On target

31 March 2019

During the two days of our truncated Centreparcs experience, we had a go at archery, and Dave really enjoyed it.  I was already sickening, so I found it tiring.  Anyway, to cheer ourselves up, as we started to recover, we bought each other a beginners Archery set for our birthdays.  Dave made a target, and hung some sheets to prevent injuries to passing sheep, and we started practising.  Dave is really good, but I was too weak at first to do very much, but today I hit my first bullseye.  Very pleased!

Boat Disaster

Friday 29 March 2019

Our plans to press on with pouring the other bit of floor slab by the stove came to an abrupt stop when we received a phone call at 7am.  Our boat had hit the pontoon and sunk.  This is not good.  We raced down to see, but the wind and waves were still fierce.  Fishing boats were upside down and two yachts were aground on the beach, but we had gone straight down into the mud.

The rest of the morning was spent at the Port Police, trying to recover copies of the boat papers (which were on the boat), and making a statement.  Divers were arranged for the next morning, and a space in the boatyard for Monday morning.  

We met the divers at nine on Sunday morning, and the slow process of raising her began.  It took until eleven o'clock that night.  We came and went, beachcombing for bits that had floated away, going for coffee with Paris and Rosa who came past, and later, going for dinner at the nearest restaurant so we could pop back easily if we were needed.  

 The first couple of flotation bags at the bow.  Twelve noon.  Apparently she had settled into over a metre of mud, so it was really difficult to break the suction and get her nose up.

 Five forty-five: surrounded by bags, the cockpit starts to emerge from the murk.

 As the cockpit came clear of the sea, three pumps were put on board to start emptying the cockpit and then the interior

 Six thirty: the deck is mostly above water

 Ten pm.  We can see the damage to the sugar scoop.  We sidled off home at this point.  The divers said they'd ring when they finished and let us know if we were needed to do anything.  Conny from the pontoon offered to wake up every two hours through the night to check her and ring the divers if there was a problem. 

 Next morning (as the clocks had gone back, nine o'clock but really eight o'clock) we were back on the pontoon.  And there she was, floating again, if rather battered.

We had a bit of a look inside but it was deep in mud and all the floorboards had floated up and resettled anyhow so it was a bit treacherous.  We'll get into wet weather gear on Monday in the yard and hose her out.

 The hole

A day of moving gravel

Thursday 28 March 2019

The next job towards getting the floors all done involves the moving of gravel.  Several years ago, when we thought we would be tiling the music room, we laboriously installed about 30cm of fresh gravel on the packed earth; and that has been our floor in there ever since.  However, the plan has moved on, and we now want to put a wood floor in the music room.  The joists will rest on a wooden ring beam, and it all needs to have an air gap below, so the gravel has to go.  Pete and Paris came to help, and Lin came to watch because she's been ill and can't do anything strenuous

 The 300kg stove is sitting on a plinth of concrete.  When we realised how heavy it was, we didn't have time to make a limecrete plinth - we needed something that would be good and solid within a couple of weeks of installation.  But we minimised the concrete, and only made this small area.  As the floor here is to be an extension of the kitchen - the stove includes an oven, of course - it will be tiled.  The process is: frame out the level we want the slab (3cm down from final floor level); fill with gravel up to 12cm down from that; then pour a 12cm limecrete slab and wait for it to go off.  Here are the first two sections on either side of the stove waiting for gravel.

 This is the music room floor, still cardboarded.  We took up the cardboard, then Dave and Pete started shovelling gravel into buckets, while Paris and I lugged them into the living room.  Lots of dust!

 Some (remarkably short) time later, both framed areas are gravelled up.  So Dave decided we might as well pour the slab for at least one of them today.

 Dave making mixes

 Meanwhile, Lin had (yet another) go at resolving my curtain rail problem.  There is a company in Athens that sells curtain rails.  It has a website in English.  No-one there speaks English, so Lin has become my go-between.  All I want is three curtain rails that are operated with string.  The company sells them.  All we want is to know how much they cost.  Several phone calls and over three months later (due to Lin not being available, and us being away) we still don't know.  On with the saga!

 Having been fobbed off on the phone once again, Lin takes to tamping down gravel

 Paris and I are still moving gravel.  As the stove areas filled up so fast, we quickly emptied the Solarium of furniture, and now we're putting the gravel in there to bring the floor level up - this is a job on the list, but we didn't expect it to happen today!

 By the evening, Dave's made five mixes and I've levelled off one side and put the remainder in the other side.  We intend to make the rest of the mixes tomorrow and get the other area filled too.

 Pete, being indefatigable, has cleared all the gravel from the music room, exposing the packed earth floor.  This will need more digging out round the edges so we can get in to fit and level a ring beam.

