Grout, trim and shelves

18 Feb 2019

Paris and Dave finished the grouting, and then turned to cutting and painting quarter-round trim for the last couple of doors that still need it.  I scrubbed the kitchen clean and did loads of washing.  Liana is coming to stay, and I want it all as cleaned up as possible for her. 

 Another floor area ticked off - yay!  Bathroom and hall to grout next, then wood floors in the music room and living room, and a slab with more tiling round the stove - target for completion: end April.

After lunch, a long-awaited job happened - some of the remaining library shelves went up - space for books: hurrah!

Cleaning the Lagoon

17 February 2019

It's my birthday, so I'll go paddling in muddy water collecting plastic waste if I want to!  A litter clear-up was organised for Sunday, so with wellies, binbags and a rake we took to the wetlands in Lefkas town.  It was a sparklingly lovely day.  We finished up with lunch in town for around nine of us, so it was a good birthday too.

 Lefkada Lagoon is an important wetlands habitat, well worth protecting.  About 70 volunteers turned out, including port police, local council and Greek National Trust personnel.

 Our team: Rosa, Paris, Malin, Dave (and me, below)

 In our special issue volunteer hats!

 My first find - a poor dead turtle - the shell is about as long as my forearm.  I wanted to keep it but Dave wouldn't allow it in the car (it was quite recently dead).

 Dave goes out deep with the rake to collect plastic bottles

Rosa in the undergrowth - also collecting the ubiquitous plastic water bottles

Grouting the Entry

15 Feb 2019

The walls are finished, the ceilings are finished - only the floors remain to be done.  So Paris and Dave worked on grouting the paving stones in the entry, which have had over a month to dry now; while I got the short straw and started the mammoth task of clearing up and sorting out.  If we're going to get the living room floor done in the next couple of months, we need to have a lot less stuff in here; and now almost all the work is done, a lot of scabby contingency bits and pieces can finally be flung (or recycled, wherever possible).

 Paris starts the grouting (a job for younger knees than ours!).

We make our own grout out of lime mortar with fine sand (for these pavers we use a mix of two buckets fine sand, two buckets sharp sand and a bag of lime putty).

 Most of it done on the first day.  

Dave goes over it with a damp brush the next day to discourage any cracking.

 The living room, some sorting and clearing done, but the big job will be tomorrow, when Dave and I clear out the shed, to make room for tools to be relocated.

We finish the ceilings

12 - 13 February 2019

A last effort, and all the boards are up.  That's it for ceilings.  And, in fact, for walls (barring a few skirting boards after the floors go in).  So a major milestone, hurrah!!!  Paris was here on the day, finishing off some trims around the doors, so she was on standby with a camera for the last, emotional moments of ceiling building.

On Tuesday, we only do a half day, as Rosa comes to give singing lessons, and gets a cuddle from Angel.

 Four panels remaining to do - up and left behind Dave, who is cutting the next panel

 Fitting the penultimate panel

 Nearly done

 Paris helps to hold the last panel, 

Dave has just drawn the curve of the mezzanine over the top, prior to cutting

 And it fits!

 That's it, all done

And the universe sends a sign!

(Our very own force-field bubble)

More Batons

11 Feb 2019

Working along the underside of the mezzanine, getting all the cross-pieces in place.  This is much quicker in most cases than cutting the wire runs in the long sides, so it continued very satisfyingly.

Until it was all done, ready for boarding.

 

Halcyon Days

Sunday 10 Feb 2019

It appears there is a nice bit of Greek mythology around the 'Halcyon Days'.  Something to do with Zeus fancying a girl who'd lost her love and was turned into a kingfisher: 'Alkyona', and then having a fortnight of calm weather in the middle of winter to lay eggs on the seashore.  In real terms, it means that the weather becomes warm and sunny for a while - 'Kingfisher Days' as the Greeks call them.

Having worked solidly since the beginning of the month we took Sunday off, and made a special trip to a favourite place above the village of Haradiatika where a walk along the edge of a steep valley eventually reaches the stream tumbling down among rocks and trees.  It has a lovely atmosphere, and we were pretty sure Angel would like it.

