Right. Well I took advantage of the neighbour's absence this lunchtime to go measure the distance of the container from the boundary. It is presently 960mm from the near face of the base of the fence. Whether this represents the boundary is arguable as the fence is on a lean toward my place and there is no stable fence post anywhere i can access that might give me a more reliable mark. In my view this is as near as dammit to one metre, but then I am a reasonable person.

I have attempted to wade through the letter once more and she does not appear to have specifically agreed to the fencing, but neither has she lodged an objection. I have made various enquiries and it would seem that rabbit-proof fencing, under the Act is about four times the cost of the type of fence we currently have. Obviously this is a matter that requires a different approach. So I have been drafting and redrafting the response to her and remain unsatisfied with the letter at this point, but feel I am close to a final draft which I can post by registered mail (since that seems to be her preferred method of delivery) on Monday if Wayne gives me time off to do it. What I am trying to do is to refocus the discussion on those matters that relate to my Notice to Fence which applies solely to the paling section of the fence. The other matters she has raised are relevant only to that part of the fence that I am proposing will be her responsibility, so I am suggesting she needs to provide quotes and a notice relating to that part of the boundary so that there is a formal process established. How to do this without creating grounds for accusations of uncooperative attitudes is my challenge. What I really need is someone who is accustomed to dealing with legal matters (but not a lawyer) who can advise on wording, but I don't actually know anyone who fits that description unfortunately.

In between all of this I have been having what I assume are panic attacks - a resting pulse of 98, chest pains, a general sense of feebleness and tremors, breathlessness etc, so I attempted to see the doctor but there were no appointments available. Since that sort of thing needs to be observed, rather than described, I guess I will need to hope that next time this happens I will be lucky with an appointment.

I also contacted legal aid for advice, but the conversation wandered off into the area of restraining orders which, while attractive, are not really going to resolve anything given the local police are already on alert to any future altercations. So while the conversation was helpful in focussing my understanding of these matters I don't feel it appropriate to take the matter further unless there are further outbursts of erratic behaviour.

So - how did my day start? I woke late, having sat up stewing for much of the night and so was still in the shower when the lorry arrived with the lumber for the work Wayne and I wll be doing next week. I am not sure the truck driver has recovered yet from seeing me wrapped in a towel, but he seemed OK by the time he left, lol. He required my help offloading the longer pieces and due to the generalised weakness mentioned above I was rather less useful than normal, but we managed (I was, by this time fully clad I might add!!).

After that I spent time on the letter, and also on the phone, and then read for a while but realised this was intensifying my tension. Since it had occurred to me, during the various squirrel-in-a-wheel thoughts that were running through my head that I had forgotten to buy the damp-proof coursing we need for the work, I set off for Brighton where I picked up the required materials and an apple pie for Jonno who will be arriving later tonight with the scaffolding. I promised him a cake, but my brain is presently not up to the sort of detailed work that a cake involves, so he will be safer with a shop-bought one.

Humid and generally overcast today, we had some rain showers of the storm-drop variety, but nothing worth mentioning in terms of moistening the ground.

The new efficient electrician arrived this morning and has fixed up all the work that needed to be carried out and will be sending me his bill shortly.

He has not removed the cable from the front of the house, which is good in that it means I still have electricity throughout, but bad in that it makes access to that wall a bit tricky for Wayne. But he has reassured me that undoing the cable clips will not present a danger, so we can just remove it and work around it I guess.

While the electrician was here, I received a notification of a registered mail item which I assumed was a delayed response from the old, inefficient electrician. But in fact it turned out to be a lengthy letter in legalese from the neighbour regarding the fence.

While the tone is argumentative it does confirm she is happy to proceed with the paling fence, which is all that I need. However it also tries to shift responsibility to me for obtaining quotes for the balance of the fencing according to her revised specifications. I am presently drafting a response that thanks her for cutting down the trees, confirming agreement to the paling fence and suggests she obtain quotes for her preferred design which she can then present along with a Notice under the Act.

She also challenges the present position of the shipping container, which could be awkward. I will re-measure its position in relation to the boundary, but i am fairly sure it is one metre from it as she suggests is the requirement. I suspect she has taken her measurement from the present wire barrier that I constructed on my property to stop the dog wandering into her yard with gay abandon as was his wont when the place was vacant.

