Day One - breaking ground

So, it's Day One of the great kitchen extension project. We've been delayed slightly due to a hold up on Gavin's previous project thanks to the atrocious weather in August, so we've been champing at the bit rather to get things going. (Before Ed gets completely cold feet about the cost and cancels the entre thing!)

Sure enough, on leaving the house at 8 this morning there was a nice white van with a couple of practical looking types in the front seats. I was slightly disappointed to find on returning from the school run at 9 a.m that they had vanished. Oh well, I knuckled down to some serious copywriting and was rewarded at about 10.15 by the appearance of a very bleary looking Gavin who has apparently got the cold from hell. I stood well back while he explained that the skip was on its way.

At approx 10.35 the two practical chaps were back, and started ripping out the bay trees and raised beds that were sitting where my lovely new dining area is going to be. It was like extreme Gardeners World as they slashed and hacked and bashed at the poor defenceless wildlife.

The skip arrived and kind neighbour John let me move his car so we could plonk it right outside.

Lunchtime: posted about the work starting on Facebook. Realised half an hour later that this might have been a mistake as the boss commented on it. Hoped that she would accept that my "writing day" was really all about getting some work done and not about spying on the builders. I've actually been very productive today - I think the industry of the practical men was infectious!

By the end of the day the skip was half full and the bay trees and raised beds are no more. They must have shifted about a tonne of soil as well which is pretty good going.

At some point I will write out a full spec of the work that we're having done and the reason behind it, but for expediency's sake here's a rough breakdown:

• Single story extension three metres out from the back of our house and filling in the side return.


• Lots of windows and velux's and an oak trifold door at the end.


• Addition of a downstairs indoor loo (our current one is outside) and re-creation of a corridor to enclose the dining room once again. This returns the house to something like its original Victorian layout.

There will be a pantry in the kitchen. It is starting to assume the dimensions of the TARDIS as we keep thinking of handy things that we can store in there - starting with the washing machine and working upwards.

After having carried out several only moderately successful DIY projects in the past (tip: never mention tiling, gloss painting or cat flaps) we are very much fans of "getting a man in", or several men, if the project requires. While generally this approach yields nothing but advantages, it does lead to a certain inertia on our part when something goes wrong but we don't get around to "getting a man" e.g. today, we finally had an electrician back to sort out the light in our loft conversion ensuite, as it has been non-functioning for 6 months which was fine in Summer but is now difficult as it means showering in the dark. It took all of James' considerable electrical qualifications to enable him to screw the light bulb in a bit tighter...

Here is today's picture: