Super-roofers

Monday 25 February 2013

A very warm, overcast day with occasional drizzle - which, amazingly, didn't stop the roofing.  They arrived just after 8am and leapt into action, finishing all the boards, despite the generator breaking down mid-morning and Dave having to fix it (rainwater in the carburettor), and went on to get the south face covered in the insulating membrane.  Nearly there - nearly waterproofed.  Seems like we're going to miss the tiling phase, though.  Hopefully the machinery will operate smoothly without our intervention.

A glimpse of progress

Thursday 21 February 2013

According to the forecast, we had three unrainy days from Thursday, so we twisted Constantine's arm to get the roofers back, and amazingly, for the first time since Feb 4, they turned up.  Got all the final rafters in place, and quite a bit more of the boards nailed up.

They came again on Friday, three of them this time (usually only two) and stood around in the drizzle hopefully, but the rain came on more fiercely and they left - it cleared by 1030.  They didn't even try on Saturday, and again the drizzle cleared by mid-morning.  What frustrating weather! 

Warm blustery day on Sunday, nice day for roofing - but they don't work Sundays.  I got all my washing done ready to pack for the UK trip.

Lunch

Tuesday 19 February 2013

The Art Party annual lunch - halfway between my and Amanda's birthdays, and a year on from the course we all did with Mary which got us started.  George was persuaded to open specially, and baked a big sea bass for us to share.

Our first tiles

Monday 18 February 2013

How come sunny Sundays are followed by rainy Mondays?  Still no roofers.  Constantine called us into Lefkas town as he needed some paperwork from us and had 'materials' to give us.  Turned out it was our first five roof tiles!  Well, it's a start ...

Tiles in the boot of the car, on top of a large sack of chicken feed.  We assume they are for the roofers to use as a template when fixing the batons.

Blossom

Sunday 17 February 2013

The sun came out intermittently on my birthday, so we put on our waterproof boots and went for a squelch in the hills.  The almond trees are in blossom, which is lovely.

Dave found me some newts in a pond, which was a nice birthday present.  We watched them for a while, but they didn't do much, so we walked on.

There is still the odd turkey around, and hey, they are odd.

At Sea

Wednesday 13 March

After all our legal and business issues, and the incessant rain, we decided to get away for the night and take the boat over to Meganissey to see Pete and Ed.  The forecast was okay for the afternoon and next morning, so we set off around 4ish, the sky overcast but dry, although we found hailstones on Tropi's deck from earlier.

During our short crossing the clouds started to gather, creeping along a little faster than us, so that it was a race to get into harbour. 

The storm won!  We moored up in lashing hailstones, a first for me, and were very glad to drip our way into a little taverna with a big wood stove.

Coming back the next day, we had a dry crossing, and saw all this snow on the mountains beyond Preveza.  Dave just loved being out in the boat, however chilly, and produced this lovely grin.

Three Strikes

Wednesday 13 February 2013

It may be a Wednesday, but it was definitely unlucky 13 today, when we woke up to find the electricity unaccountably absent.  We'd had an incredible electrical storm right overhead for much of the night, thunder crashing so close it made the camper van rock.  And it had fried our inverter.  Dave had a quick look, but there was no obvious scorching inside, so we made an arrangement to see Dieter.  We were going to Lefkas town anyway, to see the lawyer, to give him the phone number for the brother of the man who sold the land to the people before us ... (we just asked at the village taverna, they know everything).  Just before leaving, we also got a call from Constantine, to bring our land plans, as he had been contacted by Vassilli with the chainsaw about our NE corner.

So, it was all go.  We saw the lawyer, but didn't move any further forward.  The son of the brother said he'd get his uncle to call back, but the lawyer wasn't hopeful.  We had more luck with Dieter, he checked with the supplier of the inverter who said it was under warranty and gave us a brand new replacement - hurrah!  Then we saw Constantine, who had a long conversation with the lawyer and argued how best to deal with the two issues on the land, the olive trees and the corner.  Apparently, in order to maximise land for sale as buildable, some people 'borrow' territory from a neighbour in order to meet the required square meterage.  This seems to have happened to us.  So we wanted to know if we can consolidate our two patches to make a foolproof plot.  There seem to be some hurdles involved in this, so we're waiting for feedback from the experts.

Back home, Dave wired in the new inverter.  Everything fine, except that the wireless internet router was feebly flashing.  It seems to have been fried as well.  I phoned the phone company and they said they'd provide a new one in due course.

A day later, we wondered why the freezer in the fridge was leaking.  The light was on, but otherwise, no cooling going on.  A third blitz.  It was a very impressive storm.  The man from the fridge shop came and looked and took the fridge away.  It is also under warranty, but parts have to come from Athens.  Luckily the weather is coldish, while we work our way through the perishables.

Nothing much happening

8 to 11 February 2013

It goes on raining, nothing is happening on the roof.  We amuse ourselves as we can.  This is a few of us in George's running an adhoc antenatal clinic for Vicky, in white, testing her blood pressure.

