Chip off the old Block

Mr B knows his stuff. His Dad was a builder, so I suppose despite all the City work and fancy suits, it's in his blood. So when we recalculated and decided the guest bedroom was too small and had to lose its brown stove, I didn't doubt for a second his view that it was safe to just whack it with a hammer lots until it fell down. I didn't subscribe to the electrician's view that the whole wall and chimney would come down...

Not at all.

(Well maybe a bit. Let's just say that keeping the dust out of my camera is not the only reason I'm hiding in the doorway several metres away.)

Anyway, all seems well so far, and his view was confirmed by a conveniently passing chimney expert (really - how convenient is that?) So now we are just left with the enormous cast iron stove that lurked inside this tiled monstrosity where the head of the bed should be. Hmmm.

But anyway, he makes a rather dashing builder - don't you think? (Though I suspect the shades are just because I wasn't doing my job of keeping track of where his safety specs are. Oops.)

In other news, the kids had a full, tiring and lovely day at their club and Katherine passed her swimming safety test so can go on the exciting canoeing/archery trip tomorrow (despite all our hopes of shooting people from canoes or shooting at people in canoes, it seems that they are two separate half-day activities).

In other, other news, London's burning. It's all been a bit much to take in from over here - but everyone we meet is asking about it. I've read so much about it on-line but still can't seem to get my head around it: is it centrally organised or random? Political or greed? I understand, of course, the current focus on restoring order and property rights. But that surely can't be the end of it? Someone will look deeper into this, won't they?

Anyway, in other, other, other news, I've been a very lazy blipper of late, and there are very very many backblips. Sorry. I've included a little review below so you don't waste your time.

Thursday 4th: Statue thingy in Carcasonne. Very amusing (longish) story about my ass (not donkey).

Friday 5th: Dragonfly blip - my first I think (yeah?)

Saturday 6th: Chilli contest: home loss.

Sunday 7th: Whopping great courgette

Monday 8th: Homesick flower: tried to do some processing, if you like that kind of thing.

Tuesday 9th: Really dull DIY shot. No really.

And that's yer lot. I'll try and do better - both with timeliness and goodliness.