Marco the painter has finished priming the new drywall in the basement and patched and sanded the many holes down there, and yesterday he painted the ceiling. On Friday, he’ll be back to start putting colour on the walls. The damaged area of the lawn still looks like the wrath of God, but I keep watering it in hope that at least a bare scrim of new grass will soon appear. And I have hoed out the last refuge of clutter, the space under the basement stairs, where I had stashed some old suitcases. At the deep end, Isobel (Cat 2) had established a bunker in an old toy box … Evidently, I must find a way to provide a similar bolt-hole in my new place.

Once the basement is painted, it will be time to call in a crew of professional cleaners for a complete scrub-down, including windows. Then I can list the house. Let’s see if I can get it done by Canada Day.