The devastation is more than Martin had imagined!  But already lots of signs of building now that the building inspector from Hackney has approved the excavations/sewer pipe relocations.  Some steels and props temporarily in place to hold up the outside kitchen wall while they fill in all the foundation trenches with concrete – you can see the props in the kitchen in picture 1 with Ylli in the background. It’s where our kitchen table was – and where Aoife and I made fishcakes not so long ago! The landing ceiling is completely removed now so that you can stand on the top landing and look into the loft floor.  Strange to see bits of the house I’ve not seen before!  You can see the foremen Milo in picture 2 – he said they had to take out 17 skiploads when excavating! One of the steels is just behind Dad.  They got them through the house on rollers and then will be having winches to lift into place. 

I have been learning some Albanian to impress them, but forgot my script when we went over today, so all I could remember was  ‘Si jeni’ [see any] which means ‘how are you?’  One of our GPs is Albanian so he is teaching me!