Yup. As a friend of ours once remarked, "When I visit my other friends, I take my shoes off to save their carpets. When I come to see you, I keep them on, to keep my socks clean!" 
Hmmm Carpets, is this something new ??
Surely you only need carpets if you don't have enough straw down?!
Now I could regale you all with a story about the straw on our kitchen floor many years ago , but I wont.
Now you have me all curious. I won't tell anyone, promise! 
To cut a long story very short , when we first married and came up to Scotland to our derelict croft house we had no money Mrs RTB had no job wasnt claiming anything I transferred to Aberdeen branch 6 months before we paid for the property and was allowed to move in to try and sort it , well sort of 6 months living in a land rover ! but the steading was made fit for purpose with anything I could scrounge between shifts. However before I had got that far the managing director of the company I worked for wanted to come and see the croft , I tried to put him off , the house was devoid of electricity, plumbing , no phone and the one watertight room come "kitchen" ( only called that as it had a rayburn in it ) was also home to my newly purchased goat hence the straw on the floor !
Well that's the very short version.
Ps Kitchen fitted 8 years later.
PPs Everyone round here knew about it , my claim to fame , well one of them.
PPPs I could tell you abou......... maybe a new thread , one day.
