I'm doing fiddly bits at the moment, and so are my builders - which is why my posts are kind of all over the place. And I've been ill :(

But in the last 24 hours, the carpenter has done the architraves and the lock for the new toilet, other workmen have put the soil stack in, the electrician has been round to quote for repair to the damage to wiring in the loft, caused by mice. Did you know that mice have no bladders, so that they wee constantly? Nope, nor did I!

My jobs in the last 24 hours have been a little less impressive than theirs, because I'm very virus-y at the moment - I haven't sawn the wood for those kitchen shelves, for instance.... but I did have a tiny little Eureka moment, and at about 10pm last night, I used some rawlplugs already fixed in a kitchen wall - used one for a hook for a teatowel, and another for a spice rack, one of those silvery magnetic jobs, very cool :)

And of course this fitted in with one of my pet issues - use your time! Especially if you've got the energy!

I need some soundproofing too, and I'm slowly getting ideas on that. And waiting for the electrician's quote - of course, I also need to know whether the mice are gone or not - I have some electronic repellents on the go, but don't really know how effective they are. And if I rely on them totally, I'm betting on them for the house not to burn down. Yet more research ....

Recharging. Oh, and Researching.

This has caused me some thought over the past few weeks. We're all told not to charge *anything* longer than it needs - and okay, my mobile has a little signal on the screen that says when its had enough, so I can unplug it comparatively quickly.

But nothing else that I own has that! My handy little mains gadget for recharging AA and AAA batteries doesn't, my cordless screwdriver that has its own charger doesn't, all sorts of things - why not? Is it just that the versions I've got are comparatively old, and they do nowadays? I bet it isn't just that ... but because of this, we're wasting who knows how much electricity in unnecessary recharging. I'm not happy about it, but I can't see an individual solution, apart from doing complicated mathematical equations about current and wattage and amperage and so on, and while I know those words, I have no real concept of what they mean or how to do anything useful, sadly.

In fact, thats something else that stands out - how much research is needed if you're going to go green - its a full time job, no wonder on those property programmes everyone is up till 2am writing letters and whatnot. I've just had the plastering done in and around the 2nd toilet, the upstairs one. And the labourer was laughing and telling me how toxic the dust was..... I have no idea what's in wall plaster, and this is something I should have known, if I'd wanted to have as green a house as possible.

Making the best use out of what you've got ....

I'm in the middle of fiddling about in the kitchen .... there's a chimney breast in there with floor-based cupboards that are mostly, but not entirely fake. The cupboards are entirely empty of shelves, because there's a gap of only 7.5" before the chimney breast starts. But the insides of the cupboards have those little holes for pegs at a couple of points, so I've bought the little pegs (£1.49 on ebay!) and banged them gently into the holes. Now all I need to do is saw some shelving wood I have, glue some readymade cork strips I have onto the back edges to stop stuff falling off the other end, and hey presto, lots more storage - well, the equivalent of one big cupboard, anyway - but *much* more accessible than one big cupboard.

I'm really pleased with this - I want quality in my kitchen, in my whole house, I really want to get over "make do and mend" - but this is a setup thats irresistible. The holes are already there, the pegs are purpose made, I already had the cork strips (a couple of them were used as a minimalist notice board), I have some pva glue thats to be used as plasticiser for mortaring work, the shelving wood was in the loft and brought down when my own insulation was added to what's already up there - it just feels like using what I've got to the max :)

The first political flyer I've received in the new house

Well, the heading says it all. Or most of it, anyway. Its from the Conservatives, telling us of their triumphs of course, though there's nothing directly related to a green renovator.

Two items are of some interest tho:

- in Burgess Hill, some new allotments have been released.

- in Haywards Heath, councillors are "looking at plans for tree planting schemes ... following the lead of London Mayor Boris Johnson. Cllr Margaret Baker says: 'Street trees are a low cost way of improving our environment, reducing pollution and making our town more attractive'. "

I have mixed feelings about the tree planting - obviously trees are good! But they can also be seen as window dressing, pure and simple. And on the other (third?) hand, Haywards Heath is fairly rich as towns go, so why not?

The National Home Improvement Show

This was on at Earl's Court on the 1st - 3rd of this month, and it had a huge emphasis on being green. Some of the free seminars, for example, were titled:

- Greenfurbish Your Home - by Charlie Luxton - I'd not seen any of his work before, and I really liked his approach, practical, down to earth, and willing to literally put his money where his mouth is, in creating a retrofitted house full of best practice.

- An Introduction To Renewable Energy Technologies - I didn't see this one, but it certainly sounds good....

- Rainwater Harvesting Techniques - again, I didn't see this one, I think it clashed (with lunch ... I was pretty tired by then :) ) but I must follow up on that firm at some stage.

- The Clean Energy Cashback Scheme - I have to say, the number of firms offering to give me quotes made it feel like a 1970s double glazing convention.... I was hunting manufacturers, having my own agenda, so it wasn't too bad, but really, without that I'd have been completely lost.

- How To Reduce The Energy In Buildings - I only saw about 60% of this talk, by Mike Hillard, I believe - a real enthusiast, but seemed to be very sweeping and very detailed in his condemnations of various accepted practices without showing very much of the scientific backup - while I was there, anyway. However, I completely support his main point, that implementation of the basics first is what can make most difference: insulation, insulation, insulation, in other words. I like it!

- Period Home to Low Carbon Home. Since my new house was built in 1939 (and I have the date scratched in the mortar of the chimneys in the loft!) I didn't attend this, but I'm putting it here just to show that such a concept exists :)

- Using Technology - to reduce your bills and manage your carbon footprint. I did manage to attend this one, and I'm staggered that they couldn't find a snazzier title than this! Some really good concepts.

I'll transcribe my notes of the best seminars, and the best firms and technologies, at another time, but I have to say, it was well worth going - I might be a little prejudiced, as I got a free ticket and was on the lookout for specific technologies, but I enjoyed it, I met some really enthusiastic people, and I really had a ball.