This is a cop-out shot in as much as it’s the end of a long, hard day and I’m not feeling full of ideas for photos. In my defence, it does at least show some progress from the shot of a few weeks ago, when we’d just opened up the new fireplace.

Now it’s pointed, plastered and the concrete base is in. There is no foul carpet any more, jut a cheap Trago rug over bare concrete, which is what we decided we’d prefer to the dust-laden disgusting carpet that was there until this evening. That’s now in the skip, having been cut into sections and removed from the room this evening after work! The room is now the cleanest it’s been since we moved in – I have been over it with a fine tooth comb (well, Henry to be precise) cleaning and tidying.

I decided that as we’re no further towards a fire in here, I’d fill it with candles and pretend for tonight.

That’s a good excuse for me to tell the story of two big iron church candle holders that lived in separate homes until six years ago, when their owners decided that the fact that they were a perfect match was another indication of the ‘rightness’ of being a couple.

You see, mine was a birthday pressie from Jules. I opened it in the car on the way to Steve and Cathy’s wedding so it’s sixteen years old. I know that for sure because they got married on my birthday in the year I joined TNS.

David’s was bought by himself, in Habitat.

Now they are together and I still believe it was ‘meant to be’!

Last year, things were dire for me.