November

November was not one of the most photogenic months. The wet really bit in. However, on Sunday afternoon we had been invited for dinner by a couple of church members. They lived in a cottage atop a hill near Ashover. Their cottage is so remote that they had to dig a bore hole to get their water. The view from their cottage is stunning they can see Sheffield, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and even Lincoln Cathedral on a good day (which it wasn't). We were able to have a short walk down the country lanes before the inevitable rain stopped play.

The other reason that we did not take to many photos was that we were very busy decorating our new room. By the 13th November we were able to celebrate our take over of the room.

Five day later our gladness turned to sadness as the first signs of a leak into the building showed up. At present the table is now full of books and once again the house is littered with them. As I write it is with the hope that the water problem is now at an end.

 We did have a respite from the problem as we took a day off to visit the 'Christmas Tree Festival' in the 'Crooked Spire' church. There were over 120 decorated trees on display. A man was at the piano playing lovely Christmas music adding to the superb atmosphere. Irene was taken by the 'Specsavers' tree which was upside down; with the usual caption added.

It has been a bitterly cold day with temperatures not rising above 2 degs. Today I took the last photograph of November. For the second time I have refitted and restocked the book shelves in the hopes of no further leaks.

October 2019

The month started with reasonable weather and we were able to make an early trip out. Irene had some gift vouchers to spend at M & S. This meant going down to junction 28 of the M1 to MacArthur Glenn. Knowing that there would be queues on the slip road I decided to go across country. This was not the best plan. The shopping mission was very successful, but I was disappointed to find that Thornton's Cafe had disappeared and there was a Waggamma in it's place.

Coffee had to be taken at Harwick Hall. The sky was a nice blue sky and the gardens are never a disappointment.

 Our next adventure was to find the 'Norwood Tunnel'. This is on the 'Chesterfield Canal' and was one of the longest canal tunnels in the country. Our walk started at the 'Norwood Industrial Estate in Kilamarsh.
 We walked across some beautiful and very muddy countryside. Members of the Rotherman Running Club kept passing us and churning up the mud even more.

The tunnel entrance wasa too well hidden to find, but we did see bits of the canal which had become water features for the houses there.

 On Sunday was the start of the 'knock through' into the house. Builder Peter arrived on a wet evening and did the cutting into the outer wall.

Two days later the windows, door and roof were put in place and the building bacame waterproof. Or so we thought.

The following day came the 'knock through' and the building was part of the house.

The following day the tiles went on the roof.

A week after our first attempt to find the tunnel mouth we went to track it down at Kiverton. It was very muddy walk passed a waterfall intake to the bricked up tunnel portal.

 At the weekend we repeated one of our early canal walks from Hollingwood Hub to Brimmington.

 On the 25th it was Irene's birthday. She was very pleased with the watch that she bought for herself.

 On the 28th we had a visit from our son Tim, his wife Isla and Granddaughter Izzie. It was cold, but sunny so we went off to visit Bolsover castle.

The following day Irene and me had a little stroll along our path to appreciate the autumn colours.

 The plasterer then spent 2 and a half days and the building looked more like a room.

 As a bit of a final touch, the skip was taken away. Notice the water dribbling out. This is agood reminder of how foul the weather has been throughout most of the building work.