Weds 18 July 2012
No more hanging about, it seems. The lads arrived early to get the shuttering finished. The boss arrived and I asked him to organise the missing metalwork. He asked one of the lads to do it, told me he'd be back with the concrete around 2 ish, then left.
Constantine arrived. Looked around, agreed that we needed more metal. Told one of the lads. Then remembered he had to get a stamp from the police station on the permit, and left.
The windscreen repair people rang to say they were in town two days earlier than they'd said, and could I meet their repair man in Nidri. I worried about the car and the repair van getting stuck one side or the other of a number of concrete vehicles and shot off to meet him, leaving the car and the repairer by the side of the road about 300 metres away from the site. Then walked back uphill in the heat.
Constantine had not returned. The concrete hadn't arrived. The metal hadn't been fixed, but the lads were still finishing the shuttering, and our pallets around the compost heap had mysteriously disappeared. I later found the site of disembodiment, a few splinters remaining, where they had been broken up to nail across the shuttering to stop it spreading when the concrete was poured.
The glass repair man rang to say he was finished only 30 minutes later, although the office had said he'd take 1.5 to 2 hours, so I belted off down the field again to sort that out. I left the car there, out of the way, and walked back up the hill.
Still no Constantine. Then it was 4 pm and the trucks started arriving. I still didn't have metal where I wanted it. I had scavenged around the site and found pieces to fit, but the broken pallet pieces were now spanning the gap that they had to go in. The boss arrived. I jumped up and down a bit, and he shouted at the lads and they pulled the wood back off, fitted the metal and stood back, seconds before the concrete started pouring. Whoops!
It took about 30 minutes to fill the plinth. Then they all left. The pouring arm truck has a reservoir of about a cubic metre that can't be sucked up, and we had asked for this to be dropped on the track where it has worn away during the winter rains, so I grabbed a spade and set off after the truck. He dropped it where I asked. There's a lot of concrete in a cubic metre, and it's very soggy. Terrified of overbalancing and ending up like some mafia victim, I shoveled frantically to distribute the heap into the ruts before it set. Stinging sweat dripped into my eyes.
Then I set about watering the plinth. Then I had a cold shower. Then I collapsed on the decking sofa. And THEN Dave chose to return - complaining about a hard day at work (motoring to Kioni and back).
No more hanging about, it seems. The lads arrived early to get the shuttering finished. The boss arrived and I asked him to organise the missing metalwork. He asked one of the lads to do it, told me he'd be back with the concrete around 2 ish, then left.
Constantine arrived. Looked around, agreed that we needed more metal. Told one of the lads. Then remembered he had to get a stamp from the police station on the permit, and left.
The windscreen repair people rang to say they were in town two days earlier than they'd said, and could I meet their repair man in Nidri. I worried about the car and the repair van getting stuck one side or the other of a number of concrete vehicles and shot off to meet him, leaving the car and the repairer by the side of the road about 300 metres away from the site. Then walked back uphill in the heat.
Constantine had not returned. The concrete hadn't arrived. The metal hadn't been fixed, but the lads were still finishing the shuttering, and our pallets around the compost heap had mysteriously disappeared. I later found the site of disembodiment, a few splinters remaining, where they had been broken up to nail across the shuttering to stop it spreading when the concrete was poured.
The glass repair man rang to say he was finished only 30 minutes later, although the office had said he'd take 1.5 to 2 hours, so I belted off down the field again to sort that out. I left the car there, out of the way, and walked back up the hill.
Still no Constantine. Then it was 4 pm and the trucks started arriving. I still didn't have metal where I wanted it. I had scavenged around the site and found pieces to fit, but the broken pallet pieces were now spanning the gap that they had to go in. The boss arrived. I jumped up and down a bit, and he shouted at the lads and they pulled the wood back off, fitted the metal and stood back, seconds before the concrete started pouring. Whoops!
It took about 30 minutes to fill the plinth. Then they all left. The pouring arm truck has a reservoir of about a cubic metre that can't be sucked up, and we had asked for this to be dropped on the track where it has worn away during the winter rains, so I grabbed a spade and set off after the truck. He dropped it where I asked. There's a lot of concrete in a cubic metre, and it's very soggy. Terrified of overbalancing and ending up like some mafia victim, I shoveled frantically to distribute the heap into the ruts before it set. Stinging sweat dripped into my eyes.
Then I set about watering the plinth. Then I had a cold shower. Then I collapsed on the decking sofa. And THEN Dave chose to return - complaining about a hard day at work (motoring to Kioni and back).
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