Not much DIY (July 2007)

We've had our flat for just over one year, and what a short year it's been. There's still so much to do on the house - everything has taken longer than we thought (surprise, surprise), and we have been struggling to keep the momentum going since Summer started. That's mainly because we've had a lot of other distractions that Summer tends to bring.

A particularly welcome distraction was the return of our Christmas feline house-guests while their owners were on holiday. Little George and Jess stayed for a whole week this time, and although it sometimes felt a bit crowded with all four of us in our one-room flat we all had good fun. The building site turned out to be a veritable cat's playground; full of dark holes to hide in, tight gaps to squeeze through and high beams to jump onto (see below). This provided much amusement for both cat and human. Luckily at one year of age they were sensible enough (just) to avoid harming themselves on the numerous sharp tools lying around. Our newly bought copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was not so lucky. We arrived home one day to find that a corner of the book's hardback cover had mysteriously disappeared, with small teeth marks serving as the only clue to the culprit!

At the end of July we took a day off the DIY to go to Sundae on the Common. This is a festival unlike any other. In addition to the usual music and fairground attractions, this annual festival offers unlimited free Ben & Jerry's ice cream! There was also a stall providing free pancakes, which went rather well with the free icecream. Although, it is interesting how little icecream you can actually eat before you start feeling sick, even when it's free!

Not only does the Ben & Jerry's festival provide good music, free ice cream and amusing activities like toe wrestling, but it offers all this for the staggeringly small ticket price of £12. AND, it's all carbon neutral (including the ice cream).

Thousands of you, one of me: I make that Pimm's O'Clock! What better way to recycle an old Routemaster London Bus than to fill it with booze and surround it with a mini white picket fence? As for the double deckchairs, they will definitely be going on next summer's shopping list.