Wired!

Having (finally!) worked out the correct wiring sequence for the new sockets, today was the day to put it into action.

I pulled back the second spur cable I'd laid last week and connected it between the two new sockets. This meant I could fully wire up the right-hand socket as at this point neither its incoming nor outgoing cables were connected to the mains. With everything ready for the final connections, I cut the power to the downstairs ring (having first ensured the channel to the first new socket was wide enough to take two cables before I left myself with no power to drill a wider channel, and boiled the kettle for a pot of tea).

Deciding which of the two cables leading to the original socket was the one I needed to pull back required some assistance from Nikki - to see which one wobbled when tugged - but having selected the right one, disconnecting it from its old position and wiring it up to the first of my new sockets was a doddle. I took time out from the job to feel smug and have a cup of tea before tackling the final connection: from the second new socket back to the original socket whose incoming connection I'd just "borrowed."

Knowing that no job is EVER as simple as it appears, I should have saved my smug feelings for later, because I was now faced with two problems.
(1) the channel to the old socket was even tighter than the one I'd been worried about before, and pulling out one of its cables hadn't really helped at all.
(2) the floorboard I'd lifted to gain access to this socket was just slightly more than an arm's length away from the wall, and hence quite awkward to work with.
Try as I might, I couldn't get the new cable up into the channel from underneath, and I couldn't push the gash piece of cable I'd been using as a pull-through down from the socket to the underfloor void. Even knocking out all the plaster from beneath the socket didn't help. There was something behind the skirting board blocking the channel.

I had another cuppa while I pondered the problem and then hit upon the obvious solution: Nature's toolkit. In the shape of a wire coat-hanger. Untwisted and straightened out, it shot down the channel like a rat down a drainpipe. With the hook of the coat-hanger hooked over the grommet and the twisted end bent over to take a piece of strong twine, I tied the coat-hanger to the new incoming cable and pulled it all back. With my arm jammed under the floor up to my shoulder to give a bit of gentle assistance from below, the cable snaked slowly up through the constricted channel and popped out into the box. Until it appeared I hadn't even realised I'd been holding my breath.

The old socket was swiftly wired back up and with only the briefest of frissons I flicked the power back on. The phone beeped, the radio came on and the cooker flashed 00:00. All was well. And this time, my smugness didn't fade.