There's snow on the mountains behind us, but none down at Goat bottom yet.

Ditching

Wednesday 6 January 2013

So, still no roofers, although the final rafters were delivered.  Dave and I used the nice weather to get on with his ditch and my wall.  Here's the ditch running along the front of the house, set up with sheets to hold the earth out of the clean gravel, just before we put the next section of pipe in.

And this is my wall, running around to the back of the house.  I've decided to fill in this corner, as it is a potential hazard for anyone walking along the top of the bank.

Mushrooms

Tuesday 5 January

Constantine arrived late afternoon, and agreed we needed the extra rafters.  Well, we could've told him that a week ago, if we'd known it was an issue.  Sometimes we feel like mushrooms in this process. 

While we were walking the site, our neighbour Vassilis came over and asked Dave for a tool to fix his chainsaw!  This is adding insult to injury - but you have to admire the Greek way.  So all the blokes got distracted by mechanical failure:

Roofers

Monday 4 February 2013

Hurrah!  Yes! Yes!  Here are Yiannis and another, arriving 0815 and getting right on up there with the hammer and nails.  We offered to move the planks into the building for them, and so we were all a hive of activity, getting that roof started.

By 4 pm we had most of the north face completed, and the south face started.  Looking good, very hopeful.  But they didn't come back the next day.  I asked Constantine why not, and he said Yianni needed a few more rafters.  We agreed, we'd been wondering when they would come.  I think Constantine is so focused on saving money, he is stalling the job.  Anyway, he agreed to come over and decide what we needed.

Joist-hopping

Friday 1 Feb 2013

Three dry days, even if it's not so sunny today, and Dave can finally finish the last bit of ground floor sanding in the house.  Then he set about spraying the upper level.  Scary, don't like him doing that.  It would be easier with a bit of floor, but we haven't managed to get any scaffolding boards yet.

Corner Wars

Thursday 31 January 2013

Loud noises of chainsawing from the NE corner, where the disputed territory line is.  January definitely seems to bring out the landowner in everyone.  Our neighbour Vassilis has pushed his boundary line back and back until it is now hard up against one of the (disputed) olive trees.  He is clearing his land for planting, and this means chainsawing all the undergrowth out of the hedgerows.  We don't want to concede too much, mainly to save the hedges, but he's rather trigger-happy on the chainsaw and has slashed and burnt his way up to the line he says is his.  He does claim to have been generous in leaving some of the trees on top of the bank, as a special favour.  So we still have some border greenery, but he's working his way along the east bank, clearing back to the terracing, which, of course, he has the right to do.  We have decided to encourage our hedge to grow forward another metre or two.  Dave is very interested in coppicing the prickly oak anyway, so we'll try for a little bit of managed woodland on our borders.

The left side is ours, the right side is felled and cleared

Delivery!

Thursday 31 January 2013

Suddenly, a delivery.  A stack of green-dipped roofing boards, sitting happily in the sun.  But still no sign of anyone planning to nail them to the rafters.

A gift from a friend who was getting rid - now we have a table and chairs in the dining room, all we need is a roof (and eventually walls, floors, etc, etc)!

Hope springs ...

Weds 30 January 2013

Finally, the sun has come out.  The cats are basking, the build looks a lot less dismal, but there is no sign of the builders. 

Spectacular sunset with snow on the distant mountains.

Legal wrangling

29 January 2013

The man who says they are his olive trees reared his head again.

We were working indoors on yet another drizzly day when Adonis from Elite/the Forestry Office appeared.  He had been approached by the man from Eglouvi about the trees.  After talking to Adonis, we arranged to go and see our lawyer.  The next morning, the olive tree man himself arrived.   He appeared quite early in the morning and just stood outside the camper van shouting in Greek.  He doesn't like the fact that the trees have been trimmed.  We said we were going to see our lawyer about the issue.

So a day in Lefkas, seeing the lawyer, who said we needed to get all the previous contracts for our land.  We called on the notary, and got the previous contract, but apparently, before that, the land belonged to a man who inherited it from his father and had no contract.  We have to find a telephone number for that man.  This involves asking everyone we  know in the Greek community if they know of him or his relatives.  A long job.

Where there's a withy

25 January 2013

The rain continues.  We are at that time of year when getting hot water is a real struggle.  We have to plan when we need to wash - ourselves, our clothes, the dishes - then put on the big noisy generator for about half an hour.  It's not a quick process.  We then have to decide how to prioritise - ourselves, the clothes, the dishes - and who or what gets the lukewarm dregs at the end! 

Meanwhile, I've been exploring local sources of withies and brambling, scouring the local hedges for good long weavers.  

 A wheelbarrowful of brambles

 Myrtle withies, not very long, but good and flexible

We think these are mulberry offcuts, they were lying around the ground in large numbers, so we made off with a few.  They are proving good for hurdles.