NOT JUST A WINDOWS POST

Well the apartment sale went through and the money has been deposited in our bank account.
All good.

It means that we now don't have a mortgage and will no longer need the overdraft facility from the bank which we pay for.
The problem is though that money in the bank nowadays is pretty useless as an investment, earning almost negative interest as has been seen overseas. The latest bank quote on savings was 0.05%.
It's better than paying mortgage or overdraft interest though.

The savings were intended to fund our overseas travel plans over the next couple of years. We fantasised about opera-themed trips to USA, Italy, France, England, Austria and maybe even Russia to link in with the 'opera season'.

It seems that opera is a casualty of Covid-19 and international air travel certainly so.
We won't be travelling next year nor in the likely future given that USA, Italy, France and England will be experiencing the after effects (if there is an 'after') of Covid-19 for some time.

This means that we won't be spending as much - international travel and accomodation is expensive - and will do things at home. One of the things we will 'do' at home will be the house. It needs a lot of things done to it as well as a lot of things that The Old Girl wants to do to it. I drew up a quick list yesterday sorted, top to bottom by priority.

• Install a ceiling ladder
• Install at least one skylight
• Replace the old decking at the front of the house
• Replace some weatherboards around the house
• Replace some window frames.
• Install at least one heat pump
• Remove the rear wood-burner and chimney flue
• Remove or replace the wood-burner in the lounge
• Replace the kitchen French-doors
• Install bedroom French-doors
• Alter the kitchen
• Alter the laundry
• Alter the main bathroom
• Create an opening from the main lounge to the second lounge
• etc.

It's a hell of a list and will make some builder a happy man.

Fortunately The Old Girl is in Wellington for the rest of this year so many of the items that I consider non-essential can wait until after Christmas - install at least one heat pump, remove the rear wood-burner and chimney flue, remove or replace the wood-burner in the lounge, replace the kitchen French-doors, install bedroom French-doors, alter the kitchen, alter the laundry, alter the main bathroom, create an opening from the main lounge to the second lounge, etc (especially the etc).

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To gain access to the ceiling for replacing the HRV heat exchanger filter pads and, once or twice a year to lay rat bait, I have to take out the shelves of a cupboard and climb up a kind of flue to the ceiling (over 12 ft). It's narrow, difficult and dangerous. I want to have something like this installed for easy and better access.

There's a bit of unused space up there so it may be possible, once the ladder is installed, to put some boards down across the ceiling.

NOT LIKE THIS

MORE LIKE THIS

I'm hoping that the ceiling ladder installer will be able to put in a skylight at the end of the house so as to bring in more sunlight in Winter.

That to me is the priority other than finding a handy (and cheap) builder to replace some decking, weatherboards and window frames.