The work started on February 1st to replace the floor in the old part of the house. As agreed, the guys turned up at around 08:30 and, after unloading the tools and equipment, began tearing the place apart.
By 10:30 more than half of the floor had been removed and work stopped for the typical break, bread, cheese, presunto and wine - to which I was invited to join. It is easy to laugh at jokes even if you don't quite understand the punchline. But I do feel that I heard more of what was being said - the lessons are surely helping.
It was a really pleasant day weather wise, the sun was shining and the temperature had risen nicely - considering it was only one month into the new year. The guys had ordered take-away from the village for lunch so I provided a table and chairs for them to sit and picnic in the garden and, of course, more wine was on offer.
About an hour after lunchtime and the old floor was basically gone.
Just the huge tree trunk beams and the crumbling dividing walls to go.
The rest of the day was spent clearing up the timbers, measuring and marking out for the new beams to allow for the stairway to be installed at a later date when we begin work on the downstairs area.