OKAY, SO NOW I KNOW...

... WHY WE HAVEN'T CHANGED THE PAPER IN THE HALL IN 23 YEARS!!

Now, don't go imagining that it has remained completely untouched in that time. far from it - we've painted it in many different shades (not all at the same time obviously) and as you will realise from the fact that we have applied paint to it, it was a very nice WOODCHIP paper. Oh lovely!

Woodchip paper is obviously manufactured for people who have no intention of ever removing it from their walls. It does not behave like normal wallpaper! The top layer, which in our case was about an inch thick in paint layers. comes off in little hard bits, leaving a mess of - you guessed it woodchips - still attached to the wall and needing to be steamed off, at which point the whole lot turns into a sort of mushy, woody pulp that plops around, getting stuck on your shoes (or slippers if you're Charles) and setting as hard as rock to the floor if you don't spot it within about 30 seconds.

In short - it was a nightmare to remove and actually revealed a further problem in that the previous owners had had doors blocked up and where these had been there was just plaster under some of the WOODCHIP. In other areas though there were at least four layers of lining paper. As a result of the removal of all these layers we now have a much more spacious hallway!!

So, today we've stripped the paper, filled the holes, glossed the woodwork and given a coat of emulsion to the plaster. And tomorrow should ba all about hanging the new paper!

While we've been so busy, the girls have been left to their own devices pretty much and have been really good. They've kept coming to look through the glass kitchen door to check our progress, then wandering off outside again. The only slight problem was when the steam stripper kept setting off the smoke alarm. We have what must be the most sensitive alarm ever and there is no way it is smoke activated - it's a HEAT ALARM and can be set off by simply opening the dishwasher or the oven door. Anyway - it drives the girls crazy. Rose has a fit of barking, but little Lily turns into a jibbering wreck and has to leap into the nearest pair of arms where she will stay until it stops. As you can imagine, this involved a bit of juggling today!

Well, I think an early night is called for now. I want to be up early so that we get everything finished before we settle down tomorrow evening to enjoy (!) the Newcastle match. (Who're we playing again?)