Getting worse before it gets better

While this (to Flossie's utter delight but the despair of many stuck drivers slithering on the hill) is still going on outside:

this is what's happening inside:

I stripped the walls yesterday, and can report that an hour with a steam wallpaper stripper does wonders for a hacking cough, better than any linctus or pastille.

The attic looks very small. Holes are appearing everywhere.

This will become an extractor fan:

And these will become the hot and cold feeds for the walk-in shower:

A regulation-compliant bathroom light fitting will be installed.

Sturdy Edwardian skirting boards and floorboards have had to be disturbed to accommodate the pipework.

Light switches will now be on the outside of the room.

Meantime, somewhere on a lorry in the snows of East Yorkshire, the said walk-in shower, along with basin, taps, toilet and all sorts of gubbins to go with them, are failing to reach us. Snow stops play. Richie and Ryan have gone home early, unable to proceed until the goods arrive.

We can encourage ourselves by looking at the catalogue pictures though:

The toilet and basin are not what I ordered; they are a replacement for the damaged (and now discontinued) less fussy model I first chose. Other alternatives were worse, or expensive; I remind myself that this is a pocket-money shower room, and not a sybaritic spa.

The chosen bathroom light fitting sits uneasily between the modernity of the shower and the dubious retro of the rest. But it's directional, and functional, and affordable.

A neutral tile has been chosen for the shower; colour will be added via towels and accessories.

Radiator and light should be delivered tomorrow. My bathroom on a budget is coming together, despite the delays caused by the weather, and I've saved enough through careful online shopping to afford decent floor covering. Once I can get out in the car to go and choose it, of course.

Nothing left to do today but go out to play again. C'mon, Florence, grab your giant stick, we're going to play outside!