End radio silence?

Sorry about the gap there. Had no broadband for a few days until we moved in and got set up. So bumper update tonight. Catch all the action over at www.grosvenorgardens.com where "we move in".

We reached the culmination of a plan we made 15 months ago to make an offer on a crazy wreck of a house in Sheen, sell my flat, move in together in S's, do a complete renovation on the place and finally move in to our beautiful house.

The builders are still with us - every day pushing us that bit closer to living here on our own - but we are, to all intents and purposes installed in the finished article.

Who would have thought a 20 minute viewing of a dirty, infested, unloved property would be enough to inspire us both to take on this massive project which has changed us and our lives forever? Now we have a base, a foundation, a community of great neighbours and a place we can genuinely call our own - to our design - in this world.

And so I turn to unpacking the many boxes - most of which I've been without for 9 months. I have had a sort of allergic reaction to my own possessions. Some are nice to get back - and remember fondly. Others seem so out of place - from another time and no longer appropriate, I throw them out with disgust. Perspective changed. Yet more bring a tinge of sadness from a life forgotten, dim and distant already despite my (relative) youth - glimpses of the odd past dream. New ones replace them. And a new future beckons.

And to more pressing concerns, like the various new snags we've uncovered as we've actually lived in the place - rather than just walked around it, looking...

before/after: