That is a lovely idea about the stepstone, Susan. It gives a sense of continuity.
I think the plumber has sorted my cold shower out, and the heating system APPEARS to be ok now (I'll probably need to remortgage to pay the bill!) My new sofa bed came this afternoon, and so I can sit - and curl up - in comfort at last!
On the down side, I have spotted some damp again! Right on a bit I thought we had sorted out. Must have been a tiny gap in the waterproof stuff on the wall. So far it is only a tiny bit... in addition to the bit of wall next to the fireplace which wasn't damp when we removed the wallpaper to look, and now is! I feel like giving up sometimes!
Another upside is that I lost a pound of the one and a half that I put back on last week.
Managed to sort some old files out this morning, which need to be passed on to someone else.