... is that I've had time to sort out the drawing for the gearbox selector saddle and,

if all goes to plan, it should turn out something like this:

There is a slight problem in that, as I think I've mentioned before, there's nowhere to secure the offside of the saddle; the gearbox is an odd shape and the only options are to weld - tricky - or fabricate. I've sat and looked at the box for half an hour and come up with the following scheme:

The bracket shown on the left of the drawing will be secured by the dip stick nut and a bolt at the back of the box - one of several which secure the selector extension to the box. In turn, the saddle will be bolted to the bracket and should be adequately stiff.

The not-so-good-news is that the radiator was delayed and so I can't be smug about pole position. Still, Learned Counsel will probably, on his return, have jet-lag and a stinking cold (courtesy of the airline's air-conditioning policy). This should adequately delay any plans he might have to nose out in front.

In between all this, I've been installing a wood-burning stove. What a blinkin' palaver! The first snag was all the rules and reg's but, a careful reading of the gen reveals that you don't have to get a specialist heating engineer to do the work, it can be done by a competent person. That's a saving then. A bung to the local council sorted out the Building Control visits and I sent my lodger up the chimney to haul up the liner. We then knocked out a few bricks to make way for the stove, concreted the hearth, laid some slate and bent up a combined backing and register plate for the fire-place.

To join the flue to the stove, the wood-burner supplier had a 90 degree bend made from a biscuit tin at £89.99 which was too short and would have required another £63.99 metre length for the 200mm shortfall. Er, no thanks.  I went and got some 5" lorry exhaust pipe, cut and welded the angle and, as a precaution, I made up a damping baffle in the pipe:

and..... that's your lot. When this is going, it'll be the first time in 28 years I won't have had to sit in padded overalls and a woolly hat to watch a bit of telly in the winter.

You can never have enough good news.