The NBN saga continues. Having cancelled my appointment on the 16th, they assured me they would contact Dodo and reschedule for me. A week later, having heard nothing, I contacted Dodo who were surprised to discover I had not been connected. An appointment was arranged for 13 October, with the justification being that they had lost  the connection and would not be able to resume work till then. So you can imagine my surprise when I came home on Thursday and spotted them installing an antenna next door! Another phonecall did not result in any useful outcome so I will be calling my local member tomorrow and see if he can sort them out (or at least frame some pointy Questions On Notice in the House).

Meanwhile the painter and the roofer have finished up so I allegedly have a leakproof house (though in the absence of rain it is hard to know), and it is a pretty house as well.

 The painter got a little carried away and talked me into engaging a 'landscaper' of his acquaintance. This turned out to be a long-termed unemployed lad who has set up his own business in gardening. A great idea - pity he is not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination. He did some useful stuff for me like demolishing the roof of the shed i had demolished a couple of years ago (but could not find the pinch bar, and when I did it was too hot and snaky to be playing with it and ...), and laid the remaining retaining wall blocks (which he did well, but with a fine disregard for my instructions to drop down a course so naturally ran out of materials before he was done). Then he ran out of work, and since I was out at work myself he asked for further instructions from the painter, who suggested he showcase his skills as a paver. As a result i now have a new back step, but he used the handmade bricks I have been carefully garnering over the years and two of them have now broken as he did not fill the centre terribly well. On the plus side he turned out to be an excellent joiner, and I asked him to come back on Saturday to finish fitting the mouldings on the front door (which are now visibly missing as a result of the highlighting paint job). Unfortunately he decided to throw a sulk and did not turn up, so he is no longer working for me. The painter (also a renderer) will be back some time in the not too distant future to provide me with hearths for those fireplaces whose hearths have disintegrated, and meanwhile I will get a friend to come in and fit the mouldings and architraves that require it.

On Friday I headed down to Hobart to have an EEG - nothing to be alarmed about, I am participating in a study on the Aging Brain and they were trying to work out which bits of my brain are used when I am learning something new - in this case a sequence of moving dots. I will be heading back there next Friday for the second part of the experiment. I will take a scarf with me next time as the gel they use dries into large white lumps on your head.

The windows and new roof have made an astounding difference to the internal temperatures of the house and the temperature variation (much reduced). So for the last two nights i have not had to light the fire (though I have tonight as we are heading to zero). I will be interested to see if I have as much condensation on the windows tomorrow morning as have usually been the case.

I bought two sets of shed shelving as Bunnings was having a sale, and I have spent the last two days wrestling them into shape (turns out you really should read the instructions, even for such apparently simple objects!), and they are now laden with my small power tools, painting stuff, paints, fixings etc. A sheet has been hung on the back of them so as to avoid passing intruders from spotting things through the alarmingly revealing window on that side. I will progress that tomorrow so I can find my way around the 'spare bedroom' without risking life and limb again.

It also helps to be able to move additional stuff into that space and out of the main house.

The quote on the shed came as a bit of a shock to the system, so the rear awning will be a distant dream I am afraid, if I want to line out the two remaining rooms and have a vaguely civilised interior. Sigh. But the shed is essential whereas the awning is only highly desirable, so thus goes the budget.