It's not over yet...

Great news. The beer is still fermenting. I popped the top off and gently dropped the hydrometer in. The reading was 1016, unmistakeably less that the previous reading. There were also some bubbles (though not that many) on the surface. I chose to give it another very gentle stir, being very careful not to splash at all. I think this will be the last stir as I really don't want to risk introducing oxygen to the beer now.

I also measured the temperature of the beer, as it was pointed out to me that the temperature of the beer can often be a lot lower than the room temperature, and of course brewing guides refer to beer temperature. The beer was at 16.5 degrees, about a degree lower than the room temperature. I suspect this really is on the limit of what I can expect to produce beer consistently well, so depending on the success of the wine and the next beer (which hopefully won't suffer the same boiler problems) I might have to seriously consider some form of heating for the brewery.

This temperature also means, according to my research, that I can actually lower the hydrometer reading by a point, meaning it is actually at about 1015, very close to 1014 - the highest target gravity for bottling according to the instructions.

Overall I am very relieved to see proof that the beer is still alive and kicking, even if it is a little sluggish. I will take another reading on Saturday, but will probably not be able to bottle until at least the following weekend anyway, so it will likely get another 10 days to finish fermenting.