Weapon of Mass Destruction

(Faithless, 2004)

With Europe gripped by sub-zero temperatures and snow, we were not surprised to be told that the workers had only managed three days of work at the house this week.  

They’ve probably managed to take off the roof, we speculated as we drove round on Saturday morning.  The first thing we saw was the tip in front of the house, looking ominously empty.  

This is what we saw as we opened the front door. 

Yes, what you see out the back is daylight.   That doorway used to lead to the kitchen and back door.  

The entrance will stay, but will lead to the new, bigger, kitchen.  You can see better from the back of the garden.  On the left is the entrance to the kitchen from the hallway, and on the right, the window will be opened up to connect the new kitchen and the living room.  

The new kitchen will fill the whole width on the upper ground, with a staircase on the right hand side leading down to the garden.  

Meanwhile below, on the lower ground/basement level (about a metre below ground level) you can see where the garden/laundry room will be. 




And here is the same from above.  You might just be able to make out the paw prints of the neighbourhood cats, having a nosey around.  There's still a bit more work to do in clearing this back to the foundations.  The slightly raised area on the left is where the rain water cistern is, which will make the next stage a little more complicated.

In terms of salvaging pieces of the old house, we were pleased to see that they have dutifully stacked up the Pierre Bleue steps… on the herbs.  



Oh well, it will be easy enough to replant them. The clematis and jasmine had a narrow escape with just a few old doors stacked on top of them, which might in fact give them some kind of protection from the frosts still to come.  




Because unfortunately, this frost looks set to last a while longer.