"You'll not believe what we've found under the floorboards..."

When we decided to have the cottage rewired, Ros made the point that, given the age of the core of the house, there might well be some unpleasant surprises. Naturally, as the household optimist, I glossed over this sensible piece of advice.

It was day 3 of our holiday when the word came from Richard, our builder. You name it, he found it under the floorboards upstairs, dry rot, damp, do-it-yourself botch jobs. Indeed, the floorboards themselves were part of the problem, as the original floorboards had been partly eaten by rats and, instead of replacing them, new ones had been laid over the top.

Our best laid plans were in ruins, as we'd arranged things so that the electricians came whilst we were on holiday, and the house made habitable again. At least the electricians could do their work - mostly, anyway - so it wasn't a total loss. But we weren't going to get the house back for at least another two weeks...