Well one week since the house disaster and I am still homeless. So much water in the place that the insurance company have bought in 2 more industrial sized dehumidifiers today. They also insisted on having a cheque for the "excess" on the policy - so there goes a £100 :-(

Still things are a bit brighter - my daughter is home on weekend leave tomorrow from the Navy and we are off to have a bit of a "hooley" in Cardiff tomorrow night. If we are well enough we shall retrace our footsteps on Saturday afternoon and base ourselves firmly in an Irish pub for the England v Ireland rugby match. Of course Cardiff will be full of Frenchies for the Welsh match so it should vbe an interesting weekend!

The start of the week saw my ex and I staring at the small studio flat which was once our pride and joy. The recently departed tenant who had been in residence for almost 6 years has left it in an almost unrecognisable state. Two doors completely wrecked, wardorbe door and bedroom wall have suspiciously fist size holes in them. 1 kitchen cupboard door is nowhere to be found and won't be likely to be matched. 1 row of tiles in the kitchen have had to be taken off as so many of them are broken and the bath is away from the wall. The carpets are stiff with dirt and the walls, woodwork and ceilings are nicotine yellow. Barely an electrical socket has escaped his violent attentions and it is a wonder he did not fry himself given the state of one light socket. The furniture left behind will have to go out under cover of darkness and the council collectors bribed to take it away.
Is that an end to it - oh no.
My own property has had an imperceptible leak for some weeks and on Wednesday the first physical manifestations of this became apparent with some small bubbles appearing in the plasterwork under the stairs. Builder and plumber were hailed and after much investigation the leak was discovered. The house is now devoid of all floor coverings (these are now in the back yard) the concrete floor throughout the downstairs is saturated with goodness knows how many gallons of water. The insurers were quick to respond with fans and dehumidifiers and a surveyor - the news is not good. Several weeks drying out required, some walls may have to be taken back to the blockwork and internal walls removed and rebuilt. Age of house? 9 weeks.