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Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a good Christmas and getting ready for the New Year celebrations tomorrow.
Sorry to those of you who keep visiting and hoping to see some updates. Here is a snapshot of 5 weeks in 1 report today, for 2 reasons:
Firstly, there's not a lot to show for the 5 weeks, we were a far cry from being finished for Christmas or indeed even water tight! The roof came off and the steels were erected in the same week (week 16, w/c 27th Nov. see pics).
Secondly, an emergency evacuation took place 2 days after the steels went up. Unfortunately the tarpaulin was not fully covering the North elevation and the storms that we had ripped it off.
On the night of the storms (Sat 2nd Dec) I had been to see Casino Royal with John, Carol, Pat & Dierdri and when we returned at midnight the tarpaulin was already starting to tear and was flapping around franticly. John and Carol said I should stay with them but I insisted that I would be ok. However, once inside and they had gone, the noise of the crashing tarpaulin above my head was so scary, I did not feel safe. I was worried it would come off and go into the road and cause an accident. Then part of the scaffolding collapsed by the patio door that I use to get in and out of. So I rang J & C and stayed the night at theirs.
When we returned the next morning the tarpaulin had been totally ripped off and was in tatters. Consequently, the house flooded, so it was not possible for me to stay there. John, Carol and Rob helped me pack up the remaining of my belongings and I stayed with John and Carol for 2 weeks. Rob helped me move my bed and some other belongings to my office. Yes, my office! I moved in here the week before Christmas. It's quite cosy actually, except I didn't have a shower for nearly a week, well I did have a shower, but didn't have one here in the office! David and Charles have managed to put one in for me now although it isn't finished yet and it has no doors, and the sink floods the floor when I wash my teeth!
I had a week of takeaways, donna kebab, Chinese, it's great being in a town, everything at your finger tips, I can have a curry one night, Thai the next, fish & chips, pizza....... and have a quick pint before bed! (not really I don't drink beer, but you get the idea!) I haven't got used to the abbey chiming every quarter hour though and the road and pavement sweepers coming round bout 5:30am.
When I came back from a couple of days with Peter for Christmas I collected Mackintosh. Poor thing he had to stay with the sinking ship on his own for a whole month. He seems to like it here but I think he's getting bored being in all the time. I will let him venture next week, we wouldn't want him getting lost or running off......would we???
The house is still flooding when it rains, some of the ceilings have already come down, I suspect the rest will follow, its quite depressing to see all the damp climbing up the walls together with the mould and smell that comes with it!
The few days before Christmas we saw some of the rafters go up. I was promised a team/swarm of guys but in reality it was 2! I'm hoping David and Charles will be on the job next week, giving them a hand to speed things up a bit, I live in hope!
What else, oh yeah, a couple of the steel supports didn't marry up with the padstones, but I was at the house yesterday and noticed that that has now been rectified......AND......it looks FANTASTIC!
Hopefully over the coming weeks you will get an idea of what the final result will be. And, did I mention the name of the company doing the work is Black Cat Construction. There is a picture of David Keep and Charles in this weeks photo album.
So, having bored you senseless, I will depart. If we get back on track next week I will resume weekly updates.
See ya.x.
oooooh er! What a wet one no wonder you were feeling a little blooo when we spoke. Hope that the new year is a dry one and work is able to speed forward. Make sure you relax in the evenings and leave work behind!
Posted by: Alison | January 04, 2007 at 08:05 PM