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We went to B&Q again on the way to the house - Steve is at the point where he's going to need outside lights, and we hadn't made any decisions; still haven't, but I think we're getting closer...

As for the stoves, we really like the Dovre 250, and called at the Staplehurst stove shop again to check about the finish on their display model: it was "matt" black [in reality a graphite or stove "black" colour, and totally unlike the matt and the black finish of another stove we've seen (that we didn't like; too matt, too black - I love burnished cast iron, and stove black is a close second)].  We pushed the guy to put us into the diary for a site visit, and they're booked for November 7th.  We're hoping they will come up with a quote fairly quickly after that...

One more tiny step forward, but every step counts.

Arriving at the house, we saw Steve's van: he has finished all the chasing of the walls, and running cables [apart from the fridge socket in the kitchen, and I'd sited that so that it was directly behind the one in the hall, so he is going to piggy back off that one (as I'd intended); just means it won't be on the kitchen ring main, which won't be a problem to us].  He has now filled most of the channels and holes, and says he hopes to get on with the second fix next week!*

Feels like real progress; we're just keeping our fingers crossed Richard is as swift and successful...

David started stripping out the radiators until we had a 'lunch' break, and after that diverted to carting pitchforkfuls of brambles away from the trees that Adam will be chopping/tidying, and towards the bonfire area; we are going to have to have a fire soon as we are running out of (cleared) space to pile up waste waiting to be burnt.  He did the last half-forkful as the light finally went, so it felt like a good point to stop.

Not happy about the clocks going back overnight; we're going to have diminishing daylight for what is going to feel like forever...

I need to get over it, don't I?

At least the amount of work needed to get the garden in shape is also diminishing with every visit, so at the point of the shortest day, maybe we won't need afternoon light on the weekends?

Well a girl middle-aged woman can dream!

I was, as is becoming customary, cutting down brambles, and creating piles of garden waste for David to move at a later date.

Oh, well, tomorrow is another day!

[But I'm getting a touch of déja vu already! ]

Have a great evening, and don't get caught out by the clocks.

* I quite missed the exuberance of the powder puff; am I going soft in my old age?