Yep, I'm back, folks!

Had a joiner round today, and the annexe is now open. Stereo has been found. I have ordered up a new (stable) door for it, and a repair on the rotten wooden step. The later addition of beading on the plate rack (to stop plates falling, I guess) has been removed, and my Staffordshire flat-back figures are going up. He is coming back on Thursday to remodel some shelves so that the TV will fit on them, and I can get more books on.

Found out a bit more about the house: I don't know when it was built exactly, but there's a date of 1752 carved in a lintel above a blocked up doorway in my coal shed. The village was all part of the Belford estate, and in 1820, the new squire decided on a programme of upgrading and smartening up of quite a lot of the properties. This will be why mine appears "Georgian", with a dressed stone front! They were to be occupied by the higher level estate workers. The deeds will only probably go back to 1923, when the hall was sold and the estate was broken up. The walls are nearly 2 feet thick in places!

The back bedroom floor has a bit of a slope. That was probably what the surveyor meant by "settlement"! I had to fit a net curtain on the bathroom window, which isn't frosted, and which is at a low level, right next to the pan!

The house next along the terrace has not been modernised. It's fascinating - and a bit squalid - inhabited by a sweet old couple. I was shown round. They have taken the meaning of clutter to a whole new level! They can't live in the living room because of the bookcases 2 or 3 deep, old dressers, chests, piles of stuff etc. The same goes for the front bedroom. The other rooms have a bit more room for manoeuvre. They have no heating apart from the range in the back room. There are no carpets to speak of, and what wallpaper there is barely clings on! He is building an interior door half way down the hall to stop the draughts. It's taking a while, but he is going to make a lovely careful job of it. It was so interesting to see the little differences in the layout of the two houses upstairs.

Rambled on enough now.

Andrea - who is still unpacking, but about three quarters through it!