Second week at Maternal Manor

Valentine's Park, July 2026

This is starting to feel like when I was at uni and I was blogging multiple times a week because there was so much going on. This account starts more than a week ago...

The heatwave continues albeit slightly less intensely with the occasional breeze, and I haven't yet needed to wear socks while I've been at Maternal Manor. I've been working quite hard at tidying, rearranging and organising while trying hard not to leave mum behind. So far I think she still knows where everything is. (Wait until I get started on the kitchen...)

I took myself off to Valentine's Park, which is a 30-minute bus ride away, to do a bit of sightseeing. The Park itself has been tidied up a lot since my day (which was the early 1980's), and they have also renovated the Mansion that the park was named after - a house on an ancient map was named Valentine, presumably after its owner. The current house was built in around 1696 probably on the site of that house, for Elizabeth Tillotson and her family after the death of her husband, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The house and its garden and the park have changed hands and been redeveloped many times since then, being enlarged and then having bits knocked down as it fell into disrepair, but was finally restored by the Friends of Valentine Mansion who offer guided tours. So I joined one, and found out lots of interesting stuff, and in an ideal world I would have gone round again after the tour to read some of the labels and look more closely at some of the contents. But it was really hot and I was tired by then, so I'll save a second trip for another time.

Then the day finally arrived for filling the trench in the kitchen now that it has dried out after the leaks in the pipes were fixed. Two men arrived (neither of them JC or his previous sidekick), and one proceeded to do all the work while the other just passed things to him. At one point the worker was chiselling adhesive off the floor while the other watched, and when I asked about this they said that they only had one chisel. So I loaned them another.

They managed to save four whole tiles of the original colour, and we had three that mum had bought some time ago that were only slightly different, and I had bought twenty-two contrasting tiles - nine loose and thirteen in a box - on the understanding that we could return the box but not the loose ones. I spent some time trying to work out the best pattern for using them and in the end we only needed to use nine of the the contrasting tiles, but when I tried to return the box I found that the wretched workers had cracked one, probably by sitting on the box. So now we've got thirteen spare tiles including a broken one. 

When they tried to put the sink back, we discovered that the plumbing had been constructed while the sink unit had been pulled away from the wall (to allow the wall to dry). Moving it back into place meant the sink drain wouldn't line up with the outlet pipe, and the pipes prevented the whole unit from reaching the wall anyway. This means we'll have to go back to the original plumber and try and get him to come and do the job properly. Apart from that, the floor looks all right. Next step - fixing the rest of the water damage to the skirting and walls. And another job for JC, replacing the decaying garden fence.

One of my own jobs I'd been waiting to get to was to go through all the old letters I'd kept, and when the workers were filling the trench and tiling I sat and read all of 1990. This was the year that I was in Australia and corresponding with family and friends in Denmark, Manchester, Israel, London, Spain, China and France. I learned quite a lot about the younger me through these letters, and not all of it very comfortable - there was one whole batch that I left unread.

The letters contained some great passages though, which when read entirely without context suggest a whole untold back story. I present a few extracts here for your entertainment.

Letter to family: "Mario [a fellow kibbutz volunteer] shared a room with the psychopathic triple murderer and was suitably shaken by the newspaper clipping ... Rica [the kibbutz volunteer manager] wrote among other things that the mass murderer isn't the one who was at Ein Gev so I don't know a psychopath after all."

In digs in Sydney: "I love living here ... Even the cockroaches have lessened and now the place has dried out the mouldy smell has gone too."

In Australia's Northern Territory: "It's not like home where if you sit absolutely still for 36 hours with an infra red camera you stand a 1 in 50 chance of seeing a badger - here if you stand still for 30 minutes with a dog you stand a 9 in 10 chance of being attacked by a crocodile."

On a motorbike touring down the west coast of Australia: "Lots of birds of prey everywhere, and I get to watch them for ages when the bike breaks down."

Other things I've been doing while I'm here - obviously there's badminton. I joined the Oldsters for one evening, and they were very nice but the standard was not quite as high as I would like although that did mean I did a lot of winning (which I like). Still more research to be done on the badminton front.

Before I end of course I must provide an update on the house: my solicitor has written to say they have sent the draft contract and all the information in the forms I filled in to the buyers' solicitor. I sent Mr Celery a list of things I'd leave in the house if the buyers want them, and he passed it on to the buyers who have now contacted me directly and we've arranged to meet later in the month. 

Their solicitor cheekily told my solicitor that I'd agreed to complete by the date they were completing on their house; I'd done no such thing so I put them right about that. So it continues, and worries about 'what if' arise in my dreams and wake me early in the morning. But I reassure myself that all will be well, and if it isn't, it soon will be.

Moving forward

Jlfs 3, 4, 5 and 6 at work, April 2026

The Severn Trent Water investigation last week meant that there was no need to dig up the pavement, so the scaffolding went up before Easter in preparation for painting the front of the house (masonry and woodwork). I am tempted to skip the naming of these contractors (scaffolding and painting) given that I am hoping to need no more tradesmen before quitting Lola Towers but that would be tempting fate, so let's call them collectively Jlf. 

Jlf 1 is managing the project, Jlf 2 arranged the scaffolding which was erected by Jlfs 3, 4 and 5, and Jlf 6 has been doing the actual preparation and painting. There was much flaking paint and he reported from the eaves that the wooden decoration was at risk of actually dropping off, so the whole job is very timely. All of these people have been delightful to work with, although it turns out that Jlf 6 does not drink anything but tea and there were a couple of hot days, so I had my work cut out making sure he survived. The Jlfs arrived to take the scaffolding down on the next working day - I'm not sure they were the same Jlfs but it's hard to tell them apart: they move very quickly. They all called me 'Bab', which is a very Brummie nickname and made me smile. The front of the house is now eye-wateringly white.

In my regular GRUHI report there has been more eBay action - the vintage Meccano that belonged to dad received huge numbers of views and watchers but disappointingly just a single bid, so that buyer got a bargain. In contrast, the Denby crockery I bought about 30 years ago has so far brought in about £45 with more to come. And, because listing and postage were so easy, I put 17 old car and motorcycle tax discs on eBay and got a fiver for them. There's just no predicting what people want. The question of why I had 17 old car and motorcycle tax discs will remain unanswered; I don't have them any more, so that's a step forward.

I remain a regular visitor to the tip for both landfill and recycling, and made an appointment to take the evil gardening poisons there. The garden had its first mow of the year to reveal that grass is now about 30% of the lawn as 70% is moss. It's lovely and green and spongy so I don't care. The first car-full of garden clippings went to the tip too.

