27th November. "Our Greatest Glory Is Not In Never Falling But In Rising Every Time We Fall."

I drive back to the M's ruined fire surround.

"What was the verdict?" I enquire of Mrs M's reaction to the irreversible damage to the new fake stone.

"Well the good news is a chamfer would be fine with her but the bad news is none of the chip must show."

This is a tall order, Mr M had already had a go with this bit of diamond tool sharpener I had, it looks like it would take about a month to take enough of the stone off.

I didn't fancy letting rip with any power tools especially with Mr M hanging about in the environs.

To cut a long fiasco short a diamond cutting disc held flat and pushed with a lot of pressure worked.

I was a bit dubious about attacking the front of the stone in the same manner, I mean that really would be staring you in the face when seated on the green leather sofa.

"That's a pretty good effort, though I'll need to qualify that.."