Today was earmarked for fitting the two pairs of French doors in the new house; one in what will be our bedroom, the other in the living area upstairs.

The downstairs doors weren’t too much of a problem; though at 120cm wide, solid oak and double glazed, they were very heavy. But Nick and Kieran had a system, which worked well and they were soon firmly fixed into position. The doors for upstairs are wider and therefore heavier and were downstairs. There’s only one photo of their journey up the stairs as it took all three of us, heaving them one step at a time, hardly daring to think of the consequences of a wrong move, but eventually we made it and all in one piece. The fitting was then a piece of cake and we are now nearly weatherproof. There just remains one window to do, but it’s not at all standard, so Nick’s going to build it himself. I can’t believe the difference it makes to the appearance of the house; not to mention the temperature inside, without a howling gale whistling through.

Poor Hugo doesn’t appreciate the changes, which mean he can no longer come and go as he pleases; he ended up sitting outside on the bathroom windowsill, licking the glass!