A new home.

I have for some time rented laboratory space in the middle of town, where I set up and test new forms of gadgetry. Motion detectors, temperature probes, things like that. It's a handy place to hide from the world because it has no phone and no Internet, so nobody bothers me unless they know my mobile number. It was, however, small and quite costly.

So I have a new place. Out of town, less distance to travel, cheaper rent and much bigger. It is, unfortunately, a mess. Previous occupants have screwed so many things to the walls it looked as if someone had gone wild with a shotgun in there. There was the remains of a telephone exchange and wiring conduit all over the place. This was stuck on so when I pulled it off, most of the paintwork came with it.

I've been filling holes and repainting and it'll take a few weeks to put it into usable laboratory condition - there's even a carpet in there! That definitely has to go, but I'll do that once the painting is finished because it's a handy splash-catcher at the moment.

It actually looks good once the holes are filled and painted over. Here's the part I've mostly done (I won't show a photo in the other direction!). Tons of storage space, the lab door locks, there are two outer doors and a burglar alarm. I might get a 'biohazard' sticker for the door anyway, I've found them to be particularly effective at keeping the nosy chatterers from other labs away.

Still a lot to do, and all the health and safety and fire-escape posters have to go back up even though I'll never read them. They have to be there by law. I haven't seen a law saying I have to look at them. (no ghosts in these photos so don't spend time looking!)

I can try bigger devices here than I could in the poky little lab I had before. I have an idea for a motion detector based on illuminated threads. The infrared detectors people normally use only sense body heat - and I don't think the dead have all that much body heat. I'm going for movement in actual physical objects instead.

The best thing about this new lab is that when you go outside, you don't see grey buildings, traffic and crowds. You see this:

Well, okay, it'll be more attractive in the spring, I'm sure.

The lab is, as far as I can tell, completely free of any form of ghostly activity. It's not a new building but it's away from any towns or settlements as far back as records go, so there's no reason to suppose there'd be any haunting there. Which is good, because that means the place acts as a control. Any response from any equipment is very unlikely to be a ghost and is therefore most probably an artefact. So I can tune those out.

The only downside is that the Italian restaurant that does particularly good espresso is now a long way away. I'll just have to invest in an espresso machine. I wonder if I can write that off as essential lab equipment?