Mnogo dujd

Yeah. More complaining about rain. I'm sorry, I wish I wasn't but then I wish it wasn't dripping through the ceilings and requiring me to go onto the roof and shovel it over the edge. What a pain. Anyway, enough complaining. What happened last night is in the previous blog, and today I have been dealing with today, not last night.

Not raining... yet...

I slept like a log, as I've said, and snoozed myself through to nearly 7am waking before the second alarm again and getting out of bed. It was overcast but not raining when I woke which was a good sign for the day, I thought. I didn't even have a cup of tea before going and feeding the boys then heading out to collect the men. This is how discombobulated I was from the night before. The cloud cover was low the whole way and I had time to snap a picture half way up the men's cheren put looking towards Greece. It is there in the distance somewhere.

This is how the birds get in.

The men were ready and moved quicker than normal today; maybe they were keen to get on before rain began. I was able to reply to the "how are you" with a different answer; I reduced my rating to Gore Dolo due to last night and was rewarded wit the news that they had not really had any rain at all at their village. When we got back they were suitably amazed at the mess inside and the amount of rain that had obviously fallen. Then they went upstairs and cracked on with the work. I spotted in the living room the way that the swallow has been getting in to feed its chicks. This bird netting isn't really very bird proof; they just peck it until it breaks and make a hole big enough for themselves to get through.

As the day began

I set to writing the blog I posted this morning and ate some uninspiring jam on toast for breakfast, along with my cuppa. I then legged it into town to Lidl to get some more coffee (as I had run out of the stuff that the men like) and I picked a few other things up at the same time. It was hammering down on the way and I was driving through some substantial rivers on the road. Not good fun. When I got back it was still raining there. The men had set to clearing and making space around the next section of roof to be removed, which they had started on yesterday.

Bekir doing some cleaning

When I got back they were cleaning and sweeping and removing the rubbish from under the next bits of the roof, though they weren't yet moving all the junk directly over Room 13 which was a pity as I wanted to get in there and sweep the water away as it was starting to come through. Talking of which, there were three wet spots on the ceiling in the bedroom this morning and now there are seven. I could really do with this rain letting up and not coming back til, I don't know, I have a roof maybe?

Toy car

When I popped up to see how they were going I was greeted with laughter and the gift of two toys they had found; this orange plastic car and a little metal railway wagon. These will go into my collection of "things from the school" and indeed, by the time I write this, I have cleaned them both up. The wagon is quite rusted, but I reckon I can fix the car up quite nicely.

Steadily getting clearer

I finished the blog, published it, and went back up to see how they were getting on. The rain was still falling and it had been pretty much since they arrived here which is just typical. Even more typical was the fact that shortly after this, they went on lunch, and it stopped and brightened, only to return quite heavily after they went back upstairs. Typical.

Basic tools are best

I then had an incredibly uninspiring lunch of half a tomato, half a cucumber and a load of cold potatoes and, feeling queazy and tired I headed to bed for a doze. I lay there for a while listening to drips and water and other liquid noises and eventually dropped off, waking suddenly to hear the men were back at it and hammering away. I lay there for a bit then got out of bed, I'd only been asleep for 20 minutes, and went up and sure enough they were at the task of removing the super dodgy length of guttering that hung over above Room 13 and the main electricity cable. I watched, fascinated, as to how they were planning on safely getting this down. First of all a couple of large nails were hammered into a long length of wood and Sally hooked them under the beam, to hold the whole thing up. Then Bekir used a bent length of metal to hook the rope around the other end, and Orhan hooked it back. Teamwork.

After this I got my video out and shot a couple of short clips (apologies for the laughter; I know I sound like a loon - I can't help it) but I was really impressed with how they did it, being careful but also using enough force to shift without possibly taking too long. They removed the rest of the wood and metal work quickly and then got on with more clearing of bricks, beams and dust.

With the removal of the guttering done I went back downstairs and went back to sleep, though I was again keyed up so read for a bit before dropping off. I must have been really tired from last night as I had that strange exhausted but can't sleep feeling. I woke up about an hour or so later and slowly pulled myself together then went to get the boys, who I had left in their enclosure while I slept. I came back in with Ralf and prepared to hook him up and Bekir appeared, bedraggled, and said that they couldn't work any more and would go home. I took the boys back to their enclosure, remembering this time to take a bottle of water to top up their supplies, and then drove the men back. It was a dispirited group in the car with little banter and conversation, apart from when a car drove past with the kayak on the roof and I said I needed one for upstairs. I left the men and headed home, through rain that got heavier as I drove.

Do not want that dripping into Room 13

When I got back I let the boys out and went up to the roof to see what was happening. The puddles were firmly back, and it was as I say raining again. I had a brief moment of depression, with my head still pounding from having napped twice very deeply but for short periods of time, and then kicked myself into gear. I got the boys out, looked for my wellies but couldn't find them so put my walking boots on, and went onto the roof to deal with things. The good thing was that I could now get to the water above Room 13 (pictured) and over about half an hour or forty minutes I cleared 85% or so of the water from all the pockets up there.

Drainage gap

This time of clearing the water I realised something which in the hurry and dark of last night I hadn't remembered; there were gaps in the surrounding wall at the end nearest the sun terrace which I would be able to sweep the water out of, rather than having to lift it over that wall as I did everywhere else. This worked really well and helped me finish off very quickly. This was a good thing as my headache was not getting much better. I had made a brew previously and was motivating myself to do the water quickly by leaving it downstairs. As soon as I had done everything I could I went and drank it, and ate some biscuit things, and felt a little better.

Collecting drips

Now I was irritated more and more by the dripping that was occurring on the landing, in Sassy's room and also in here in Room 13. I had to empty the bucket I'd placed last night as it was looking quite full and so I went on a hunting mission for all the receptacles that I could find. It dripped and dripped and dripped for hours but now as I type this it has pretty much stopped, thank goodness. Now I just need it to not rain again for four weeks or so. Please.

Almost sunny

I returned later on to the roof once more and did another round of scooping and sweeping and was really unable to get more off the roof without using a towel or something to soak it up then ring it out over the edge. I had no desire to do this. While I was up there I saw that the weather had a break to it, there was even what could almost be described as "sun" in the distance. Amazing.

Progress is being made

I took the opportunity as well to snap a status picture, having failed you in that regard yesterday. They have pretty much finished removing the beams on their target section, and have also swept and cleared underneath where they'll be taking down next. For a half day, where they were soaked and cold which is not a state they are used to working in, they have done very well.

Banger and mash swimming in gravy

I had bought some sausages from the bargain bin at Lidl earlier with the plan of having bangers and mash but I was not feeling that inspired by eating; my headache was still throbbing. When I remembered the gravy granules that my Special Guest had brought with her, however, I jumped into action, peeled and boiled the spuds, then fried the sausages, made my gravy with the water from the tatties, and noshed it all down. I still have a headache, but it is slowly going away.

Average rainfall for where I am

Finally I am going to leave you with a graph shamelessly stolen from http://www.worldweatheronline.com/ showing the average rainfall in mm and the average days of rain, per month. It shows that July has the highest average rainfall of all the months, which I can testify to, but near enough the fewest days with rain. In other words, it doesn't rain often but when it does, it hammers it down. Here's to a dry rest of month.

The weather is clearing now, there was some sun as it went down but not enough to bother with a picture, but there is still a full overcast all around. Looking at my phone app it seems that tomorrow will be OK and Friday there may be some storms in the afternoon. I do hope it just clears; I know I keep saying it but it is slowing the roof progress down and also stressing me slightly because of the drips and the plaster which is starting to give way more in Room 13.