Both the roofer and the painter turned up today so a time was spent marshalling ladder space and priorities before they set to work. The painter was an hour ahead of the roofer though, so he got precedence. Despite the potential for chaos, the roof now has flashing on the chimneys and on one gable, and the guttering that has been loitering in the grass down the side of the house for the last five years is now finally mounted in the brackets that were positioned for its use way back then. Not plumbed in, but still a huge improvement.

I fled the scene and went to the men's shed where I made up a piece to mount on the bottom of the front door to provide additional rain protection. I do have a storm seal, but despite this in particularly high winds and rain there are puddles indoors. This should sort that out once and for all.

The painter puttied up the window to be repaired which was nice of him, and makes it look rather more substantial, but it will all have to come out again when I pull the window apart to repair it, so I rather wish he hadn't.

The starlings who have been lodged in the roof are still making attempts to get in at the side of the house, but so far have not succeeded, and once the other length of guttering is in place will have no hope. Meanwhile the cats are lurking at their entry point in the hope of catching them!

First coat of the main colour is now on, and looking good, much nicer than the rather buttercup yellow that the last so-called 'stone' colour was. The grey undercoat represents the 'oxblood' and the white will be 'antique white' around the windows - the door will be all three colours, and the reveals in 'antique white'