First day of autumn

And, boy, did it feel like it this morning; very nippy for those of us still dressed for summer [i.e. same clothes to travel in as yesterday].  Having changed into my work clothes at the house, I spent at least half an hour wearing my gardening coat zipped up to the neck, and then another 40 minutes or so with my sweatshirt on; the rest of the week we have been in t-shirts when working, and only once put on another layer as we stopped for lunch

The first thing we did was empty the house of all the things we'd taken there to make life easier whilst we are camping out: table, chairs, crockery & cutlery, cleaning products, washing up basin, etc, etc, etc.  Steve is going to start removing old wiring and chasing in for the new, so there will be gritty dust everywhere from plaster and cement-block walls.  I know from experience that it will be absolutely horrid, so we are only leaving a few garden tools (things like rakes and trugs) in the house; everything else we will lug to and fro' each day.

Oh, well, it won't be for long.

The black mould I'd bleached yesterday, and sprayed with Cuprinol mould remover, already seemed to have nearly gone; I'm just kicking my self that I forgot to do the window at the same time.  I must remember to do that before it gets too much colder; cold bleach water is fine on hot days , but not so nice when it's cold and miserable outdoors.

Today Steve seemed to do more working than talking, and David took the brunt of the conversation, so I felt better about that.  D told him that we plan to re-use not just the white switches, but as many of the electrical fittings as possible, and replace the brass sockets when funds allow us to 'upgrade' to white plastic.  Neither of us is particularly bothered about switches and power points, so to spend money on those when we could save here seems daft.  He surprised us by taking it really well; not the impression I gained from talking with him yesterday.

He installed a temporary board with two sockets, so now we have power; will have to buy a cheap kettle, and remember to bring one of our little table-top hobs back from France [when we do a big load of roasted vegetables, I make soup for the freezer, so having a way to heat it up would be a boon when the temperature drops for real].

It was really wonderful to know the electrical supply is safe.

House clear, we could start on the 'real' work of the day: burning garden rubbish, again.  Today the wind was swirling, so it was more of a challenge, but we managed to clear the whole of the big non-conifer pile by the oak tree, and all the bits in the 'wildflower meadow'.  We made a good dent in the conifer stock, too, which just leaves the various blobs of grass and brambles around the lawns.  Brambles burn much better when they are dried out, and grass seems reluctant to catch light whatever its state, so the urgency is reduced now that we can get to and from the bonfire clearing.

I met a neighbour, who told me that the area we are clearing to be the wildflower meadow [we thought it was, just covered in saplings that should have been mown off several years ago] was originally a beautiful bluebell wood, but the man who lived there had the trees chopped down and sold the wood.  In a way, we are grateful, because it gives us a much bigger tree-free area, and we still have oodles of woodland with bluebells, but I can understand it was a shame for the neighbours as their garden has lost its lovely backdrop [our woods are on the other side of the garden].  Still, what we are planning will be lovely in its way.

Paul arrived to finish off the ridge repair, and blew leaves off the drive; that looks great now, and saved me hours of brushing; I'm saving up for a leaf-blower.  Sadly, he said that the missing roof felt probably needs addressing, but will pass on our details to a roofer he knows...

He was really impressed at how different the garden looks; he hasn't been to the house since last Saturday, and commented on how much larger the outside space was to the left of the house [since then David had removed the brambles and cut the grass, and I had sawn off the fallen conifer limb, removed all that greenery and lifted the skirts on three conifers by the cercle manoir; we must have added nearly 30' to the width of the garden (according to the council plan, it's even bigger than that)].

Steve was taking up floorboards, and has agreed to let us have some more time to think about the wiring layout; so easy to get wrong, and for the sake of a week or so's delay, it seems crazy to risk making a huge mistake.  We've stayed at places where the electrics are so user-unfriendly; I don't was that to be our house.

He showed me a wire that had been nibbled by rodents, and had caught fire, and once again we know how lucky we were not to have been killed by the states of the wiring + no earth + dodgy supply from the network!  I'm going to sleep better tonight knowing the place is much less likely to burn down.

I spent the last of my time there battling blackberry thickets that tower above my head by two or three feet, and David continued strimming the lawn; I asked him to concentrate on the edges - if I clear the spiky bits, it's so much easier if they are not tangled up in the long grass.  I was near to the septic tank, and thought it had gone wrong, but realised it was more likely to be the decomposing leaves I had tipped out of a black plastic crate I'd found in the undergrowth.

I do hope that's all it is!

UK Power Networks need to replace the supply into the house, but didn't show up today; they don't need us to be there (which is great for us, they can do it whenever); we are getting a new, larger bracket that will attache to the masonry of the house, rather than the (rather crumbly-looking fascia) which is how it is now.  Something to watch out for rather than worry about.

With the equinox, we will now be battling increasingly against the nights drawing in, so we are really keen to bash on as much as possible whilst we have good weather.  Although I have to admit it was very nice to stop at 4pm today to get back to Maidstone for David's appointment.  We still managed six hours work [which feels enough when it's as full on as it is, and we are not accustomed to lugging things around after chopping them down/off], but the earlier start felt more brutal with the chill in the air; something I'm going to have to get used to - I know it will get worse before it gets better.

What I am looking forward to is seeing the 'bones' of the garden [assuming we can get the overgrowth cleared] - the trees without their leaves - and then seeing what flowers we have when spring comes round again (although I'm not expecting much).  I'm also hoping, in the meantime, to be able to put up some tree lights; I think (done well) that could look magical.  It's just starting to feel like home [not the house, but the garden; I'm getting to know it a bit], and I'm really wanting to get better acquainted.