The window man leaveth

So farewell then, man of windows. And thanks for a job well done (if a little longer than expected). We were expecting three windows refurbished in two days and instead got two windows done in three days, owing to some family crisis (his) and the lack of a mate (his). So yesterday saw the bathroom sill replaced with a stonking great lump of solid mahogany to fill the space left when he took the old concrete sill out:


Yes, you read that right: concrete sill. It seems at some time in the past some bright spark had decided he'd had enough with these wooden sills that kept going rotten. Now what could he use instead that wouldn't rot? I know! Concrete! Brilliant. Except for the fact that it shrinks and cracks and moves away from the rest of the window, so the rain can get in and cause even more damage. Doh!

No matter, we now have a proper hardwood sill that will last longer than either of us, so we're all sorted.

Yesterday also saw the toilet window taken apart, as the bathroom had been the day before, the top half reglazed to match the bathroom and most of the window reassembled. If "mate" had appeared today, we were hoping to get the spare bedroom finished too, but that didn't happen, so Windowman (sounds like a superhero doesn't he?) concentrated on putting the finishing touches to the work in progress, which included patching and filling the woodwork, replacing the beadings around both windows, and fitting the new brass catches and lifts. I've uploaded some "after" pictures to my flickr account so you can see all the new goodies.

It's a very blustery day here in Manchester, and once the windows were all back in place, there wasn't even the merest hint of a breeze in either room. I might even be able to enjoy a relaxing bath in advance of the major refurbishment work due to start in three weeks, instead of the 15-second dips I've been suffering since we moved in. Now where did we put the candles?