Mid April 2013
I can't remember why we didn't start with the stone straight away. There was a hiatus, while we just looked at it. And then there was bad news, Sid the lovely labrador that we'd looked after for Dave's brother over Christmas, had died suddenly. Pete was distraught, so we took the boat to Meganissey to spend some time with him, as Ed, his wife, was in England.
Then there were jobs to do on Dave's boats. Although he had outsourced the work this year, there were still bits and pieces to do. One of the boats was launching early, as it was in the way of another one in the yard. The laundry needed collecting, and sails. I needed the dentist, we had to go to Lefkas for the bank to pay boatyard fees. Our days were eroded by non-site related tasks.
We also needed to drill some holes in the concrete footing to put in lengths of scrap rebar, to hold the stones in place against possible lateral movement in an earthquake. Dave got out the super-drill we'd had brought back from the UK months ago, and set out to drill the holes. The drill looked great, but it had a different fitting to the usual, and the extra-long masonry bits I'd bought would not work. Another delay, while we sourced some new bits.
Meanwhile, friends had come from the UK, Pete's Ed was back with their daughter, Rachel, and three lifeboat lads, Mike, Barry and Gordon had come out to work on their villa. We lent them tools - but why is it that as soon as a tool is lent, it is invariably needed? The pickaxe, the drill, the trowel - we spent a week wondering where we'd left them!
We had a few afternoons, though, and while we didn't feel up to starting the wall building at three in the afternoon, there were other things to get on with. Dave was still in the throes of plaster experimentation, using our own long grass for fibres, since we didn't have any straw. and I wanted to make a welsh dresser out of scrap wood for tool and book storage.
I can't remember why we didn't start with the stone straight away. There was a hiatus, while we just looked at it. And then there was bad news, Sid the lovely labrador that we'd looked after for Dave's brother over Christmas, had died suddenly. Pete was distraught, so we took the boat to Meganissey to spend some time with him, as Ed, his wife, was in England.
Then there were jobs to do on Dave's boats. Although he had outsourced the work this year, there were still bits and pieces to do. One of the boats was launching early, as it was in the way of another one in the yard. The laundry needed collecting, and sails. I needed the dentist, we had to go to Lefkas for the bank to pay boatyard fees. Our days were eroded by non-site related tasks.
We also needed to drill some holes in the concrete footing to put in lengths of scrap rebar, to hold the stones in place against possible lateral movement in an earthquake. Dave got out the super-drill we'd had brought back from the UK months ago, and set out to drill the holes. The drill looked great, but it had a different fitting to the usual, and the extra-long masonry bits I'd bought would not work. Another delay, while we sourced some new bits.
Meanwhile, friends had come from the UK, Pete's Ed was back with their daughter, Rachel, and three lifeboat lads, Mike, Barry and Gordon had come out to work on their villa. We lent them tools - but why is it that as soon as a tool is lent, it is invariably needed? The pickaxe, the drill, the trowel - we spent a week wondering where we'd left them!
We had a few afternoons, though, and while we didn't feel up to starting the wall building at three in the afternoon, there were other things to get on with. Dave was still in the throes of plaster experimentation, using our own long grass for fibres, since we didn't have any straw. and I wanted to make a welsh dresser out of scrap wood for tool and book storage.
In the middle we had the Nisos Christmas Party, slightly later than expected. Which was a fun night out at Mamma Mia's. This is two of the directors with the maintenance staff, proving why they are in yachting rather than music!
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