It had been tentatively suggested that the men may want a day of work today, if my friend decided the weather wasn't going to be good enough for her outside work, however I was not sure if this would happen and was waiting on confirmation. I tried to confirm last night but was told she didn't know yet and to check facebook in the morning. I checked, no message, so presumed I could go back to sleep. I returned from a wee break to a ringing phone and "yes, they're working with you; standard time, standard place?" message.
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| Me doing the morning washing up |
It was about 10 minutes before the time I normally left so I was able to gather my thoughts, put some more clothes on, and head off though I didn't have time for a brew; driving without at least one cuppa inside me is surely a very dangerous thing to do. Anyway I arrived about 3 minutes after 8, and they were in Lucy and we were back on the road a couple of minutes after. My plans for them for the day were to knock the door through between the bedroom and living room,. and put the bricks in place below the internal window. I explained what I needed and set to with the washing up as it had piled up somewhat.
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| Cracking on |
As per usual they took absolutely no time to get going and within ten minutes of arriving the tools were out and the pick axe and iron bar were in use removing bricks in the place I had picked for the door. It was really reassuring to hear them thumping and banging away and by this time I'd had a couple of brews and so was back in the land of the living. My tummy was mainly better and I had a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast today, with my guest on peanut butter on toast.
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| Sassy taking time out of eating to say Hello |
The huge pile of salad delivered by the Special One was still sat on the side so we grabbed the old, slightly limp, stuff that was in the bucket and took it through to Sassy. She hadn't been fed yet so I also fed her at this time but she was far more interested in the huge pile of juicy lettuce than her dried food. I went to see her and she briefly acknowledged me and then went back to munching. Which, I think you'll agree, is really fair enough.
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| I nearly have a door |
In the meantime the men had been cracking on in their usual no nonsense, no hassle, really efficient way and they were typically amused when I appeared to snap pictures of them and the work they were doing. They are incapable, it seems, of just keeping working naturally when a camera is pointed at them. They do laugh a lot at my though and that really amuses me too. They had pretty much done the whole door by now, and were just tidying up the edges from what I could see.
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| Kitchen stuff nicely tidied |
With us now forced to be around the house for most of the day we decided to continue the tidying and set to. Room 13 has now become such a better place, with my DVDs out and my books (or most of them) on the book shelves. I am sitting here looking at them as I type this and it makes me feel really happy to have them there; funny how a little touch like that can make such a difference. This wasn't the only achievement though; I hammered some nails in to hang up the frying pans and wooden spoons out of the way, and my guest took it on herself to sort out the green unit and put things into a more organised way. What a wonderful achievement.
We stopped for lunch after this and I had some cheese and (my homemade) pickle while she had the rest of the salsa she had made, and more peanut butter. Just as we finished we heard Bekir shouting "gosti! gosti!" and I went down the stairs to find the S and S had arrived. I had totally forgotten they said they were coming and, because I have got out of the habit of looking at my phone, I hadn't seen that they had text me twice. It was a pleasant surprise and we welcomed them to Room 13 and put the kettle on for them and the men. We sat chatting for a bit, then I gave them the grand tour, explaining my plans, and finally settled them to make use of the internet while myself, Bekir and my guest made a brief trip to the builder's merchant. We picked up two bags of cement, some more metal, and I bought a hay fork for the humanure. The journey back up to the school was fun on the cheren put with so much extra weight in the back and there were some horrendous noises at points. We got back OK though.
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| Door ready for a lintel |
S and S were still there when we got back which was really nice as we got to say bye to them when they left and I am looking forward to getting over to their school to see it and find out how Georgi's workmen are doing. Talking of workmen, Sally had not been idle while we were out and the bricks around the new door were all in place and ready for the next steps.
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| The first course goes down |
This is where they split into two, with Sally taking the task of laying the bricks for the wall under the internal window and Bekir going to his metal work to do the steel reinforced lintel above the door. The fact that they are going to achieve absolutely everything is just amazing to me; these workers achieve so much. Me and my guest had to pop into the main town to Kaufland for a few things (not least a new washing up bowl as mine now had a hole in it) and when we left this is what they were doing with Sally up to three courses high and bricklaying fast. Just another thing to point out; when they removed the bricks from the wall for the door they were careful about trimming them of cement and now this is what Sally was using for his new wall.
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| Lintel metalwork in place, and nearly completed wall |
When we returned Sally had nearly completed the wall with only half a course to go, and Bekir was up and fitting the metal in for the lintel. I had never managed to get a picture of this completed before so I was pleased to be able to grab this shot as he was putting the wooden formwork to contain the concrete. The work continued apace and it is nearly 7pm now and they are only just starting to pack up to go home, having finished all the jobs. So I have a doorway, I have a wall ready for a window, and now I'm irritated at myself for not asking the window men to do the internal window too when they come to fit the bedroom window and doors. Oh well, I'll get them to do that next, and maybe a few other ones too; they're gonna get fed up of coming back piecemeal I think.
So I'm gonna leg it to take the men back and get home again for some lovely stew which has been cooking for hours now and I am very excited about indeed. I have got the Kilchoman Machir Bay out to sip tonight to help the last evening my guest is in Bulgaria go along smoothly. I won't publish this just yet in case there is more to add.
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| Dark clouds over dark Greek mountains |
I have just got back from running the men home. I am so impressed with the amount they have achieved but I am not surprised; I have come to understand and almost expect them to achieve miracles. On the way down from their village on the cheren put I looked towards Greece and wished I had my proper camera with me (I left in such a hurry I forgot to grab it) so this picture doesn't really do the view justice because of rubbish camera phone. The light between the dark of the mountains and the clouds was far brighter and more stark.
Anyway, I'm publishing this now and getting back to my beer. Tomorrow is another day.
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