She also can not resist having a go about the chooks once more which I guess was inevitable. It will be an interesting hearing in the Tribunal if she goes for her presently preferred option which involves rabbit-proof fencing at four times the cost of my proposed fence.

It has been a surprisingly warm day today, given it started off in deep fog. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

It is indeed a treasure trove EMW, but such a large one I still have a lot of sorting to do. I washed the two good quality doona covers this morning and took them into quilting to dry on the line there (along with my sheets), but no takers for them, so they will go to the local op shop I think. They are very pretty, but a bit too pretty from my perspective. There are a couple of others in the bag, but they will be used for rags as they are very unattractive and one has been chewed my mice, by the looks of it.

I have washed all the china that came with the lot, and it is now looking rather more appealing. The enamel casserole dish also looks much better (though still room for improvement). It had lots of black marks on the exterior, most of which have come off in the wash except those in crevices and hard to get at spots. I suspect they will all come off once I get the dishwasher installed and it can be run through that. Internally, there is a bit of a stain on the base, but then, there is on the bottom of my Le Creuset pot too - I suspect from too long on a high heat rather than anything sinister.

After all the driving, shopping and lifting of furniture yesterday, and the fact I woke up at 4:30 this morning, I am feeling a little weary at present, so while I am still pottering around getting stuff into boxes and such so I can pop it in the shipping container, and looking at the caravan table and thinking I really should clear it off and fold it up so the shelves can come out of the main passageway through the kitchen ... fact of the matter is it will all wait till tomorrow as I am not long out of bed I think. And a nice clean bed to boot as I changed the sheets, changed the doona cover and will be climbing into slightly damp, clean pyjamas (must get a second pair of summer PJs, lol).

As I mentioned, I was awake very early this morning, so I rearranged the hose and watered the entire garden fairly thorougly as some of the plants were looking a little flat after the recent warmer weather. Did two loads of washing while this was going on, and organised the chicken a bit better. Last evening as I was down the back with the dog, I kept hearing cheep, cheep, cheep, thump, and on investigation discovered he was flying up to the wire in the shed. Not really a problem except if he did it on the other wall, there is a gap quite wide enough for him to escape through and into the yard at large. So I popped back up the house for the scissors and went back down to clip his wing (again) and so far, so good. I will, however, need to get that sliding bolt onto the guineapig cage so he can come out of the shed and be totally enclosed in a run even if it is quite small for what is turning into a surprisingly large bird for his age.

Tonight's excitement was Alison's dog breaking away from his leash and charging around my back yard (to Shadow's considerable distress) until he was re-caught. All's well that ends well, and he is back in custody and safe once more.

Boy did I have fun today!! I had to go to Hobart, as you recall, to collect a few things for the electrician. So I made a list. First, call into Timber Wholesale for a couple of bits of wood for the window sill and to ask him to throw on a very long piece of skirting that I need for the back wall of the kitchen, which will not fit on my ute (4 metres).

While there, I asked directions to the shop that sells lids for bottles. They gave directions but the place was no longer there. So I asked a chap at a loading bay and he gave directions to another location but could not find it there. On my way back down Sunderland Street I noticed one of those newfangled concrete areas with sheds either side that usually house lots of different small trades and such, so went exploring. I did not find the company I was looking for, but did find a place that sells lids and bottles. So I am now the proud owner of rather more lids than you would expect (but I have a lot of recycled bottles to lid up). I also bought a dozen small jars for the garlic jelly I plan to make, and a tray of hexagonal jars for the produce that goes to Market.

From there it was Burnett Street for the electrical stuff, and a chat about wind turbines (his little eyes lit up when he saw our annual average windspeeds, lol). Decided to buy a lotto ticket after that conversation. Then down to Fragments to see if they could explain how the top-light fastening goes on (I have wrestled with this problem on and off for some time, but now I know), and to get my two best kitchen knives sharpened. Unfortunately that shop was still shut and will not be open for a couple more weeks, so I now have two concealed weapons in the glovebox (but better than loose in my handbag as they were as I walked up the crowded footpaths).

Then on to Hollander Imports for some wax foundation and a bee veil - Since the bees will allegedly arrive in the not too distant future, I concluded I needed to be sure I have sufficient kit. The bees will be accompanied by some secondhand 'ideals' with frames, but no foundation or wire - hence the need for foundation).

