getting tidy

We asked all the neighbours and the tradesmen who had worked on the building to come to a tea party. As a result two things happened: we spent an exhausting week running around finishing small jobs and cleaning up, and to my surprise a couple of the tradesmen came to finish off jobs they had been working on. The most noticieable of these was getting the balcony railing done. Regrettably we've had some grey wet weather since, so the pictures don't make it look too inviting. Some sympathy is due for the menuisier, who found himself assembling it in a downpour (I lent him a waterproof and a hat). So, from inside:



The glass is 10mm thick, and laminated, with nicely rounded edges. The glass looks insubstantial but has a very reassuringly solid feel, as does the stainless steel framework. Here it is from outside, with puddles:



The plumbers also came along, and painted the central heating pipes red (flow) and blue (return), a curious but apparently traditional aspect of the craft. They were a couple of young men, and weren't able to explain what the green stripe meant (if anything), just that it was what they had to do.

I then put up some of our pictures, and a couple of mirrors, to make the barn look a bit less barn-like, and for some reason (as in our previous house) the family photos have arrived on the stairs:



The entire village then came around yesterday afternoon - possibly 60 people - and a good time was had by all, with conducted tours at intervals. The boiler drew quite an enthusiastic crowd, even though the plumber was one of the few people who couldn't come - he was having his own open day. It's hard to be sure exactly how many people came, and for data protection reasons, we had to forbid photography. But many of them came with pot-plants and flowers, which was very touching, and the plants are now occupying the sunnier corners - allowing for the fact that there are thick grey clouds everywhere, and absolutely no sun at all:



And the odd new purchase also arrived during the week, smelling strongly of antique dealer's wax and looking better than I had hoped:



This chest is surprisingly heavy, and I can only hope that the woodworm have been asphyxiated by the wax, as there seem to have been a lot of them at work quite recently. We'll see.