After months of nervous anticipation of the green light from planning, it was now time to consign the old house to history. Having lined up our demolition team we were then beset by unforeseen delays (aren’t they always?). Firstly, it had taken longer than expected to get the gas pot-ended. Shockingly it took the equivalent of 30 working days for them locate and disconnect our supply. Does it really find 3 weeks to find the G spot?!

Secondly with electricity, we had been wrestling for several weeks with Meter Point Administration Numbers or MPANs (Major Pain in the Arse Numbers, more like) in order to preserve our feed-in tariff for the solar panels. Thirdly, the demo team needed clearance to demolish the outer structure with an ‘F10’ form from Building Control which they submitted a fortnight late. Given these delays, the demo guys used the down time by disassembling the building from within: knocking down walls, removing insulation and clearing away obsolete pipework. So no wrecking ball required after all.

We were thrilled to be finally moving ahead, delays and all: it’s hard to cultivate a zen approach when faced with infuriating delays. We guess practice makes master. To speed up our slideshow of the demolition, hold your cursor over the photo and click on the forward arrow.