I finally got round to dealing with the bricks that were left over from the kitchen extension in 2019 by offering them within the local LETS group (the cashless trading system I'm part of). Who would have thought this would be the most attractive offer out of all the things I have tried to pass on? Three different people want them, although it might take a while for them to come and collect, and I have more potential recipients in reserve.

The visit from the Secretary of the Leamington History Group finally took place, shortly after I unearthed a treasure trove of historical documents when I was thinning out my filing cabinet. She was a strange bird, and seemed less interested in the history of the house than informing me that Wisden was probably not connected with the cricket ground despite people suggesting that he was (I had made no such claim). She has borrowed all the documents but said that her Group probably wouldn't want to keep them and I should perhaps offer them to the County Record Office.

I'm taking leave of my vinyl records too. One of the Buddhists kindly offered to digitise the five records that I want to keep, and in return he had the pick of the collection for himself. I've sold the rest to UJ - I didn't really want to because she doesn't have a settled home yet, and as far as I know she doesn't have a turntable to  play them on. But she did ask for them and it seems unfair not to let her have them as she does seem to like having things a great deal.

There have been some less arduous things going on too. A lunchtime organ recital was advertised at the nearest church so I thought I'd pop in, but didn't enjoy it all that much because the organist was frankly Not Very Good. U3A walking and board games were suspended for Easter and then again because of scaffolding and painting supervision. I spent a morning at the Repair Café advertising LETS and trying to shift a few more of my own things - someone with a very large garden took the walky talkies and I came away with two goose eggs. Apparently they're very good for cakes, but I ate them scrambled for breakfast and they were all right - I wouldn't go out of my way to acquire more.

Water, water, every where

Lola Towers, March 2026

It's been a very water-focused winter. So much rain, mum's leaking pipes, evidence of water rising in my Auditorium, and then my boiler also started to make an intermittent noise. I've received a lot of attention from plumbers.

The boiler guy came in the morning of the day that Severn Trent were booked to dig up the pavement in the afternoon, which was quite convenient. In between phases of investigating the boiler noise he was kind enough to take a look in the cellar beneath the water stain. The heating pipes all looked sound and dry but he did comment that the cellar walls are saturated, and the house being the age that it is, there is no effective damp proof course. He tweaked something in the boiler and the noise hasn't recurred yet, but he's going to give me a quote for a replacement fan which will help not only if it fails but also should guide potential house purchasers, should guidance be needed.

In the afternoon the two Severn Trent workers came. I offered them tea or coffee and then discovered that I have no coffee, so that wasn't a good start. They put up signs and barriers and closed the footpath before getting stuck in to the job of digging around the water meter, and were very clear that I was not allowed onto 'the site' to look any closer. Their verdict was that the joint under investigation was not leaking but wouldn't let me through to look in the hole, so I gave them my camera to take a photo, which just showed a puddle in wet gravel. I've now followed up with a text conversation with another plumber, and then went back to Severn Trent to challenge their verdict. The saga continues.

In the meantime I've got a heater set up in the Auditorium which is drying the wall nicely. It keeps raining though. I've also done a test with photographing the water meter at 10pm and 8am and it shows some movement of the dial, but I don't know how significant it is. I did the same at mum's with the same result, so there's Thames Water to contact about that too.

At mum's I also had the job of replacing the knobs on her 40-year-old cooker. I found a company which supplied 'universal' knobs but the kit supplied didn't entirely work without adjustment, which we did using some tubing left over from when dad needed a catheter. I've left mum with one new replacement knob to try out, and if she's happy then we'll replace the rest. [Update - we've put the old ones back.]

Then there's the painting needed of the front of the house. I finally managed to get three acceptable quotes from firms. One was a man on a ladder, which I specifically don't want because of the chimney pointing experience, but when I turned him down he started to argue that he's very experienced with ladders... The second one started talking about payment in cash (the amount is more than £2000). So I picked the third one who advised that the start date will be based on the availability of the scaffolding. 

Then the scaffolding company called to explain the convoluted process of applying for a licence to put up scaffolding on the public highway (the pavement outside my house) and the steps that would need to be taken involving suspending parking, cones and redirecting pedestrians. Let's just say, it's complicated. But after just a day or two he phoned back to say the permit had already been granted and the scaffolding can go up at the end of March.

More tales of travel, admin and water

Just before my year's entry ticket expired I managed to visit Hill Close Gardens in Warwick. It was the week when snowdrops are at their best, and it was really, really cold. Not much else was blooming so I didn't hang around, but I should go again when there's more to see and the wind is less biting. They are proud of their collections - not only snowdrops but chrysanthemums, sempervivums and 63 varieties of apple trees.

It's an interesting historical site too - in the 1840's when people living in towns didn't have gardens this site provided 'detached' gardens divided up into plots. Unlike allotments, people used them for pleasure, with lawns and summer houses as well as lots of fruit trees and flowers (although a few kept pigs too). Some of the plots were sold for housing in the 20th century, but just as all but one had fallen into dereliction and the diggers were on their way, local residents managed to get the site listed and it was saved for posterity. They then cleared it all up, and did lots of research into who had owned the plots and what they had looked like, restored some of the summer houses and then began opening for visitors.

My next outing was the annual Mr M & Lola II Film Festival, which I completely missed last year because I was ill. Not so this year, and the stand-out discovery was the French film "The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe", a slapstick comedy that had us all laughing. 

While I was in London I continued my efforts to link my Senior Railcard to my Oyster account. Mr M drew my attention to this possibility, but when I looked it up I found it needed to be done by a member of TfL staff in person, using an actual Oyster card - I've been simply using my contactless bank card for a long time. So I dug out my old Oyster card, but found I couldn't register it to the account unless it had been used in the last 8 weeks. So on this trip I used the card, after which I managed to register it to my online account. At West Ealing station they didn't have the right staff, but at Marylebone they were up for it - except that the card didn't show up as having been linked to the account. The saga continues.

The LTRP also continues, as it always will with such an old house, with a visit from Luke from Severn Trent Water to investigate the stain that has appeared in my front room. He confirmed that the meter is showing a small leak - he estimated 1 litre per hour, which doesn't seem particularly small to me. He's going to call in a team that will dig up the pavement around the meter and I'm hoping they will find the source of the leak, otherwise it will be another of those long-winded and potentially costly investigations.

