Third day of the Great Floor Replacement Experience. We have just spent about four hours trapped upstairs because the floor is drying in the kitchen. Dot devised an ingenious method of getting the front door locked, which involved a very long piece of string and an open window, plus the co-operation of the floor-layer; then we watched several episodes of Battlestar Galactica (none of them particularly good) and waited. We’ve just been down to put the dinner on: Dot observed that I was walking where it was wet; so I was sent up again. We’re both feeling quite hungry, and I don’t like the way she’s looking at me.

The GFRE started on Monday when the assistant pastor at Surrey Chapel, who happens to be (rather appropriately) a carpenter, came and took up the carpet, then screwed down the chipboard, some of which was squeaking. Unfortunately he also cut the alarm wire, so we had rather a lot of noise for a while. I wasn’t sure it was going to stop; so I rang the company rather frantically and eventually an engineer arrived – but not before the noise had stopped of its own accord. Anyway, he fixed the problem, and all seemed to be well – until we went to bed, when I tried to set the alarm on its part setting, but it failed to do what it should.

So I rang again yesterday morning, and towards mid-afternoon another engineer arrived, puzzled a bit and eventually put it right. I brilliantly left him alone with the floor-laying guy (from John Lewis), who persuaded him to tidy up some cable to facilitate the laying of his marine ply, so it was clearly not as ill a wind as I’d thought. The JL guy is about halfway through, I guess, with most of the marine ply down, and some sticky stuff over the top in the hall and kitchen which had to be left to dry. He hasn’t really started in the study yet. Eventually we will have a wood-simulated top layer which I believe is called Spacia, or something, and has a very good reputation as looking good and lasting a long time. This sounds very good to me. The longer the better.

In the midst of all this I went to Dragon Hall yesterday to see Sarah Power about fixing a date for a Paston event there in 2013. Getting into Dragon Hall is a bit of a challenge. Both Sarah’s phones were off, but I eventually made someone inside hear, which was a bit of a result.