Sophie, the architect not in search of a job, came to see the house today. She was delightful, definitely a new friend, very down to earth and cheerful and very nice about the house - though clearly slightly awed by the scale of the renovation. It was positive and negative - she gave me the thumbs up about all the ideas I have for reorganising the space and loved the kitchen plan. I warmed to her even more when she asked me why we were bothering to open up the space between the main kitchen and the 'arriere cuisine'. This has been a rather fraught subject, with my parents, my friend C. and my husband united and slightly bullying in their conviction that this is indisputably an essential thing to do. I have said all along I think it's completely unnecessary but caved in finally for a quiet life. Without even being asked Sophie spontaneously said she couldn't understand the point of doing it. I explained my quiet life philosophy, and she conceded the point. Otherwise she was extremely, gratifyingly positive about everything, which was lovely - but looking at all the structural stuff it was clear she thought there might be issues. There might be indeed. My philosophy is to trust Monsieur G. who does this kind of thing, more or less, all the time; he will sweat the big stuff, while I focus on the details like tiles and kitchen units. Obviously in terms of structure there's no way I can have the slightest idea about what is going on - I can't tell the difference between a dangerous crack and a superficial fissure. I just hope he can.