E-Day +56

The plasterers were here before 8 today. No chance of a lie-in with these guys, I'm glad to say.

Yesterday's work was mostly finishing the plasterboards, putting up the meshing between the plasterboards (to fill in the gaps between them, otherwise, you'd have gaps in the plaster surface) and putting in the neat edges (this is done with a metal bar, with a neat edge and a meshed surface on the sides). They also skimmed the neighbours' wall at long last. Now all that needs to be done on the neighbours' side is to reset the patio stones along the wall. I think the plastering needs to dry for a day before they can do that.

Also, Stan was sent on the roof to clean it up, so it's looking a lot better. There are a lot of bumps in the metal, due to repeated walking on it, but I don't think that can be helped. I'm sure that, over time, we won't notice it any more.

The Nordan sliding doors are still a problem. John, the general manager, doesn't seem to be answering his phone. Kevin can't get hold of him to get someone back on site to sort out the problem. Basically, one of the doors seems to be stuck in a semi-locked position, and won't open or close properly. Even Stan (our strong man!) can't get it to budge! It's really frustrating, as these doors were expensive. You'd expect better service for that kind of top-end product. Hopefully it will be sorted soon, as the wooden floor can't go in until that's sorted. We're not quite ready for the wooden floor yet, but if everything else goes according to plan, it won't be long. They are gorgeous-looking doors, but I'm not impressed with the fitting, nor with the after-sales service.

The house is busy again today, and will be for another week or so. And we will soon lose the last bit of privacy we had - the doors between the kitchen area and our living room will be taken down today. Upstairs is completely full, as we're expecting Paddy the electrician to strip the carpet in my front office to get access to the floorboards to put in the recessed lighting for the hall.

As we are both introverts, it's not easy for us to live in this environment, but we're surviving, and it won't be for long. And we are looking forward to our specialty Donegal sausages tomorrow night, courtesy of Padraig and Mary, who have invited us over. We enjoyed our dinner at their house on Sunday night! Thank you for having us!