Over the river to Eastlands where I planned to pay my Telstra and Bigpond bills, but I forgot to take them with me, and I know from past experience the staff there are less than helpful if you don't have your bill, so left and headed up Mornington Road for cat and chook food (and a new Kong for Shadow, who is currently eating his old one).

I briefly called into Cambridge Park to see if they had some tongs for lifting preserving jars out of boiling water, having failed to find any in other locations, and yes they did.

Then I went on to my Freecycle destination at Dunalley. Wow!! It has taken a good hour to unpack the ute at this end, and there is still stuff to be sorted into proper places.

First, a Singer Sewing Machine. Probably about a 1970s model with fold-out extension and a hard case. Singer 676G, I think from memory. It has heaps of spare bobbins too which is always a bonus.

Furniture-wise - a kitchen table with lino top, a desk with drawers either side and a set of shelves - rather too deep to be useful, but will be handy in the short term to replace the caravan table which I am using as a chair-side table at present). These are all that metal-legged stuff from the 1970s. The kitchen table frame will be great for making a more substantial top once I have the house to the point where I can be fitting stuff out. Also, a solid blackwood winerack with pull out shelves for the bottles. It occurred to me I can use the black wood panels from the old wardrobe I demolished ages ago, to make drawer fronts for the racks, and the 'wine rack' will then become a rather attractive piece of furniture for either the sewing room or the dining room.

There was also a stunning rectangular mirror in dark timber surround which has come off a dressing table (the 'legs to support it are also in the deal and may be useful to convert into a mantelpiece if they are wide enough for the fireplace openings). It is still in the back seat of the ute as after wrestling the table, desk and shelving into their various homes my arms were not up to manoevring it - I will deal with that tomorrow). I thought that if the 'legs' are suitable for a fireplace, then the mirror will make a fantastic piece above the mantel in the loungeroom (or possibly the bedroom??) anyway - food for thought.

Bits and pieces included a laundry bag on a stand on wheels which will be handy for the bathroom, a linen bag with a lovely tartan picnic rug, a hand-made wagga (which I have emailed to check if it was intended to throw out - I think it is far too good to be throwing away), lots of spare sheets which come in handy for cutting up into bags and for straining stuff - an electric blanket which will go straight to the tip - you name it in the way of linen - Oh,and some lovely doileys.

In the kitcheware department, a stainless steel colander with a long handle, instead of those loops on the sides they usually have, some square plates - of that style of thing that was popular in the nineties - vaguely asian? some good chunky mugs and plates that will be hand for out door dining - a pie dish of excellent quality, and so it goes on, and on ...

I LOVE Freecycle - and am constantly astonished at what people throw out. Ah well, luck for me they do I guess. Will photograph some of the stuff tomorrow but need my dinner right now as I am famished.

ETA - forgot to mention that on the way home i passed a truck load of firewood heading the other way. Further down the road, I discovered he had lost some of his load on a corner. So that came home with me too. Six nice big bits of firewood!!!

It's been a busy 24 hours around here. Wayne emailed last night to remind me to re-read his email which told me he is arriving on the 9th. Not the 14th as I had expected. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek! So I sat up late last night fretting about all the things that have to be done before he gets here, some of which can not possibly be done, and fired off an email to him alerting him to the problems. This morning I spent some time on the phone to the various other people involved and established that, regardless of when the electrician gets here, the front wall will still be 'live' because of the old fuse box which Aurora need to remove. And of course, they take up to 10 days to do that...

Also there is the little matter of the plumber who volunteered to climb under the house and sort out the floors for me... will have to work out if I can remove some of the stone footings and make a permanent door under the house for such requirements. Good thing I have not yet repointed the mortar so once I work out where I can do it, it should not be too difficult to remove some stones and insert a frame for a door ... (I hope).

He has also promised to get the scaffolding down for me Friday night which is terribly good of him. Will have to bake him a cake to take home with him as a thankyou.

While all this was going on the kids next door have been having a marvellous day inside their concrete tank baling out the bottom, presumably with a view to finally getting around to fixing the leak in it. They also appear to have finally installed some bracing on the aerial pipe that feeds it, so hopefully they will not need to import water on a fortnightly basis as a result. And Rita has been hard at work on the side of her house scraping paint and applying undercoat, so it's all go around here. Over the road Alison has been gardening madly, so perhaps in a year or two the place will start looking quite civilised.

