc etc.  The kitchen is almost done now, and the bedrooms shouold be painted this week so we are hoping to be in in a fortnight or so.  Understandably, the board has taken a back burner.

Yesterday was the first of the Preston Guild races.  The Doc and I got to Preston for 10, parked in a back street and wandered to the Race HQ.  This event was very well organised, all credit to the Red Rose Runners.  I was aiming for under 25 minutes, but wasn't too hopeful due to a heavy cold.  I got totally stuck in the pack initially so my first 1km took over 6 minutes.  I managed to get going after this, but the final time was 25:47.  Both the Doc and I really enjoyed the run actually, great fun.  The next up is the Manchester 10k, which I hope I feel better for.  Other than that it's just lots of work on the new house.