Then my newest tradesman came to touch up the evidence of water staining and condensation in the porch, hall and kitchen. It was the same day that my new phone arrived, so I spent most of the day either entering passwords into apps or chatting to him about jobs he's done and the state of the world. The new phone keeps challenging me with passwords and connectivity and making unexpected noises and not having a 'back' button, but I'm sure it will all be sorted within a few weeks...

Mainly snow and water

Lake Tueda, Meribel Mottaret, February 2026

The skiing holiday was another good one, affected only slightly by one of our party (P) falling on the third day. Sitting on the piste, he was in immense pain around the left shoulder and thought it was dislocated; the paramedic on skis (Damien) thought it probably wasn't. Damien called an ambulance which arrived very promptly and delivered the patient to the local medical centre, where an X-ray confirmed a break right through the humerus just below the shoulder. P came back in a brace along with industrial strength French painkillers, including opium powder. We all hoped he would start wearing a smoking jacket and writing romantic poetry, but no, he just winced and went a bit grey and silent whenever the shoulder was disturbed. There followed some discussion with the insurance company, who finally came up with a plan to fly him home, accompanied by his wife, on the same day that the rest of us came home by train.

Aside from that notable event, the rest of the holiday went very well. In advance it had looked as though the weather would be very bad, but actually the clouds came in and it started to snow only on the last day. I went out with JW anyway despite the difficult conditions, and enjoyed his graceful dives into a couple of soft snow drifts. It started to snow again when it was lunchtime and we were just next to a restaurant; when we were ready to carry on the snow had stopped, so that was perfect.

One afternoon I decided to stay out a bit longer than my companions, and confirmed the fact that I have absolutely no sense of direction or navigational skills. I planned a route that would definitely not take me into an adjacent valley, only to find myself in the adjacent valley on a slope that was challenging to say the least. I managed to get myself back, but skied for about an hour longer than was sensible.

Back home I had to return to all the aspects of life that disappear on holiday. I took mum for a CT scan, which she found very helpful and I found very interesting. My main role was translating and transmitting whatever the various clinicians say to mum because they a) mumble and/or speak very fast b) use jargon c) have strong accents and d) don't look at her when they talk. 

At Lola Towers there is still water penetrating through my front wall. Glf (current favourite of all my tradesmen) came and had a look and we have a plan that includes contacting Severn Trent Water to see if it might be a leak around the water meter. The third estate agent visited; his estimate comes somewhere between the first and the second. Before I put it on the market I have decided to get the front painted, if it ever stops raining. I'm still waiting for a decorator to give me a date before the end of February to do some of the interior painting that's needed, and if we get on OK I'll ask if he'll do the outside work too. If not, estate agent 2 gave me a possible lead.

Progress

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, December 2025

The third visit from Lee the plumber at Maternal Manor was supervised by Lola II. He continued to track the pipes under the kitchen floor and extended the trench towards the sink, and at last found a leak. Both Lola II and I greeted this news with great joy and the observation that we've never been so glad to discover a broken pipe. After a brief discussion of what to do next, we all agreed that the full length of the pipes should be uncovered, and thank goodness it was because a second leak was found further along. Lee replaced the whole section of pipe and lagged and protected it properly; now we're waiting for his report for insurance claim purposes. Meanwhile I took possession of the promised dehumidifier (which I'll take there next time I visit) which will remove as much of the water as possible before the trench is filled in, and then redecorating can start.

GRUHI has been going slowly but steadily. I managed to give away the tennis racquet via the Olio online platform, but nearly didn't. Olio seems to be used by young people, and the prospective recipient relied very heavily on WhatsApp to the extent that when he messaged me that he was outside the door and I didn't answer immediately, he considered going away again. I did see the message after a few minutes and went down to open the door, asking why he hadn't rung the doorbell. He seemed somewhat surprised at this suggestion. Make of that what you will.

Having lost so much weight (6kg now) I thought I'd revisit a bag of trousers that I grew out of but kept because I was particularly fond of them 40 years ago. They are all a similar size which is still considerably smaller than I am now, and I painfully resolved to part with them, with support from Lola II (who has been reading a book about decluttering). They and more surplus clothes have now gone to the clothes bin at the supermarket, to Action 21 along with a box of books and some random household ephemera, and a blanket and old duvet have gone to the The Dog's Trust after Guide Dogs said they didn't want them. I haven't yet advertised the big bookcase, the electronic piano and the tenor saxophone.

My Diabetes Prevention Programme coach is very encouraging, but still highly unsatisfactory in terms of providing anything other than someone to be accountable to. I ignore her advice which mostly consists of suggesting that I eat more. This advice is clearly intended to help moderate blood sugar spikes, but I am focussing more on calories and portion sizes which seems to be working so far in terms of weight. I have asked for a repeat blood test but the doctor has told me to wait until the end of February, so I'll have to wait some more to find out if all my efforts have made any difference in that respect.

There's been plenty of exercise, particularly over one 24-hour period when I did an hour with my personal trainer, went to Coventry for a gig where I stood for 1½ hours then danced my socks off for 1½ hours then had to run for the train, and next morning joined my U3A ramblers for 2½ hours. That was all quite tiring, but the gig was fantastic and I picked up the dehumidifier at the end of the walk, so worth it. My Monday badminton was slightly difficult, however, when they put on the regular end-of-year competition and I came very definitely in last place. Not so long ago (or so it seems) I was in contention for the winning position. My self-esteem was somewhat restored when I played in a match with my Thursday badminton ladies which we won.

The kitchen roof at Lola Towers started to leak during one of the recent storms, and quite a lot of water came through. It hasn't repeated this performance, but I invited the roofer recommended by Glf to have a look at it, and he came back the very next day to fix it. Standing on the roof with a cup of tea we had a very interesting conversation about the lack of young people interested in following the sort of trades that are needed, and then we talked about the painting I need at the front of the house. It gave me a good deal of food for thought around whether I want a cash trader working from a ladder or someone in a business working from a scaffold tower. The answer is now much clearer, especially after my experience of the dangerous pointing work.

Pointing

April 2025

Glf is a very good bloke as well as a bricklayer and did a wonderful job on my wall on the pub side, nearly four years ago now. So when I needed the chimneys pointing, he should have been my first port of call instead of the cowboys who persuaded me that they could do it without scaffolding.

The job involved a lot of coordination between the Glf and the company with the scaffolding, which led to a few weeks' delay.  They all turned up first thing on Friday to case the joint, plans were made and the scaffolding started to go up for the first chimney, which took all day. It was decided that a separate scaffold tower was needed for the other chimney, so that was erected the following Thursday. 

