We've been having some renovations done to the house, more especially to the bathroom for the last week.

Now the bathroom didn't especially NEED to be completely redone but I knew a major face-lift was on the cards when my husband casually mentioned during an ad break in The Bill that he thought the bathroom could do with a bit of a "freshening".

Graham never does things by half, so I was in no way surprised to arrive home the following evening to be greeted by hubby carrying half a shower cubicle out of the front door towards the garage. What had been, a mere eight hours before, a clean and spacious drive had now been transformed into a porcelain rockery.

And so it began. The demolition work completed it was then the plumber's turn. Isn't it weird having a stranger in your home? You are desperate to make a good impression and it's probably one of only a few times I get to dust off the "good" cups.

On orders from hubby, teas were delivered every hour on the hour complete with a selection of chocolate biscuits. Graham says it's the most important thing you can do when having someone in to do work and I suppose he should know since he spends most of his working life doing exactly the same.

It was at this point I remembered that the water was off and had been all day, so not to put too fine a point on it, where was it going! What was he using? Through careful planning of my daily routine I coped quite well - the supermarket and the gym both being used with much more frequently than I had done in the past.

Staff at the gym were delighted and amazed to see me once sometimes twice a day, one receptionist quipped "Ooh there's no stopping you is there? You'll be busting out of your top with all the work you're doing!"

I was sorely tempted to tell her that the "busting" I had in mind was different to hers, but at least on my trips there I had the chance to read the papers and work my way through their muffin selection.

Back home, and if you didn't know the plumber was there you would never have guessed. He was quiet as a mouse and probably for good reason. When he asked how water came into the house and I replied "taps?", I think he had a pretty good idea that I knew nothing about plumbing, so in the way that he would no sooner tell me how to present the weather than I would tell him how to fit a stop-cock, I left him to get on with it.

The work's nearly done now, the bathroom looks amazing and the plumber has done an incredible job. The weird thing is his brilliance seems to have rubbed off on other areas of the house, especially the plants which look better than they have done for ages.

When my mother-in-law remarked on their condition and asked if I was using anything different to water them with I'm sure I heard the plumber chuckling upstairs, what does he know that I don't I wonder?