 The team - dusty and exhausted.

The solarium, with a proper floor level and some mats to make it cheerful.

Grouting the bathroom

20 March 2019

We arrived home, incredibly glad to be back, on Wednesday 13th, and spent a week recovering.  Dave was fighting the chicken pox virus too by now.

But by Weds 20th we couldn't bear to malinger any longer, so we asked Paris to join us, and started work on the floor tiles in the bathroom.  They had now had an unexpectedly long six weeks or so to set, so we disposed of the plank bridges and hopscotched across the tiles.

 Despite the long setting time, there were one or two that wobbled or rang hollow when tapped.  These are the ones marked with a chalk cross in the picture above.

 The wobbly ones were lifted, the central area of mortar chipped out and filled with grout, then the tile was reseated into the grout.  It seems to have worked so far.

 When the tiles had been scrubbed clean, they were coated with two coats of 'Surfapore R', a waterproofing treatment that leaves them still 'breathing'.  When that dried, Dave refitted the side of the bath - hurrah!  It all suddenly looked a lot neater.

Apart from skirting boards, that's the bathroom finished.  One day when all the floors are finished, we'll commission some nice furniture from Rowan, but till then, we'll manage with the old stuff.

UK Trip 2

25 Feb to 4 March 2019

Monday saw us heading up to Centreparcs, after Richie arrived (frozen) by bicycle late on Sunday night.  We were meeting Dave's Rob and family and my George and family, and later for the weekend my half-sisters and families were coming.  Should've been a good time.

 Richie, George, Noah and Phillie come to visit us in our villa

 We decide the weather is mild enough for a barbeque, hosted by Rob and Tanya

 Vinnie and Noah get acquainted

Then it all goes horribly wrong and the funny sniffly 'flu I've been feeling suddenly peaks (high temperature, blood pressure, dehydration, fever) and I'm in hospital being sorted out.  After this I spent a week on the sofa (day and night - I couldn't lie down for coughing) surrounded by tissues and unable to eat.  The immediate families were very brave and came to visit at a short distance, but I didn't even see my half-sisters' families.  

At the end of the Centreparcs week, I was still very limp, so George and Phillie took me home and kept me stocked with tissues while Dave went to see his daughter in the north east.  When he arrived we went to the health centre and they diagnosed Chicken Pox, and said I would be a risk to any pregnant mothers on the flight, so we changed all our arrangements and stayed four more days.

Meanwhile, Dave, George and Phillie went to get chickens, as Noah had been so taken with the ducks at Centreparcs.

UK trip 1

22 Feb 2019

Our antics away from building the house aren't really what this blog is about, but it is nice for us to keep a record of our doings, so the next few posts are a short photo-record of our trip.

We drove up to Ioannina again, stayed the night, charged the car at the Hotel Anna by the airport, and took the little hopper plane to Athens on Friday.  Then after a long nine hours at the airport (I booked so long ago, I planned for us to go by bus, which requires a late flight) we flew on to Heathrow and a weekend with my brother Jonathan.

 On Saturday we went to visit Wisley gardens, and spotted this bundle, which is a tropical palm that has been wrapped for the winter.  This may be the way we should be treating our Moringa trees.  It was good to see how it's done.

Jonathan and Sarah sharing a cuddle

 On the Sunday we went down to Salisbury to collect my Mum, who put Dave and Jono to work fixing things before she would agree to come on holiday with us

Farewell to Angel

21 Feb 2019

It has worked out that Angel-dog will be re-homed to Germany about a week after we leave for the UK.  It is a pity it worked out like this, but that's when the transport was available.  We are sure she knows something's up.  Especially after we tidied up the living room and put down some rugs.

 Goodbye Angel.  Thanks for all the good times, and we really hope you have fabulous life with your new family in Germany.

A Big Clean Up

21 Feb 2019

Tomorrow we fly to the UK to see all the grandchildren and extended family, and Liana is coming to stay in the house for the two-and-a-half weeks we are away.  So while Dave treated the new stone floor in the utility/battery room, Paris and I cleared away years-worth of little-used tools and equipment from the living room, into the shed and the trailer.  Dave and I had already gone through the trailer and finally brought into the house the boxes of books and DVDs that have been in storage for eight years, which went onto the new library shelves.  Everything got cycled around, swept up, tidied away and neatened up - phew!

 Bikes, coats and garden tools back in the utility as soon as the floor treatment dried out

 The trailer - lots of rubbish disposed of, so now we can get in and out again

The shed, starting to look rather cluttered, but manageable

And the benefit - more space in the living room, and when we come to do the floor, less tools and equipment to move at that time.