I actually climbed up to the top to have a look, and sat for a while just experiencing the discomfort of fear. I couldn't manage to take any pictures that time, but I overcame the fear and went up again a few days later and did take some of my own pictures - the weather was beautiful and I had a lovely view of my neighbours' gardens.

Glf appears to have done a similarly good job on the chimneys, and even came to my rescue and fixed things when the scaffold people broke my key safe. He wasn't able to help with a leak that is discolouring the ceiling right next to the front door, but has given me some contact details for roofers who may be able to help.

I haven't yet contacted the roofers because, in time-honoured fashion, I have taken on too much and have passed peak efficiency into a state of frazzled panic in case I forget anything important. I was looking forward to a clear weekend when I hoped to catch up, but sadly a family member died and I was called away. Lola II came with me and made the weekend much better (for both visitors and for host, I think) and we were even able to be useful by helping to look at possible venues for the food and drink after the cremation. 

With a stint of volunteering to come, I am trying to do just one thing at a time. When I remember to calm my mind, everything is fine.

Fiddling on the roof

Kyre Park Garden, October 2024

Before my solitary retreat I went on a weekend retreat with the Buddhists from Birmingham, for which I was designated Organiser. There wasn't a whole lot of organising to do, and as well as the scheduled sessions I had a chance to catch up with some of the people I'd got to know while I was volunteering at the retreat centre. I went straight from there to my week's solitary in an annexe to a cottage which had been designed for the purpose. The woman who owned it lived in the cottage, and we had a coffee and a lovely conversation at the end of the week.

I took off my watch when I arrived and didn't put it back on until the final morning, just keeping track of the days and letting everything else happen when it wanted to. I meditated, read a lot, wrote a little, went out for walks and did a lot of thinking. I took all my meals with me ready-prepared so I didn't have to do any shopping or cooking, and it was lovely. Next time I'll see if I can manage to extend it to ten days.

I returned to an empty house; UJ has gone back to Ukraine for a holiday. Next day I'd arranged for Hlf to come and do the pointing of the chimney stacks. Hlf's Sidekick and a young lad arrived quite late, and the Sidekick kept dashing off to look after other jobs, leaving the lad to do the work. I had a few conversations with him; he wasn't very happy - the roof was too steep to be safe and he was expected to work off ladders and sitting across the ridge. In the end he couldn't safely reach all the parts of the chimney that he was supposed to, and it was nearly dark by the time he'd finished what he could do.

The next day I went out to have a look, and wasn't happy with the half done job. I let Hlf know that I was concerned about the safety of his employee as well as the fact that I wasn't going to be paying the full amount because of the parts that hadn't been pointed. Then I looked online to see who might be able to get involved on the safety side of things - Trading Standards for Warwickshire direct you to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, so that's where I'm heading as soon as I get enough time to phone during office hours.

Next I was in London for two days thanks to a visit from Cousin M from Seattle. Mr M took us both on a tour of the area around the Barbican before handing us over to Lola II for afternoon tea at a Very Posh Hotel. It was very good, but the verdict was that the previous tea I'd had with Lola II had been slightly better. We went on to a performance of the musical Guys and Dolls which was slightly unusual because we took up the option of being part of the action. The stage was in the round and we stood alongside the actors and other members of the audience while different parts of the stage rose up so everyone could see what was going on. It was a terrific idea and was executed well, but standing up for the performance after walking around London for the day left me pretty tired.

I've filled my diary a little too much despite my resolution to try and leave space, but it's all been things I've enjoyed - visiting mum, going to the cinema (twice), my U3A walk, badminton, training with Muscles, cooking, and today I went to an event organised by LeamLETS, which is the trading system that works by its members offering services using a barter system. The event was mainly social and there were some lovely people there, but you could also bring things to trade. An opportunity for GRUHI! And what's more, people took some of my junk, and I talked to the woman who organises the trading table at the local Repair Café, so I'll be there next weekend in the hope of similar results.

Doing well

Helidon church, March 2024

Looking back, it's exactly three years since Glf the builder did such a good job of restoring and pointing my wall on the pub side. The reason for looking back is that the roofer pictured in the last blog post (newly named Hlf) highlighted that my two chimney stacks badly need pointing. I'm pretty sure that this was mentioned in the survey that was done when I bought the house more than twenty years ago, which just reminds me how far I've come since the time when I'm pretty sure I didn't know what pointing was.

Hlf discussed the options with me, decided that he could do the job without needing scaffolding, and has provided a quotation on that basis (and I only had to chase him twice). I asked Glf to come and have a look too but he wasn't prepared to take it on without scaffolding, and his quote (only one gentle reminder needed) is obviously twice as much as Hlf's. I'll offer it to Hlf, but being accustomed to the ways of the workmen I am very much prepared for him not to follow through, and then I'll fall back on Glf (who can't schedule the job until spring anyway).

Being able to take on workmen and get back to the LTRP has demonstrated that at the moment I am in pretty good shape, physically and mentally. This hasn't been the case for much of this year. Nothing dreadful, nothing specific, but I'd fallen into unhealthy and unhelpful habits which were proving tough to break. Several things have helped: the support of friends and family (often without them knowing about their part in my welfare), but also pulling myself together through meditation and reflection. The retreat in July gave me a really good opportunity to come up with a plan, which was slightly derailed by a couple of things, but is now working quite well. Apart from cutting out the chocolate and Wotsits, I have been seeing a Personal Trainer. Let's call him Muscles.

Muscles is young and fit (obviously) and has been leading me through some fairly gentle preliminary exercises involving what the experts describe as my 'core' muscles - pelvis, bum and abdomen mostly. Having been fairly fit in the past, I now recognise that I had really let myself go, despite playing badminton twice a week. I also recognise that while Muscles is quite an expensive option in comparison to classes at the local leisure centre, it is unlikely that I would achieve the same results under my own initiative.

I feel comfortable paying for Muscles because the payments ended for my orthodontic treatment a while ago, and now the alignment work is complete. It feels very strange to be without the aligners and I now seem to have developed the habit of unconsciously chewing my lips and the inside of my mouth which is very annoying. I have a night-time retainer to wear, and a visit to my new and slightly annoying dental hygienist has resulted in a further plea for additional attention to my night-time brushing routine.

As usual I've been cramming an enormous amount into my days, including the U3A walking and board games groups, a trip to the local Repair Café, my several Buddhist groups (in person and online), and my monthly music group. Leading up to each of the music sessions I inwardly groan about loading all the gear into the car and spending a whole afternoon with the group, but afterwards I'm always on a high for a day or two and ponder whether I've got time to squeeze more music into my life. This term the pieces that have been chosen are really good fun to play but also really hard, particularly for the baritone saxophone, which demands a lot of physical effort to play.

