We finally demolished the house in mid November, after a few annoying but fairly minor delays.  It was quite thrilling to see that flimsy little shack torn down. Here's one of the last walls coming down. Here's Penelope knocking on our old front door. And the digger, left on site in anticipation of starting work within a week or two.  No such luck. We are still waiting for our plans to be formally approved. In mid December the City engineer confirmed on email that the plans are okay, following a series of queries and comments. That whole process had been pretty painful, with a new query appearing to arise every time an earlier one was resolved. But eventually we got there and now it's just a matter of paperwork. Literally, rubber stamps. Hard copies, wet signatures, various notarized and recorded covenants and agreements, and a stack of 'c-sheets' (technical, structural plans) going from one desk to the other in City Hall to be stamped. In the past the City allowe