Going Up

May 2013

Finally, after weeks of asking, we had a delivery of floorboards for the mezzanine.  They turned out to be more expensive than we'd hoped, but also a lot more posh than we'd expected.  We were just going to fit the basic stuff we'd put in the shed, but Constantine didn't want to compromise his professional integrity, and got us the posh stuff at a very good price comparatively.  So we're not complaining, and Dave was able to throw himself into woodworking, since he'd been invalided out of wall building.

16th May: The first few boards fitted, enough to be able to work from on top, rather than running up and down various ladders to nail onto each joist.

 17th: Almost to the central beam.

18th: Fitting round the posts.  The mezzanine starting to look like a really nice upstairs space

Doing the boards over the entryway, Dave found this creature hanging onto a joist.  We called her 'Lucky' as you don't get to be that big a stick insect without a bit of luck.  She stayed put, just shuffling round a bit, while we nailed the boards down over her head.  The joist she's hanging on to is 12cm wide.

27th: Dave has managed the tricky bit around the stair aperture, and got a few boards down on the cantilevered section of the mezzanine - here he demonstrates that they can hold his weight, and there's plenty of headroom.  In fact, there's lots more headroom than we planned - it's a lot bigger all round than we expected.

Walking the plank - well, shuffling along on your bottom on the plank.  Neither of us are very good with heights.

Westering sun streaming into the boarded out mezzanine, with the mattress we bought from Joe and Amanda ready and waiting.  The wood ust needs to be treated with preservative and we'll be moving in.  Doesn't it look nice?

Entertaining!

May 2013

On Thurs, May 2nd, after a morning at Art, I returned home to find we had visitors, Naomi and Pete with their friend Gary, had turned up.  Naomi was keen to provide a day or two's labour as a wedding present - which was a lovely thought, but Thursdays are Art in the morning for me, and Band Practice in the evening for Dave, so it was impractical that day.

I arranged a little meze for lunch, and we had our first communal meal in the house!

A week later, the afternoons are warm, and the sun shines enough to provide electricity for various amps, so band practice moved to the living room of the house.  Another acquisition from Joe and Amanda is a second fridge, which now lives in the 'kitchen' of the building site, filled with beers, and only turned on on Thursday mornings ready for practice.

On Saturday, May 11th, Naomi did come back and put in a long hard day's labour on the site.  Dave had been called away to do boaty things, so I was extra grateful for the company.

5pm, lots achieved, Dave home - time for a little meze and a glass of something.

Thurs 16th, and we had a surprise turnout for band practice - which was more of a jam session with so many musicians in one place - seven in total!  Guitars, bass, drums and mouth organ, lots of bluesy riffs rolling across the olive groves.  Lucky we have no close neighbours, although painting Amanda down the hill said she enjoyed the music while gardening.

Traffic chaos on the track!

Rock on!

May 2013

Sorry for the long gap between posts.  I've barely had the computer on this month.  We've been working hard on the house whenever we can, with Dave's boats in the yard to be launched and made ready for summer visitors, work on Sundays and frequent visits to the dentist (I went for a checkup and found I needed eight! old fillings replaced - eugh!) all intruding on our time.

On Tuesday 30 April, Dave was working on getting the borrowed mixer going, it was firing up, but not starting, when Pete came round, and said, 'are you sure the string goes that way round the pull cord mechanism?'  After that, it started chugging away like a dream.  

We did a few mixes, and rapidly ran out of supplies, so on Thurs 2nd, this delivery arrived.  Three bags of sand, one big sack of 40 smaller bags of lime and a stack of floor slabs, ready for the bathroom.  Luckily a plumber friend, Simon, came round on a different errand, and said, 'don't lay the floor till the water pipes are in.'  We made arrangements to do this in June, finances allowing. 

These are all wedding presents: sand, lime and slabs - very many thanks to you all x x x

This is our masonry work zone.  At this stage the wall looks like just a scruffy lump of stone ...

 ... but by Weds 8th, it has begun to take form. Unfortunately, Dave had pulled something in his back, being too enthusiastic, and was off the strength.  Much to his frustration.  So progress slowed up again, with just me pottering along.  But the mixer is a godsend.

This is where I started to go round the bend ... !  (Whadderyamean 'started'?)  The big umbrella just visible in the foreground is one more thing that we bought at knock-down price from Joe and Amanda as they divest themselves of everything before relocating to NZ.  It's  got a great concrete base, so it's a devil to move around, but it does let me keep myself and the wall in shade as I work.

Here I am, getting my rocks on, with Naomi on a visit, being a great help collecting infill stones and landscaping the piles of earth around Dave's ditch to improve wheelbarrow access.  I'm struggling to find gloves that can cope with sharp sand, big rocks and caustic lime.  One pair were so unsuitable I got cuts in four finger ends, and my skin dried up like lizard hide.  I spent three days applying hand cream at hourly intervals, and wearing plasters on each fingertip.