I also went to a comedy night featuring comedian Mark Watson. I was vaguely aware that he attended the same college as I did (many years after my time), but what I didn't know was that Suella Braverman, former Home Secretary and current Evil Gnome, was also there at the same time as him. I rather lost concentration on the comedy material for a few minutes when this became clear.

I'm going to have a bit of time off, with a weekend retreat leading into a week's solitary time. Now it's time to pack.

Mostly difficult stuff going on

Hlf, September 2024

Recently I visited mum and realised that I'd left one job so long that her email client (Outlook 2007) was going to stop working in less than a week - Microsoft no longer consider it secure because it's so old, and will prevent it from accessing her emails. So I swapped it for an alternative client, and the best part was that I also managed to upload her stored history of emails and her address book, which took a very long time but made me very happy to have achieved it. Then on the next visit I discovered that the new client was also blocked, and I managed to wrestle it to the ground and unblock it, but at the cost of losing all the emails that had arrived within a period of five days. Initially I thought I'd lost the whole Inbox and all the Sent items too, so losing just five days felt like a win.

I managed to go to the RSC to see The Merry Wives of Windsor. Whenever I go there, which is very seldom, I always vow I should go more. It's top quality theatre on my doorstep, so I don't know why I don't. And the roofers and my new glasses arrived on consecutive days in an expensive week. While the roofers were working I did a session of pruning in the garden - only three bags full, much more is needed.

Another thing that's been going on is renewing my car insurance. Over the years I have chosen to use a local broker for many of my policies - car, household, landlord insurance - but it has been well publicised that prices for insurance are rising. Generally what happens is that the broker gives me a quote, I go online and find the same cover at a lower price, and up to now they have managed to reduce their quote to something more acceptable. This time the renewal quote was £200 more than last year and when I went online the lowest quote was £170 less than this. I don't always choose the lowest quote, but the most common amount was still about £150 less than the broker, and they couldn't or wouldn't go anywhere near matching it. I don't quite see how they are going to survive on the High Street.

I've also been on retreat, which went very well - it was aimed at people who don't necessarily know anything about meditation or Buddhism, and so a) was much shorter than the heavy-duty retreats I've been attending and b) was at an introductory level in terms of teaching. But I chose it because it focussed on a topic that I've always found difficult, so I thought that starting from the beginning again might be useful. It was, but not in the way I expected. It was lovely to see people finding something they'd been looking for without knowing it, and to remember what I was like when I went on my first retreat at this centre when I didn't know who I was or what I wanted either. I've come a long way and all for the better.

I was going to carry on northwards for a weekend in York so arranged to drop in on H+B on the way. The York weekend had to be cancelled, but I went to H+B anyway, and talked about dismal things like the Office of the Public Guardian, Enduring Powers of Attorney, Executorship and Probate. But we wandered round the garden too, and admired the brickwork and freshly painted frontage of the house, and marvelled at the flat upstairs which is up for let at an eye-watering monthly sum. H is well, looks good, but is feeling his age (aren't we all). We agreed that the main thing for the avoidance of excruciating administrative entanglement is for H to remain alive for the time being, which thankfully he seems happy to do.

Speccy swotty four-eyes

September 2024

There is a small amount of repair work needed to the roof in a few places, and I invited Clf, the chap who'd worked on the roof before and two new companies to have a look at the job as well. Clf did not respond, one company arranged a time to visit and then didn't, and the other sent a lovely chap who flew a drone with a camera and did the quote there and then. Then, I procrastinated. In the past I have experienced the common phenomenon of a tradesman who doesn't really want the job quoting an outrageous amount, and I don't know what an outrageous amount is in this context, so I really wanted a second quote to compare. But I didn't get round to it.

The next chapter of the story involves my glasses. A few years ago my local independent sold out to a bigger organisation. In general I prefer an independent optician rather than one of the chains, and after a couple of visits I decided I'd look for a new independent. I found one in Warwick, but then a brand new practice opened in Leamington. That's where I went this week for a very thorough eye test, and they recommended a slight change to my prescription. What with super-thin lenses and varifocals it came to a stupendous sum, at which point I realised that the roofing quote was only about three-quarters of a pair of new glasses and I got in touch with the company and booked them in.

In the process of transferring from one optician to the other I got the old one to give me all of my records in a digital format, and then I passed these to the new optician. One of the reasons why I think I will stick with them is that they had a really good look at my history, and contacted me to propose a cheaper way of upgrading my glasses (taking the cost down to just equal to fixing my roof). And I gave them dad's old glasses to recycle for those in need, and then went through and photographed all my old glasses that I've kept since the age of about 16 and that's the picture at the top of the blog. I gave them five of my pairs to go off with dad's, kept two of the most recent, and we're putting the new lenses into another one.

The roofing company has been in touch to say that there's been a family emergency, so they need to rearrange the visit. We'll see which comes first - perfect vision or a non-leaking roof.

My left eye, September 2022

The new Hoover is a Shark

Knepp, June 2022

Sharknado has arrived at Lola Towers - a modern vacuum cleaner with half the power consumption of the previous one, and I filled its whole cylinder with a single pass through the house. Admittedly it's not a huge cylinder, but I wouldn't be surprised if I picked up a similar amount if I could be bothered to run it round again. So that's been fun, especially unpacking it and fitting it all together - all the bits come together with very satisfying clicks, and allow various unclickings to empty the cylinder and to use it in different modes. It's also a very pleasing shade of purple. UJ received her formal training on Saturday, and the part for the old machine also arrived and fitted perfectly, so that's working again and now I have to decide what to do with it.

I can't remember which -lf I'm up to. Flf maybe? So Flf the electrician and his apprentice sidekick came to replace all the spotlights in the kitchen. Back when I was remodelling I was persuaded to use sealed unit lights, which were difficult to replace until they became completely unavailable. They've all been replaced now with units containing a simple bulb, and we'll put that mistake down to inexperience. Flf and sidekick were very communicative and efficient, and even complimented me on the music playing, so that wins them extra points.

In other news - well, there isn't really any. UJ has gone home for five weeks, I've been south to see mum and dad and north to see H+B, played badminton including losing a match (but not losing as badly as we expected), led our Buddhist group for an evening, and been given a new mission (should I choose to accept it) from Mr MXF. Not that I've started on it; I always regret not recording our conversations but I am definitely intending to do something about it soon.

