Web

This is possibly the biggest spider's web I've ever seen. It's half way up our new staircase and is about a metre and a half long - I couldn't actually get it all in using my 50mm lens. I was on my way to photograph the huge scary mushroom bedecked hole in the stairway ceiling, but must have been shaking with horror too much while taking those shots as they are all a little fuzzy.

Today we started work in earnest on the new house. Well, I swept away spiders' webs off the doors and windows (evicting about a thousand of the biggest spiders I've ever seen in the process) and Mr B wandered around head in hands saying "oh no there's so much work to do". After a few hours of that, it was time for lunch and some light shopping before meetings with the plumber and roofer to discuss start times. Sadly our roofers can't start for a few weeks yet - but they have absolutely promised to finish before they go on holiday.

The plumber seemed faintly amused by our mad schemes to make the renovation easier and cheaper, and by my efforts to speak his language (but I mean honestly if you are going to have two phrases that sound almost identical don't make them the words for 'above' and 'below' where getting the right one is critical and where the difference in pronunciation is so imperceptibly small that Mr B couldn't hear a difference even when the plumber said it*).

Katherine had managed to scrape most of her kneecap off in a scooter/snack/gravel incident that I didn't really understand, so there was some tending to that after school. And then much tending to plants: planting up more of the kids' sunflowers and watering everything and then standing around admiring the bean shoots. I think I may have gone a little overboard on the gardening here: I'm not sure after a hard day's work carrying and cleaning in the new house I'm going to be happy about lugging 4 watering cans worth of water over to the top garden. But I'm sure after the first few weeks bedding in the plants won't need so much attention. And hey - maybe we'll be lucky and get some rain.**

*en dessous and en dessus.

** this comment included solely to annoy those 'enjoying' the rain in Scotland and Ireland.