It's all going flat.......

Well, all the money certainly is......

Jackie owns a studio flat in London's leafy Highgate. It was too small for the two of us to move into when we got married, which is why we got Pippin.

The flat has been rented for the last few years, and Johnathan, our most recent incumbent, has just moved out.

This gave us the opportunity to do a major re-wire. A good local electrician called Tony was hired. His dad is a plasterer, so he was hired to do the making good.

It's all gone very well.

However, as with all these things, once you scratch the surface, it's very difficult to stop.

The "making good" has turned into the whole place being completely gutted...

New, special, 30mm-thick insulated plasterboards have been boarded and set to all exterior walls and the ceiling, the kitchen has been stripped right out, all the appliances are being replaced, the bath's a goner and a new one is to be fitted, along with a re-tile, and the flooring throughout is being replaced........

The important thing to remember, as my Dad is fond of saying with hardly any irony at all, is, 'It's only money'.............

Of course, this outlay has stuffed any chance of the planned doubling of Pippin's solar bank becoming a reality this year.

But hey-ho.

In other news, I popped up to Emmaus today to clean up some tools, narrowly missed buying a nice piece of furniture for the flat, so bought another wheelbarrow to add to my collection instead.

Look, a man's got to have a hobby, okay?