Plans

Michael returned last Wednesday. This time he brought plans rather than sketches. As soon as he entered the house he mentioned the smell of damp which he had previously noticed but not mentioned. I’ve always thought the smell to be more like a rabbit’s hutch than normal damp. The house is like a sponge. No matter how much we clean or how many air fresheners we scatter around the house there is always more dirt and smell to be squeezed out of it. Our worry is that this is now our smell. In the same way that smokers always smell of tobacco the pair of us go about our business smelling like the floor of a rabbit's hutch.

The plans were great. Either they were clearer than the previous sketches or I’d undergone some sort of cognitive shift over the preceding week. It was suddenly obvious that the first floor extension would look great and would complete the house in a way that a ground floor extension alone wouldn’t. Part of what convinced me was seeing before and after photographs of the house up the street. He really had turned a sow's ear into a silk purse. Marianna grinned and enthused and congratulated Michael on his work and I breathed a sigh of relief. Half a second later I began to worry about how much it will cost. He pointed out that it could all be done three times quicker if we moved out and I wondered what the cost of that might be too. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this” he began and Marianna grimaced. I assumed it would be another pessimistic comment about the expense but he said “but I think we’ve got a really good chance of getting planning permission granted”. The next step for him is that he has an informal meeting with a planning officer to give an indication if we might get permission and then, if the signs are good, we apply for the full planning permission. Next step for us is that we need to schmooze our neighbours, especially Martin and Anne, and see how they feel about having a building site next door for a few months and losing some light into their house. Martin seems very amiable and laid back but there’s a slightly more rebellious side to him. I’ve noticed that when he wants to pull out of his driveway and there isn’t a gap in the traffic he drives along the pavement until one appears.

Marianna’s sister, Stella, arrived from Athens on Friday for an extended weekend of shopping. She hated the house and didn’t even venture further than the doorway of some rooms. She said it would look lovely when it was finished and maybe she wouldn’t be staying again before then. I don’t know how TKMaxx and Primark will survive the drop in sales.