 The view down the valley

 Angel avoiding the beehives

 Me,

 Dave and Angel reach the stream

 Which Angel takes to like ... well, a dog to water

 Which she shares with Dave

 Posing for a photo

 On the way back we make one of our rare visits to check the boat over.

Mezzanine batons

7 - 9 Feb 2019

Now we have the fiddly bits of the curving mezzanine.  Full of wires, and over rough ground with lots of obstacles for the ladders.

 Thursday, getting started.  First fix of silly little pieces in the left end, then working along cutting batons for each space, with channels for the wires.

 Dave doing the chiselling out.  After a while he changed to using the jigsaw, which was a little easier and quicker.

 Friday, moving along.

 Catching the dog just as she wins the tail-chasing game - which is an added menace (for her and us) around the whole ladders-and-power-tools setup.

Saturday, all long batons cut and fitted.  Cross pieces next, then panels.

Ceiling the Hall

6 Feb 2019

The next section was the other two long boards, over the little hall by the side of stairs outside the bathroom.  As we have only recently had tiles put down in this area (set in lime adhesive which takes some weeks to go off) we are still teetering about on raised planks, which added an extra element of interest to this section.

 Paris turned up to help by painting the batons ahead of time, so they were ready to use and could be fitted immediately after measuring and cutting.

The little hall, ceilings done - plank and boards down to protect the new terracotta tiles.

Spaghetti Junction

3 - 5 Feb 2019

We've started work on the ceiling boards under the mezzanine in the kitchen.  We are using the same technique as the main ceiling: batons around the aperture between joists, then plywood panels painted white.  The kitchen is much easier to reach, but there is so much wiring, in here and running below the mezzanine generally.  Cutting batons around the wires and safely fixing up the boards will be the challenge here.

 This is the most tortuous baton.  Tricky to measure, cut and fit.  

 Here it is in position, the lowest one in the picture.  It was the last baton to be cut of the four ceiling sections in the kitchen, so then the panels went up relatively quickly.

 The very last two screws in the last panel had to be put in by hand because of the kitchen cupboard just below.  So they took far more effort and swearing than all the rest put together.

Just a little gardening

3 Feb 2019

We had hoped that the interior work on the house would be finished last year, so that we could spend all this year getting the outside set up.  But as we haven't finished the inside (oh, so close ...) nothing is happening outside.  Then Sunday afternoon came round and we couldn't help but get out to do just a little something around the top Moringa bed.

 A little weeding of couch grass, and spreading of woodchip mulch that was made last year and was standing by in a heap.  All this bed (around the straw insulation for the Moringa roots) and ...

.. just the end of the next bed down (right), before our backs gave in and the mulch ran out.

Dog Decision

3 Feb 2019

We have made the difficult decision to have Angel-dog rehomed.  She is so neglected by us that she goes off adventuring and gets into trouble, which is stressful for us all.  She needs a proper home where she'll get proper walks and lots of attention.  She's a lovely dog, and we'll miss her terribly, but there will also be a real sense of relief when she leaves. 

So we contacted the charity, and it turns out that someone in Germany is looking for a dog just like Angel, and a transport is leaving around the 22nd of Feb.  All of a sudden, every spare moment with the dog is precious, and I started taking lots of photos.

 This is the battered garden sofa, which is the only furniture she's allowed on.  She gets very excited when we sit together - it's not at all restful, but lots of fun

 Another favourite place, keeping watch from the terrace outside the kitchen door

And stick running - her favourite thing.  She won't hand the stick over, but she'll run forever with a stick in her mouth and some company (I can't keep up for long!)

Permission to Act

31 Jan 2019

For the record, these are the two documents authorising Spiros to register our land with the Land Registry, and to finalise our payment of National Insurance for the building works.  While we were at the Town Hall sorting this out, we collected a copy of our building permit, so we can work towards getting that finalised, too.