Didn't the purchaser of the middle house turn out to be from HMRC? (IR dequivalent).

I've worked out that if I put the old tank in the raised bit, I won't have to dig such a deep hole! Though I have to work out how to put an amphibian ramp in - tank is the size of half a beer barrel.

The broadband wireless connection seems a bit iffy. I'm using a cable now, and it's much better.

Today's bad news is that the fitting of the new fuse system has a snag - it keeps tripping, two old heaters are probably dead, but the electrician needs to come back and check everything tomorrow. DIY electricals - things connected to fuses with two sets of wires - 7 fuses where there should be at least 10.

The garden has a good supply of stone - not local, which is chalk, but someone's collection. A lot of white vein quartz, some slate and Shap red granite (I know that from my OU course) and other stuff. This is all mixed in with what the geo tutors knew variously as Wimpeyite or urban conglomerate, i.e. concrete, as if of equal value. Some of the concrete is nicely mossed, though. I have added my own specimens, where weather resistant. Normally I would go for Kentish Rag, which is a rough limestone and does a good rockery, but this collection is going to be interesting.

There were a lot of shrubs with variegated foliage, but I have taken them out and replanted in the garden I am leaving, as a gift, so I have room for veggies and smellies. I have a promise of cuttings of honeysuckle and a rambling rose from the cottage that was my grandparents'. I have a lovely musky rose that was the rootstock of a neighbour's rose. There is, already, I think, a philadelphus - my other granny had one in her garden. There is a juniper and a forsythia (I think) again. I am going to prune the Virginia creeper to allow space for runner beans, either side of the mirrors.

Penny