It may surprise you, but this makes me happy

I drove across Minchinhampton Common to take Helena to work in Nailsworth early this morning. It looked beautiful with a mostly clear blue sky shining on the open landscape and a bit of mist rising in odd places. There was an ominous cloud in the distance representative of the forecast stormy conditions to come.

I managed to reach my meeting place with Anne on time, so we could look at the results of all the latest building works at the Brunel Goods Shed. I keep a photographic arc hive of all the before and after shots in case there are any disputes, and we do have a couple of queries. Unfortunately the woman who commissioned where the new toilet and sink should be placed is in southern India for a few more months, so we can't ask her.

But what really pleased us today was seeing this trench being filled in and re-surfaced. It marks the position of our new electrical cable supply, which has to come from nearly 200 metres away in the town centre. It is a saga that I have been pretty much responsible for commissioning as a trustee of Stroud Preservation Trust. We asked for the first quotation more than two years ago, and it should be powering the new lights in the Goods Shed on the 20th December, after a bill of nearly £30k has been spent! We have put in so much work to try to facilitate the various companies such as Network Rail, First Great Western, E-ON and Western Power to talk to each other and agree the parameters of the project. I will be very relieved when it is finished. All we now ned to do is get the water supply company to find our records, lost in space or on a network server somewhere, so that they can send some clean water down the pipes to our new toilet. We had been told a year ago that the water supply was connected and ready to go! I have learnt not to take anything that the utility companies tell us for granted these days.

The workmen were surprisingly interested in finding out why they were putting in an electrical cable through this car park to an old building by the railway lines. they were even more surprised buy the cost to us!