The phonecall to the electrician reminded me why I have to go to Hobart. I knew there was something important I had to be doing down there, but had forgotten what it was - hence me deferring trips down there even though the 'would like to do' list is getting rather long. I can also pick up some more chook food while i am down there.

I have cleaned out the woodburner and given it its end of winter oiling and wire-brushing so that is looking shiny and clean, as is the electric oven as well.


But the major achievement today was hanging the door into the laundry!! Yes! I finally have an internal door in the extension. I still need to paint it before I fit the handle, but it should be ready to rock and roll shortly.

I am still trying to work out if the chicken is a boy or a girl. It is now 10 weeks old and I am still guessing. It is quite large I have to say (must take after its dad) and the breast is developing very well indeed. So its a bit of a mystery to me. What do you think?

Since i am not going to quilting tomorrow (being in Hobart instead) I had to drop off the keys to someone. Caroline was not at home, so I called in a Betty's and dropped off the keys there. Had a cuppa and a chat, and came home with a catalogue from a seed nursery called Phoenix which carries some interesting plants, as well as a big bag of sheep poo which will be distributed on the garden as soon as I work out which bit deserves it most.

And now it is time for dinner, though what I will be having is anyone's guess - am thinking boiled eggs with toasty soldiers sounds appealing ...

Another day of weeding, clearing, tip runs and such like. I also pulled the last of the parsnips and bought some pears while in town, so will be running up some pear and parsnip soup tonight.

Also pulled some garlic that has been growing on the sides of the front path (basically I bunged in all the bulbs that Eleanor gave me, and some plants, with no clear idea as to which might be an ornamental and which a vegetable, which is why the daffodils were accompanied by spinach in full leaf. Next year it will be slightly better organised as I can see what they are now, and can arrange them more thoughtfully. Things are drying out rapidly, however, so a 10 litre can of water for each of the fruit trees today.

Have been procrastinating about a trip to Hobart for some time, so am starting to make a list of things to do, places to go, so that I can get it over with in one trip. Will probably defer it till Thursday now as I suspect tomorrow is a public holiday. But will see what happens.

Last night passed surprisingly quietly with only a slight stirring (growling and a bark) from Shadow around 2am. I suspect this was the time when the various spray painting decorations were applied to the road surface.

I was sorely tempted to start up the lawnmower at 7 this morning, but decided I was being a bit of a humbug, so set to hand weeding along the side of the container. This area is where i stack things that might come in handy. Bricks, rocks, pieces of gal offcuts, star pickets, stakes, that sort of thing. The stacks start off neat, but get raided periodically so end up messy, and the plumber dumping piles of rock-filled dirt on top of this while trenching did not really help the situation. Then there were the milk bottles set aside for conversion into cloches and pots from various donors, and ... well, you get the picture. And all through this luxuriant growths of grass and weeds which were knocked down with roundup some weeks ago. So now it is once again a neat stack of various objects, sorted into type and with an area cordoned off for dumping smaller bits of brick, smaller bits of rock and concrete so that I have a readily accessible pile of fill when I need to use some. And also somewhere to put the innumerable similar bits and pieces that turn up whenever I dig a hole in the area near the house.

I even worked my way along the side of the tank to rediscover the outlet and the plumbing to the pump and such like. I think I will have to make a vow to spray this area with roundup regularly in future to avoid such overgrowth and infestation. Similarly around the rainwater tank. I will plant some pigface around that to reduce the opportunity for malign regrowth.

All along the back of the house has also received the treatment, so it is starting to get towards a state of fire-safeness, though a long way to go. Today's weather was a reminder that the fire season is close by so none too soon to get that sorted. And I am glad that Andrew is due to visit, though I will give him a call on Monday to firm up a more definite date for that to happen (this is Andrew Rotary Hoe, not Andrew Electrician).

I was rash and extravagant last night and ordered a jam pan from the UK. Here they are $237 from the Aga shop (worse in other locations that I have googled), or $289NZD from Milly's Kitchen. There I have obtained one (8.5 litre, stainless steel), plus muslin squares, a jelly draining bag and a box of labels all for £85 including postage to here. No argument from where I am standing. Naughty, but nice I reckon.