On the Roof

Tomorrow the sweep comes to our house and he'll be sweeping the chimneys from the tiled stove, the boiler in the cellar and the small, rarely used woodburner in the kitchen. 
So he can work safely he needs to be able to get at the chimney channels, so I've removed the cover that normally sits here and stops rain getting in. I've also added some steps to the nearly flat roof, in case of ice and frost when he's headed up onto the roof. There's a thing on the edge of the roof so the ladder you need to get up there can't slip sideways.
You can see here that there are 10 channels/chimneys. We use 4 for various wood burning stoves and boilers, and two for ventilation. There used to be two more stoves in the house, before central heating arrived, and that left a couple of spare channels, if they wanted another stove or more ventilation. Those were probably there because when they built the house, nearly 100 years ago they didn't know how the upstairs section would look or what future developments would come. (The upstairs remained undeveloped until 30 years after the house was completed.)
I was anxious to get up here and complete the jobs that needed doing but since our guests left it has been pouring with rain. i was very happy when the rain moved away just after lunch.