where have you been to my lovely?

Seven weeks ago the Pope family set off on holiday and gave the builders the keys to our house. The brief was to knock down a wall to make a large (ish) kitchen diner and it was thought it would take 2 weeks. Knowing that builders never get it quite right I organised 4 weeks accommodation with friends and family thinking that would be plenty.

The phone was quiet whilst in France so we assumed no news was good news. Oh, how niave of us! Our thoughtful builder thought he'd wait till we were home to break the bad news: the old lath and plaster ceilings needed replacing - upstairs and down, this in turn revealed hugely dodgy electrics and some not too impressive plumbing, the very beginnings of dry rot and a bad damp course treatment. In fact this has turned into a complete refurbishment project, thank goodness we only live in a 2-up-2-down.

That is why I've been so quiet. Living out of suitcases, with no internet and only an ancient pay-as-you-go mobile is not conducive to leading a normal life, and certainly makes it impossible to a) be creative and b) write a blog. This is also the reason we have been unable to coordinate our Autumn workshop programme, but do not fear, we do intend to get ourselves back into action for the New Year. Meanwhile I'm heading into the fun part of all this work - decorating and making our home a home again.