All of May 2012
Constantine did chose to come on Thursday when we were launching boats. The launch went slowly, waiting for the boatyard to be ready, and then two boats didn't start and the third was leaking. So we went back on Friday to fix all these things, and got a call mid-morning saying Constantine and the concrete man were at the land.
So we dropped everything and went home to discuss. It turned out a good thing we did, as the concrete man was saying that the land still sloped up to 80cm. It turned out that Gerasimos' experience wasn't as good as a theodolite. The concrete man wanted to lay the footing on the land as it was, and then build the plinth up by the 80 cm. This would have given us a 15 cm wide plinth as high as 1.05 metres at one end - and required the stone stem wall for the cob to be over 1.5 metres deep. No, we said. Madness. Let's get Gerasimos back to try again to level the land, even if it means dropping the house down further, as originally expected. So we did.
Since then, nothing has happened with the build. In between lashing unseasonal rain and work on the boats, including Tropi, we haven't been keen to move the work on, as we've needed the time in the yard.
We got a bit twitchy about the financial situation in Greece. We're between elections just now, as the recent elections didn't result in a viable government. There are worries that the Drachma will be reintroduced, and that Euros will devalue massively overnight if it does. So we took our concrete money out of the bank. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, as the bank was a bit short of readies, and had to give us a couple of grand in twenties.
Meanwhile, two of the chickens seem to be growing up to be cockerels, and one of the remaining ones died. She just went all dozy over a couple of days and then Dave found her dead one morning. A bit sad, and still no eggs. The remaining three seem to be flourishing, though.
The pollen is atrocious this year. We're all sneezing with runny eyes, but there is likely to be a monster olive harvest, as all the trees seem to be reveling in the rainy weather.
We remember the green eyed monster horse flies from last year and how dreadful it was to not be able to get away from the flies and mosquitoes. I was lookiing at Dave's solar panel structure and realised it could be another room. I lined the structure with insect netting and we have a new place to sit out in the evening. If it ever stops raining!
Constantine did chose to come on Thursday when we were launching boats. The launch went slowly, waiting for the boatyard to be ready, and then two boats didn't start and the third was leaking. So we went back on Friday to fix all these things, and got a call mid-morning saying Constantine and the concrete man were at the land.
So we dropped everything and went home to discuss. It turned out a good thing we did, as the concrete man was saying that the land still sloped up to 80cm. It turned out that Gerasimos' experience wasn't as good as a theodolite. The concrete man wanted to lay the footing on the land as it was, and then build the plinth up by the 80 cm. This would have given us a 15 cm wide plinth as high as 1.05 metres at one end - and required the stone stem wall for the cob to be over 1.5 metres deep. No, we said. Madness. Let's get Gerasimos back to try again to level the land, even if it means dropping the house down further, as originally expected. So we did.
Since then, nothing has happened with the build. In between lashing unseasonal rain and work on the boats, including Tropi, we haven't been keen to move the work on, as we've needed the time in the yard.
We got a bit twitchy about the financial situation in Greece. We're between elections just now, as the recent elections didn't result in a viable government. There are worries that the Drachma will be reintroduced, and that Euros will devalue massively overnight if it does. So we took our concrete money out of the bank. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, as the bank was a bit short of readies, and had to give us a couple of grand in twenties.
Meanwhile, two of the chickens seem to be growing up to be cockerels, and one of the remaining ones died. She just went all dozy over a couple of days and then Dave found her dead one morning. A bit sad, and still no eggs. The remaining three seem to be flourishing, though.
The pollen is atrocious this year. We're all sneezing with runny eyes, but there is likely to be a monster olive harvest, as all the trees seem to be reveling in the rainy weather.
We remember the green eyed monster horse flies from last year and how dreadful it was to not be able to get away from the flies and mosquitoes. I was lookiing at Dave's solar panel structure and realised it could be another room. I lined the structure with insect netting and we have a new place to sit out in the evening. If it ever stops raining!