Rain, rain, go away

Vajraloka, May 2022

A while back I mentioned that the windows in Lola Towers are old and a bit leaky. A few have received attention as part of some other job, but it was time to replace the hinges on five upstairs windows. Doors and Windows Ulf arrived with sidekick and did the job, which included cleaning many of the old windows and adjusting a couple of the new doors that were giving a bit of trouble. He's a cheerful and helpful chap, and good to have around.

While he was up on the kitchen roof I took the opportunity of joining him to check the roof light, and to wipe it clean of moss to prevent leaks, as I'd been advised previously. Except this time it has had the opposite effect. At the moment I'm hoping for magical self-healing and have placed a towel on the kitchen worktop to catch the indoor precipitation, although Ulf has offered to come back and have a look when it finally stops raining. I am taking the same approach to my printer which is digging its heels in and refusing to function at all while reporting a non-existent paper jam. The Internet has offered a couple of fixes that haven't worked and then suggests contacting the manufacturer, which is usually a coded message for "time for a new printer."

My Buddhist study group has been in abeyance for a while, which gave me the opportunity to play badminton on a couple of Mondays. I miss that club! They are fun to be with and also to play with, and I look forward to the weeks when I can get there.

And, for the first time ever, I've been to our local theatre. I can't believe I've never done it before; it's a lovely little place by the river run by volunteers, with a small auditorium and a very cheap bar. UJ came with me to see Wyrd Sisters, a play based on the Terry Pratchett novel (which UJ has read), and we both enjoyed it. UJ commented in the interval that it isn't so easy for her without the subtitles, and she would have had the added difficulty of TP's very English puns and wordplay, and various characters were using quite thick regional accents, but I think she got the gist.

I'm hoping for an appearance soon by guest bloggers Lola II and/or Mr M to describe our adventures in London and Leamington, but until then, a last note regarding a message I received from mum. Over the years as maintenance has been needed she has discovered some staggering incompetence on the part of the tradesmen involved in the building of an extension, including the heating thermostat on the wall being entirely decorative, a pump installed the wrong way round, and much more. This time the downstairs toilet flush needed a bit of help and the plumber was duly called. In the course of his work he discovered, unbelievably, that it was plumbed into the hot water supply and has presumably been so ever since its installation by what must have been the most incompetent tradesman ever employed.

Gas men

Friston, April 2022

As a nation we have experienced a four-day weekend prompted by the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth the Second, God bless her and her eye-searing outfits. Nobody can say she doesn't rock a strong colour statement at the age of 96. Anyway, I took very little notice of the whole event and didn't turn on the TV at all, but received as much news as I wished via the odd radio news headline, which I listen to between 08.00 and 08.10 each morning. Too much news at the moment is very bad for the health.

So I pootled down to see mum and dad on the Friday, and travelled via cousin Y's new house to Lola II and Mr M, arriving just in time for an impromptu whisky tasting, as they were looking for new food/whisky combinations. We had a strange supper of roast parsnip and whisky, dried apricot, dried mango and dates and whisky, Danish Blue cheese and whisky and probably more that I've forgotten, accompanied by bread and ending with chocolate, banana and tahini cake. And whisky. It was fun, and I slept well.

There is more to relate regarding the stiff gas tap problem which was diagnosed by my Gas Safety man, followed by much sucking of teeth from the Gas Infrastructure man who then visited, after which I hoped the issue would go away. But no, I was contacted to arrange another visit, and had a nice conversation about how inaccessible the gas tap is and how I don't really want them knocking my house about. I discovered that the repair is not compulsory, which was good news, but that they would send another Gas Infrastructure man to see if the first Gas Infrastructure man was right or not. 

GI man 2's view was the opposite of GI man 1, and he set about replacing the stiff gas tap within the confines of its tiny cupboard. The next time I wandered down to see how GI man 2 was getting on, the whole meter was out of the cupboard and he was preparing to depart, with the promise that I would be visited by someone else to re-connect the gas, light the boiler again and test to make sure all was well.

Someone else turned out to be two people - GI man 3 was actually a GI youth: a trainee supervised by GI man 4.  GI man 4 was only slightly older than the meter, which dated from 1987, and GI trainee was considerably younger. Once they'd connected the meter and tested for leaks, they moved to the kitchen. "How do we know the gas is connected properly?" asked GI man 4, standing in front of the boiler. "Turn on the hot water tap?" suggested trainee GI trainee. "It's not a combi boiler," reminded GI man 4. "I hate boilers," said GI trainee, more than once. The answer is that you turn the heating/hot water on and go and look to see if the meter shows that gas is flowing.

The work in Pub Next Door is advancing slowly. I visit the crew every day at least once - there was more noise as they broke up the concrete at the front and dug holes for new gate posts; they have created a new bin space and lined the end wall with timber prior to replacing the corrugated plastic roof with something more pleasing and sturdy. They requested some squash on the hottest day, I bought them some chocolate fingers, they are replacing the fencing at the top of our adjoining wall which means I get a wave and a grin through the window when I go into the kitchen, which for this recluse is slightly disturbing. Griff (the man in charge) is now my BFF, but I'm quite glad I'll be away for much of next week.

A lot of Buddhism

From Sangharakshita's collection, Adhisthana

I've been doing a lot of Buddhism recently. Our local group meets every Tuesday evening, my study group with people from Birmingham is every Monday evening, and I've joined another local study group on a provisional basis, which takes place fortnightly on Thursdays. There have been a couple of occasions when I've gone to the Birmingham Buddhist Centre on other days, and we've also been running an introductory course on meditation and Buddhism for newcomers, and a weekend retreat in Herefordshire. And I do most of the admin for the group - things like emails about Tuesday meetings and who is going to bring the milk and planning future meetings.

Thanks to the miracle that is Zoom, we held the introductory course in person while the regulars met at the same time on Zoom, then at the end of the course the newcomers were invited to carry on attending and the regulars joined us in the village hall. I wasn't supposed to be involved with the introductory course, but one of the teachers had to drop out because of illness in her family, so I was asked to stand in. Thirteen people had signed up to attend, and most stayed for all four weeks and expressed an interest in carrying on. It was the first time we'd had to run a course ourselves - previously an ordained Buddhist had always helped us out - but I think it went pretty well.

The retreat was quite a significant event. Retreats can be just a day, or a weekend, or a week, or much longer. During lockdown the idea of online retreats appeared, which are still taking place but don't appeal to me as much as attending in person, because one of the main aspects of a retreat is to take a break from ordinary life and focus on Buddhist practice. Not so easy to do at home, when you can't even turn the computer off because that's how the content is delivered.

