Romping along

Weds and Thurs 30 - 31 October 2013

I expect you're all really fed up with this wall by now.  I'm sorry we can't report any other excitements in our build process, but we are living, sleeping, dreaming this wall.  The only other development is that the first fix electrics (materials and labour) has been quoted at 3,000 euros, so we've had to put it on hold until we come up with a plan for finding the money. 

So, more of the same on Weds, and on Thurs.  We organised a gravel delivery for Weds afternoon, and Dave and Rob shifted barrow-loads all morning.  The delivery driver said (I think, 'cos it was all in Greek) 'why don't you have the gravel delivered nearer to where you want it?'  I hadn't realised that was possible (the truck has one of those long hydraulic arms) - don't anyone tell the guys!  Oops.

 Nearly all gravelled up.  This ditch was one of the first things we set out to do when we got the building site back from the contractors, and it has been shelved every time something more important has come up.  So it is a really good feeling to think that it will be done and finished with very soon, before the winter rains start, when it will hopefully live up to expectations and keep the site dry under our feet.

Yesterday and today - round the corner and romping along the east wall towards the music room door.

 A long view, showing the mostly-levelled north wall, and complete with viewing chair for tea-breaks.

Music room door - the next challenge is to build in a set of steps without taking ages over it, and with only very large stones left - I'm trying to eke out the remains of the stone pile without buying another one - mainly because the pile gets in the way of other deliveries.

Double ditch!

Sunday - Tuesday 27 - 29 October 2013

Saturday night Dave and Rob played a gig in the Devine Bar in Nidri, tho' I stayed home all partied out.  We took Sunday off, and laid around like vegetables, until the evening, when we went to Lefkas to support Geoff, Mark and Rob playing acoustic guitar at the Irish Rover Bar.  And on Monday we started work again, bright and early.

This was the great moment that Dave and Rob completed the ditch's circumnavigation of the house.  We had planned for them to stand at each side of the final earth barrier, waving little Greek and British flags, and shaking hands, but we were all too tired to either pose or go find the camera, so I took these photos later in the evening.  The weather has continued lovely and sunny, great for me, working on the north side of the house, but exhausting for Dave and Rob in the sun.

I reached the north-east corner of the music room - only seven metres left to finish the straw-bale section of wall.

This photo shows, on the right - the corner I'd reached while Mum was here, in the centre, where we'd got to when Rob arrived, and to the left - the stretch done while Rob's been here.

This is our sunken soak-away, topped up with earth from the ditch, another of Rob's jobs.

I went off to art on Tuesday, while D & R lined and piped the ditch, cleared the loose earth mounds and started to fill with clean gravel.  

Much to our surprise, we hosted a party on Tuesday evening.  Mad Robbie wanted to do some more filming, including a night-time bonfire scene, so he and Sue decided we'd have a barbeque.  Several people got wind of this and turned up with beers and sausages.  Dave, Mark and Vinnie were trying to have band practice, but eventually had to give up and join in.  The fire risk (we have a wooden house full of straw !!!) had me twitchy, but everyone was exceptionally well behaved, and stayed 'outside'.  This meant that they all sat on the wall (the bit I'd done in July) - which stood this test of endurance remarkably well.

So much progress!

Friday eve and Saturday 25-26 October 2013

Friday evening the team relaxed, Dave barbequed sausages, Rob asked Neil round, and everyone relaxed.  (Except Dave: carried away by screaming guitar solos)

Pete stayed an extra day, putting off the ferry till 2pm Saturday, and spent the morning collecting rocks for me, while Dave and Rob got on with the ditch.

Until the point when he decided he'd done enough, got showered and opened a beer, while supervising Dave's ditching ...  

 

... until Dave decided to join him, and they both supervised Rob's ditching.

My wall continued along the back (North) side of the music room, romping along towards the corner.

Team Hodge - still smiling at the end of a very productive morning!

Surprise Return

23 - 25 October 2013

Well, would you believe it?  It was Tuesday, the band was practising, and Dave got a text from Rob saying he really wanted to come back to stay in the house and help us build for a week.  So I got on the internet and found that the most convenient flight for him turned out to be the following morning, check-in at 6am.  Suddenly, on Wednesday lunchtime, we were running up to Igoumenitsa to meet the Corfu ferry (after putting a couple of mixes on the wall first) and, hey, it's been all go ever since.

