End of week thirty-five

After the grand unveiling of last week the external views of the house don't look so different. We're still waiting for the stick-on bricks to finish the north-east corner and the glass for the bay window at the top of the western wall. The builders have been finishing off the bottom of the walls with insulation boards and an external finish of slate. Originally the plan was to do that bit in lead but sense has prevailed, otherwise we'd be having to replace it endlessly when it got pinched.

In the back garden the pipework has gone in to connect the rainwater harvester. 

At one point in the week we had a network of 2m deep trenches running from the house to the harvester. Seeing men in hard hats making their way slowly through these alongside the great mounds of soil really emphasised the 1914-18 feel of the back garden, especially as I'm off to see Journey's End this weekend. But now they have both gone and the garden has been levelled out. In fact, it's  a lot more level than it was before which is rather curious.

So here's the evolution of the back garden to date:

As you'll see from this third picture I'm actually in a position where I can start thinking about laying out flower beds - FINALLY!!

At the front of the house the final bit of the build is starting. We aren't having a garage on the site but we will have a a garden store and a bike shed [insert joke here] and here's where they're going.

Take a look at this photo of the generation meter. Seven days ago it read 56.6 kWh and today the reading is 195.5 kWh. That means the house has generated enough electricity in a week to run a dishwasher for over three months (well, I think so, time will tell).