This retreat was specifically aimed at three small groups, each of which would not be able to supply enough people to warrant their own event. The significance was also that for three of our group it was their first retreat experience and for two more it was only their second.

We travelled to the retreat centre through Storm Eunice, but the journey was completely uneventful apart from it being rather windy. We even managed a walk on Saturday with brief periods of sunshine and no rain. The rest of the time there were talks, meditation, a communication exercise, ritual, reflection, and discussion in groups. I had been asked to facilitate a group, which put me on the organising team as well as wanting to make the first timers as comfortable as possible. Usually I return refreshed and energised, but I got a bit worn out with the responsibility. It was still a great experience which I think helped to bring the group together and make it stronger.

So after a rest on Monday I welcomed Glf back to do the pointing on the front wall of the house, which I hope will prevent damp coming through to the Auditorium. I have given up on finding a roofer for two reasons - one is the stormy weather that means many people need a roofer more than I do, and the other is that the leak is so small and intermittent that I doubt we'll find its source until it becomes worse. So I'm prepared to wait until it does get worse. The LTRP isn't over, though - the lawn needs mowing again and it may be time to do something about the garden next.

Glf pointing, February 2022

A cold welcome home

Taraloka Retreat Centre, November 2021

It seems like a long time ago that I went off on retreat for a week into the wilds of the Shropshire-Powys border land. It was a peaceful, contemplative interlude, allowing all the responsibilities of ordinary life to be shelved for a while, where all I needed to do was keep an eye on my watch and turn up for things. And if I hadn't turned up and had missed a few things, that would have been fine too. It was wonderful.

Anyway, coming back to the real world I made a mental note to turn the heating down next time rather than turning it off altogether for a week. I spent all of Sunday out of the cold house, however, doing a busy vaccination shift during which it snowed quite heavily. It took about three days for the temperature in the house to rise to a comfortable level, but it did give me an excuse for lighting a real fire, the first this winter.

Ilf was booked in to start the next phase of LTRP decoration this week, in the porch and hall downstairs. He had somehow forgotten that there is always more complexity when it comes to my jobs and had only allowed three days, within which he managed only a little actual decorating. This is partly because I rely on him for other jobs around the house (he put up some shelves for me and cleaned some high windows this time) and also because of the damp I mentioned before, which delayed some of the painting. Dlf the Damp Man came round on Wednesday, but Ilf and I had already come to the conclusion that it's probably cracks in the mortar letting water penetrate, and I need pointing. Glf is coming round next week to have a look.

While he was here, Ilf mentioned one of his other customers who is having difficulty booking and attending a vaccination session because of being new to the area and not having a car. So I offered to help out, which is one of the delightful aspects of being able to organise my working life at my own convenience.

What else? I have been to an Orthodontist to explore the option of improving the state of my teeth using an alignment device - the invisible braces that have replaced the metal 'birdcage' that I wore in my teens. This only raised further questions, so it's back to the dentist to talk about what's next. My work for Mr MXF reached an impasse in trying to create an online shop using one approach, so I now have a different approach to explore, this time using strange creatures like Gitlab, Github, Gitpod and Cuttlebelle to learn how to build a website. And there has been badminton again - my back has recovered enough to play (and win) a match.

The canal at Taraloka

Retreat

Adhisthana, October 2021

I've been away on a lovely retreat in the Herefordshire countryside. Because the retreat centre is situated close to where Bee Lady and Landrover Man live, I arranged to drop in on them for lunch before the retreat started. 

I was all ready, packed, sorted, had bought some chocolates as a present for BL and LRM, and was on my way home from a vaccination shift when the car started to sound odd. I stopped, about a mile from home, and discovered that I had a puncture.

First I was cross, mainly with myself, because the garage had pointed out the state of my tyres at my MOT but said they probably had about two to three thousand miles left in them and it was two thousand miles since then. Then I pulled myself together, opened the boot and had a rummage. It's been a very long time since the heady days when I considered myself even slightly competent at manual tasks - with relative wealth comes the ability to delegate unwanted tasks to paid help. Anyway, there was a wheel, a jack and various other bits and pieces including a gadget that turned out to be for getting the fancy bolt covers off the bolts, and the special shaped anti-theft lock nut, so I knuckled down and got started.

No fewer than three people stopped to offer help, and I expect more would have done so except that when the third one turned up I was having a bit of trouble getting the wheel off, so he did it for me and then put the spare on and tightened the bolts and recommended his preferred tyre place in town. Except that it was now 5.02 p.m. and they shut at 4.30. Kwik Fit, however, was still open even though they shut at 5, and I asked them very nicely if they would mind helping, and they did. So I gave them BL and LRM's chocolate, and wrapped up some flowers that had been in my house for a week or so to give to BL and LRM instead.

Bee Lady and Former Landrover Man are very well, and living in a new place with different walks, so we had lunch and did a walk and it was lovely. Then on to the retreat which allowed me to turn off all electronics for nearly a week - no social media, internet, email, nothing. It was like taking life and pressing pause. My only responsibilities were to try and keep and eye on the time and turn up for things like meals and talks, but if I hadn't even done that it would still have been fine.

Coming home and plunging straight back into the modern world after that sort of break can be jarring, so I didn't turn the phone or computer on for a day, but manage to get jobs done in a meditative way, like more pruning, laundry, cooking. While I'd been away Glf had finished the pointing, which looks very fine and makes me happy that there's only one job left in the first round of the LTRP - decorating the porch and downstairs hall.

And then I turned all the gadgets back on, but tried very hard not to go down some of the rabbit holes that suck time out of my life, and I've done quite well so far. I have another retreat booked (at a different centre) in November, to top up my level of chill.

Odds and ends

Leamington Spa Food and Drink Festival, September 2021

The 'lawn' (perhaps more accurately described as 'scrubland' or 'prairie') has 'grass' that is now short enough for a dog to survive, but there is much more to be done in keeping the 'garden' ('nemesis') under control. If moss and wisteria prunings were a cash crop then I'd be pretty wealthy. It will take at least two trips to the tip with the car full of bags of green waste.

I went on a walk around Leamington with two gents from the Leamington History Group, another lady from Leamington and some tourists on a lovely hot day last week. I didn't learn a whole lot of new information, but we wandered down a street with beautiful old buildings which I had never seen before. There are a few other walks scheduled in the next couple of weeks which I'll probably sign up to. This flexible working arrangement is brilliant.

The actual work for Mr MXF, however, is rather frustrating at the moment. I have now established what the triggers are that cause the platform to seize up and refuse to work any more for about 12 hours, and I have an idea or two about how to get round it, but have to wait until it untwists its knickers before I can try.

