Visiting Rellies, part I

From Weds 2 April 2014

First stop was Rob and Tanya's, for some R&R before starting the marathon round-England tour.

On to Liverpool, for a pilgrimage to the Beatles museum ...

... with George and Phillie ...

 ... and to meet Rosemary and John, Phillie's parents (ready for The Wedding in December) seen here in the Tate, just before I got told off for using a camera.

 Two days later, on Monday, we're in Redcar, visiting Dave's daughter Clare and grandson Leo - who was on top form, showing off his new bed ...

... and toy train,

... before having a fun day out on Whitby beach.

On our way

Tuesday 1 April 2014

On Monday, we heard that the Greek ferry workers are on strike for a 'rolling 48 hour strike'.  We have a flight out of Corfu on Wednesday.  Various people are reporting horror stories of paying a fortune on water and land taxis to get from the airport to Igoumenitsa.  We decided not to risk it, and booked a last minute internal flight from Preveza to Corfu.  More money than we would like to spend, but at least we can relax.  But we leave a day early (and stay overnight in Corfu).

Risking all sorts of problems by taking photos in Greek airports - here are a couple of sneak shots: Preveza departures out of season (if you've been here in August, you'll be amazed), and our little twin prop plane for the 20 min flight to Corfu.

Unfortunately, Dave wasn't too well, fighting a virus, so we had a very quiet night in our little hotel by the airport in Corfu - the Dalia, very nice, friendly people, recommended for an airport hop.

Boat move

Sunday 30 March

One more job, make sure the boat will be safe while we're away.  So we organised a space alongside in Vlicho, and Dave took Tropi down there, while I went round by road, ready to take the lines when he came in.  A nice day, so a good opportunity for some yacht shots.

Closing Night

Saturday 29 March 2014

The Devine Bar is changing hands, and the band were asked to play for the closing Saturday.  Dave got a bit de-mob happy and was caught in the act of waltzing with Geordie Andy.  Now we know what those NE'ers get up to on their nights out.

Odd Jobs

Tuesday 25 March 2014

We go to the UK in a week, so we're reluctant to start any major projects, time to sweep up all those odd jobs that've been neglected.  One day was spent getting the car MOT'd - but can't complain, it was an impressively slick operation compared to previous years.  Bureaucracy here is slipping into the 21st century almost without trying. 

On Tuesday we finally got round to treating the exposed rafters, before they rot away and fall off.  This is eventually going to be the roof of the 'trombe wall' (passive solar heating area) and has discoloured through weather exposure.  Not a difficult job, just one we needed to shift the focus to.

Leaving Dave up the scaffolding, I got on with some more wall filling.  We've decided these two spaces over the stairs will be panelled with tongue and groove, and I managed to find enough scraps from the mezzanine floorboarding to fill in the one on the right.

Here it is from the other side, finished.

Meanwhile, Dave has come down from the roof and is sponging the limecrete slab to roughen the surface for tiling and to fill the few hairline cracks.  This may be the only ever shot of Dave on his knees scrubbing the kitchen floor!  (One more time than me, I expect!)

On the rainy days, I've been painting.  Art party set a theme of 'leaves' so I did this painting of a rainforest.  It is the only painting I've done that actually feels finished, so that's a bonus.

Snaking along

Saturday 22 March 2014

Lovely weather, so we walked down to Nidri to move the boat from its winter berth.  We go to the UK in about 10 days, so we have a list of 'must do before we go' jobs, and this was one.  The best bit about this walk was seeing this snake in the little stream of the short cut.

Completing the slab

20 March 2014

Nothing much to say - more shovelling and tamping and levelling.  Then it was done.  The chicken seriously considered walking through it, but changed her mind when we yelled at her.  The slab has a nice crinkly finish to provide a key for the tiles.  Now we wait to see if it is going to crack ...

In the evening, not a little worn out - Dave was playing, so we went out to DeVine Bar for Hosny the drummer's birthday.

Interested visitors

Thursday 20 March 2014

Work stalled for a long tea break the next day when Lesley, our friend from Lefkas town, turned up with three interested friends who were very keen to volunteer to help with anything we needed help with.  We took email addresses and promised to let them know when we were next bale raising.

Lucy, Lesley, Elke and Nanda - multinational potential eco-builders

Laying the slab

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Robbie and Sue turned up sharpish, and we set off ...

 Instruction from the master-mixer

 Going it alone

 First section started - a very large section this one, 150 cm to reach the position of the proposed internal wall between the pantry and the kitchen.

 ... and moving along

 Taking a break in the sun

 and in the shade

This was when we realised we were going to run out of lime at lunchtime, luckily still with time to bolt down to the stoneyard and arrange a delivery to keep us going through the afternoon.

 Third section of the day started

 Dusk - the workforce all out of work and force, but three sections completed during the day.  Only one left for Dave and I to do tomorrow.

Limecrete - the ultimate mix

Tuesday 18 March 2014

The test piece of Limecrete was showing a few cracks, nothing serious, but Dave decided to alter the mix, and we were ready to try the next section of floor.  We had asked Robbie and Sue to come and work the mixer for us on Wednesday, so we wanted everything ready for a full day on the morrow.

The mix was: 1 bag of lime to 3 sand and 3 gravel, as dry as possible.  This is a big mix for the mixer, so we emptied it in two separate loads so as not to flood the barrow, or make it too heavy to push up the ramp into the work area.

 We installed batons across the floor area to define about a metre width at a time so that we could level the limecrete with the side of a plank as it went in.

 The first floor section completed

Our bank of drills, ready to fix the next crosspiece.

 Early next morning, Dave cutting the wire that goes into the mix to help stabilise it

Baton and wire installed, no cracks in yesterday's section - all ready for the workforce to arrive.