Because I am working alone things tend to take that little bit longer.

Just setting up the scaffold tower seems to be a huge effort but I don't have a lot of choice.

I put the last three sections of the chimney on this morning using ordinary plaster as a glue/cement. It goes off rapidly so this afternoon I pushed the pipe up and attached it all together.

This evening, I thought, although its not cold, I would light the stove to see how it works and disaster!

The flue will not draw and the whole house is full of smoke!

The advice is to take the chimney up 40 cm above the ridge which for me would be quite an achievement, especially as I have no external scaffolding and the tiles are like ice.

My temporary flue seemed to work better than this one and now I am at a loss what to do. I do not want to employ a company to do it because of the cost and the time it would take for them to fit it in and I hate being beaten by something.

I still have to add a cowl to the top so maybe there will be a draw and also the evening is very still with no wind which might be the reason for not pulling the smoke up.

Update

It is now some 2 hours since I lit the Godin, the smoke has cleared and the temperature has risen enormously. I have now boiled some water for the rice and warmed up a saucepan of cream and salmon soup (OK I don't know the real name).

Our new Dutch Friends, who heard of Donna's predicament brought round a food parcel today but unfortunately I had to explain that Donna was in Monaco on a pre-arranged business trip.

Anyway, Henners, Fleur and I are the beneficiaries of the food parcel.

Bon Apetit!