Glf has come round to look at the wall and share the annoyance of unreliable plasterers that get full time jobs when you want them to work for you. We also shared a love of 70's and 80's music - he is a collector of vinyl and recommended a website where he goes to augment his collection. He was very impressed with my vinyl collection (which I am looking to diminish rather than augment), and suggested it might be worth something. I had a quick look at the website, but it's a bit like selling stuff on ebay - I could probably make a couple of hundred pounds, but the effort involved may not be worth it.

And Leamington has hosted its annual Food and Drink Festival, after having to cancel last year's, and apart from less free food to taste (no more dipping crackers into vats of different curry sauces) and a few more face masks in evidence, it is as good as ever. Except that since two years ago I no longer eat meat, so it takes much less time going round all the stalls. The weather was kind, and I stocked up on some treats for our camping next week - yes, the last camping trip of the year is about to happen in a northerly location that could bring pretty cold weather. I'm taking a hot water bottle with me...

Summer ends

June 2021

August has come and gone; that's the end of the summer and there has been even less 'summer' weather than in most years. September sometimes brings pleasant sunshine, so that's what I'm hoping for. I don't mind clouds as long as it's not raining, and it hasn't rained much, but it would be nice to wake up to blue skies once in a while.

Enough of my complaining, there's a small amount of interesting material to present. Firstly, dog news. As requested, I sent off photos of my house, garden and car. Ten days later I received a message informing me that they hadn't received any photos, and could I send some if I was still interested in fostering a dog, so I sent all the photos off again. The next message said that unfortunately the grass in my garden is too long, making it difficult to pick up poo and potentially leading to risk of disease for the dog.

Cutting the grass is actually quite an enterprise. It's much too long for the lawn mower so I had a go with a strimmer, but made little impact and eventually the strimmer packed up (probably overheated, but it is very old). I carried on using ordinary hand shears in sessions of two hours so as not to cripple myself, and it's nearly ready for an attempt with the lawn mower. I'll be sending off new photos when it's respectable.

I spent August Bank Holiday weekend camping at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, with my phone turned off and no camera. Covid precautions meant that instead of being in marquees all the stages were in the open air, and we were incredibly lucky that it didn't rain at all. It would have been pretty miserable if it had rained, as well as being cold - it was very cold in the open air at midnight anyway. By the last evening I was wearing all the clothes I'd brought - two T shirts, fleece and jacket and two pairs of trousers as well as my woolly hat and scarf. The music was great as usual, but not as much of it as in previous years because of extended changeover times, during which I understand they have to sanitise a load of equipment (e.g. microphones).

The English National Lawn Bowls Championship is back in Leamington, and this year for the first time they offered local residents two free tickets to one day of the event. I invited a friend who also used to be a Dietitian, and we installed ourselves on one of the greens for an afternoon. We happened to watch the Senior Singles semi-finals (men and women), and then came back for the finals. There are a myriad of competitions divided by age, sex and number of players, and the whole event lasts more than two weeks. It was nowhere near as interesting as watching badminton, but I can see the attraction of playing. Spectating is a fairly dull affair, though, and all the other spectators appeared to be players and their spouses.

Quick LTRP update - the pub wall has been drying out, and as planned I got in touch with Glf's plastering mate who was going to put on more permeable lime render. After a prolonged delay he came to look at the job, and gave me the news that the price of lime render had gone up a great deal, but he would let me know what would be involved. After another prolonged delay I called him, and discovered that he's taken a full time job, but wouldn't mind doing my job at weekends except that I would have to buy and store two tons of lime render. I expressed some dissatisfaction about this situation to Glf, who has arranged to call round so we can work out what to do next.

I continue to provide my services to the vaccination clinic, where we are mostly vaccinating 16 to 20 year olds along with a handful of older people who weren't able to get vaccinated earlier because of pregnancy or allergies but have now been given the all clear. The clinic is still only operating three days a week, but after a break is due to come back full time at the end of September when it will be giving booster shots to front line workers - or at least, that is what is suggested. What actually happens is anyone's guess.

And lastly, my work for Mr MXF is getting on quite well, as long as I don't imagine that I can do more than four hours (and sometimes less) before hitting the buffers. Either there's a problem I can't get around, or something fails, or most recently the website slowed to an impossible crawl for no apparent reason. But I'm really tantalisingly close to actually achieving some useful results.

The pub wall

Glf getting started, June 2021

The last leg of the LTRP (first pass) is under way! The side wall of the house, which forms one side of the pub 'garden', and which has been showing signs of damp on the inside since at least 2015, has at last received the attention it has been craving for so long.

The wretched Flf and sidekick who abandoned the shower restoration had been very scathing about how wet the wall was when the old tiles were removed. I'd engaged Clf and Clf 2 to make sure the roof was watertight back in November 2019, and Dlf and the Damp Men installed the damp proof membrane on the inside of all the accessible walls in September 2020, and Flf himself built a gully along the foot of the wall to prevent rain pooling there, so it should have been safe from water from above and below. The last part of the jigsaw was to investigate what might be underneath the cement render. So please give a Lolatastic! welcome to Glf, who arrived to carry out the investigation.

The idea was to take the render off only the bottom half of the wall, but when Glf reached the back of the house, which is where the shower is, he found the soaking wet bricks and we agreed that he needed to uncover the whole height. He did find a cracked gutter as well, which wouldn't have helped, but our best guess is that the old shower was probably putting water into the brickwork and the cement render was giving it nowhere to go, so there it stayed. Now that the new shower really should not be getting the brickwork wet, leaving the render off for a month or so should allow it all to dry out somewhat.

Buoyed by this vision of dry walls, I allowed some 'mission creep' to take place by adding an extra back wall into the equation, which had also been rendered with cement when damp started to show on the inside of the shower room in 2008. Looking back to the picture taken at that time, the exterior wall appeared to be in great condition despite the interior damp. As Glf removed the render that had been applied, the wall emerged even wetter than the side wall, and not in very good condition at all. This just reinforces my view that taking the render away is a Good Thing.

In between frequent hot drinks (Glf never failed to accept a drink when offered) we pondered the situation and what might need to be done next. The brickwork of the damp areas is in a poor state, but covering it up with impermeable cement is not the answer. Either it needs to be repointed, or rendered with lime mortar which is flexible and permeable. Glf reckoned that repointing would be the more expensive option, and has put me in touch with someone I'm going to call Glf's mate, who can do the rendering after the wall has been given a chance to dry.

Can you see the area of damp brickwork?