 Pick up in Corfu, neatly fitted in between wall building in the morning and the Steamboat Rooster gig in the evening.

 Rob and Dave belting out karaoke 'Paranoid' later that evening.

 Next morning, late night notwithstanding, we put four mixes on the wall so fast (with both Dave and Rob making mixes and supplying stones to the build site), and by mid afternoon we were just deciding to siesta, when Mad Robbie and Sue said they were coming round to film us for their next movie (we are cast as flower-power eco-worriers) so we changed and performed ...

 ... before getting to the Yacht Club quiz in the evening, having gained Pete who also arrived from the UK and needed a bed for the night before catching the Meganissey ferry.  (We won the quiz!)

 And another strong start the following morning - with three labourers to keep the work moving, it was frightening how fast that sleepy wall was moving along, even if there did seem to be rather a lot of watching going on.  It does seem to be traditional in Greece that several people need to stand around watching in order for work to progress.

 There's me, trying to live up to the supply of rocks and mortar

 When I finally called a halt to the wall building, collapsing in an overworked heap, the guys just got on with backfilling the ditch, now the pipes are laid.  While also planning a barbeque supper before going out to a rare televised 'Boro match.  Unstoppable, these guys!

 Done!  Time for a siesta.

Halfway along the Music Room back wall - loads of progress - hurrah!

Crawling along

16 - 22 October 2013

Whenever we can, we get on with the wall.  When the weather is bad, we lath and plaster one of the internal walls.  Constantine found us an electrician, who came for a look round, and now we're waiting for an estimate of cost for the first fix.  This will be expensive, and could hold us up for some time, while we save up.  Not having the first fix in place means that there are large areas of wall that can't be lath and plastered, because we will have to build in socket and switch back boxes as we go along. 

So when it rains we work out which internal walls can be done and get on with them.  When it's dry, we do the outside stem wall.  This corner is the start of the straw-bale foundation wall, so it was pretty exciting to start on this - and the bucket-loads of little filler stones that Mum had left for me made for quick progress. 

Dave starting the plaster on the wall Mum and I lathed to keep warm!

Mum - week two

Sunday 6 - 13 October 2013

Dave was back for week two, having been away skippering for the wild and windy previous week.  There was another storm at the weekend, and Mum made me staple polythene all round the otherwise unprotected corner of Dave's and my temporary bedroom.  Lucky she did, we lay there Sunday night being very grateful the rain wasn't lashing in.

 So, with Dave back, and the weather rather overcast and gloomy, but not actually drizzling, we got on with building.  Dave made mixes, Mum collected small stones, and I got on with the wall.

Look at the state of my boots, a spider had moved in over the last few weeks of inactivity!

The polythened wall around our temporary bedroom

 

Dave's ditch moving on in between making mixes

 

 The wall, edging past the toilet and bathroom sink outflow pipes,

 Some little gravel steps I made to make access easier for Mum.

A cold snap - we rushed out to buy two hot water bottles and a gas heater for the night - but had to keep busy for warmth during the day: so I set Mum to sawing laths, while I nailed them up.

 

Here she is - posing in front of the wall we're building.  (It being too wet for outside work).

 

Back on the wall, a day later.  The mixing, stone collecting and building team.

And the final day, back on the beach, having searched the island for a sheltered bay where the waves weren't lashing.  Mum determined to go in the sea, but then realised she had forgotten her costume, so we had a quick change, and she ventured in.

 This is where we got to - the bathroom back wall completed up to the corner, with extra apron to protect the pipes, and below, Dave's ditch finally piped off the edge of the mound.

Mum - week one

Mon 30 Sept - Sun 6 Oct

Monday evening was a fierce storm, strong winds, lashing rain and lightning blasting the mountains all around.  After spending the day collecting all our tools undercover and lashing down anything that could blow away, Mum relaxed enough to sit in the music room - the only room with no waterproofing around the frame - and watch the light show.  As the wind changed, we shuffled our two warm and dry chairs further into the centre of the house, dodging the horizontal rain.  Luckily it eased off for bedtime, and we had a good night's sleep.

 By Thursday, the weather had improved significantly, and we had a day out round the island.

 On Friday, we dressed up and went out for dinner

... and on Saturday, we decided it was warm enough for a dip in the sea, although a bit too choppy to actually swim.