When we bought our house in 2006, it was still in its 1960-built / 1975-redecorated state. We spent a year organising the extension, planning permission, etc. and another year or two with various tradespeople building and finishing and decorating indoors and out. We still hadn't finished everything but felt that we'd spent enough!
The end result was good. In fact, everyone who walks in for the first time uses the same description, "Wow!" Not because it's ultra-super-amazing but because the inside is an unexpected upgrade from the ordinary 1960 frontage.
However, I've never managed to find much time for housework and, with a teenager in the house, it's always a manic tidy/clean when I know someone is coming, which isn't very often as I'm totally unsociable. I sometimes think it would be better to have more visitors so that the house was tidier more often. It was brilliant having builders around - I had a perpetual excuse never to clean or tidy.
There was a Scot amongst the Cockney builders but, in general, I found myself emulating the way that the 'Norf Lundoners' were speaking, despite years of living in middle-class Herts, probably because I was born and schooled in North London.
In the 1970s, I married a Scot who has now lived and worked amongst pseudo-Cockneys for much of his life and now has barely a trace of Scottish accent - except when he wants to - yet his older brother, who moved south at the same time, has never lost his Scottish accent.
There is a great round-up of accents in this video (not Hertfordshire though!)
I hope you will enjoy...
