I've calmed down, now!

We went to France on Thursday, for our meeting on Friday morning.

It was a massive relief to get to our hotel and stay there on Thursday night; it really was third time lucky!

The carpenters were in the process of installing the beam in the kitchen (and the supporting pillars), so the kitchen was still open to the rafters.

So odd how small the room seemed.

I suppose a 27-35' ceiling would make most rooms appear smaller...

Sorry, can't remember exactly how high the roof pitch is, but it's a long way up.

It really did feel poky, when we know it's not!

It was a real privilege to see M. Mazij Jnr and his colleague at work; we'd seen people on Grand Designs have oak framed buildings constructed and thought "Wow!" and there we were seeing our very own green oak beams going in.

As I say, a massive treat.

I'm now sanguine about the loss of our floor [it's gone there's nothing we can do about it; get on with life], so we really did manage to enjoy seeing the progress that's been made in the house.

I love the shields carved on the uprights (not so sure about our initials carved into them!); it's why I love Victorian houses - totally unnecessary ornamentation that just gives character.

The fireplace is installed, and the new stone tiles laid in the entrance hall.

It all looks fabulous, but really emphasises how out-of-true the house is!

It's like when the windows were fitted; a lot of what I could see was the non-horizontal/vertical parts of the house.

Now I'm used to it, so I guess I soon won't notice the difference between the right angles in the floor and every other angle in the house!

Our very sad floor...

We are thinking of going with the suggestion of a new poplar floor laid in the old style.

Apparently, that was included in the estimate (I had my suspicion that they had no intention of saving my floor!), so it would save money [and masses of time] compared to sourcing another floor...

I did put my foot down very firmly about the other remaining floor upstairs!

Our touch of excitement: missing "Bambi" by a whisker on our journey home.

David just managed to brake and swerve in time to avoid a young deer that leapt onto the motorway in front of us coming back.

I'm so glad not to have had another accident!

Our car is being written off, sadly, owing to the economics of repair.

:-(