Keeping dry

Having collected 30lbs of honey from Pete yesterday, there was only ever going to be one thing that dominated today ... honey bottling.*

My timing was fortuitous, as heavy rain was forecast for most of the day. It really was the perfect day to be occupied indoors.

I was just about to put the first batch in the hot water bath when Craig the roofer arrived for what now seems to be an annual occurrence.  30% had noticed a couple of slipped tiles just before Christmas and, I think, panicked, hence Craig's visit to have a look.

After a quick wander around the house his opinion was thus, "there are a few tiles that need refixing, and the chimney and flashing need some attention, but there is no need for re-roofing ... yet!"

The roof has clearly been replaced at some point in the past, as is evidenced by the presence of bituminous felt under the tiles, but this was obviously many, many years ago. It seems to be holding up well, and attending to a couple of weather worn areas will keep us watertight.

He advised that, if this is to be our forever home, it will need to be re-roofed and he gave me a ball park estimate, based on his quick visual appraisal. I was pleasantly surprised that it was well below twenty thousand pounds.  Even allowing for finding problems when the tiles, laths and felt are stripped off, it is likely to be nowhere near as expensive as we had expected.

I can see this job being scheduled in the next few years.

The honey bottling continued, and a local curtain maker called in to give us a quote for making new curtains in the dining room.

And that is how the day continued. In the intervals when the honey was melting, various domestic duties were progressed, and I now have a ten pound batch of honey, bottled and ready for sale.

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* It's been little more than a week since I ran out of honey, and passersby are already asking when it will be back on sale.