Moving day

Lunch time on this much happier day, with the sun out and all the huge clouds that are around seeming to be skirting my location. I am happier and so are the men and there has already been some pretty impressive progress. But I'll get to that. I just wanted to get ahead a bit so thought I'd do a little blogging while watching some cricket. I also have loads of pictures and reckon this could get into a long one so yeah, don't want to be typing til the early hours.

This is not a Rorschach test

First of all is a comparison picture from last night and this morning showing the dampness that is above my bed. Not good. I hope it doesn't fall on my head in the night. There is no way of me getting above this to try and dry it out from up there sadly as there are tables piled up holding the roof up. Safe. If it doesn't rain heavily for a while then this will dry out pretty quickly.

A foggy start

When I woke up (and after I had taken the photograph of the ceiling) after a few snoozes until about 6.20am I was again pulled out of bed by a need for the toilet and I wandered out onto the balcony to take some pictures of the super heavy fog. It was really thick this morning. Feeding time was pretty easy, I went into the compound much quicker than I have been, as soon as they were both sat, but Ralf was quite naughty so I held him for a fair while before allowing him to eat. Once again there was no need for a watering round so I just finished their feeding then left them inside while I sat upstairs and did a little paid work before heading out to collect the men.

The fog was thick all the way until I got to their village and then the sun was out there. It was busy again at their centre but they were ready immediately and we were even a couple of minutes early heading back. I had a bit of a panic on as the fuel was much lower in Lucy than I thought and actually coasted when I was going downhill, taking her out of gear, something I have seen Lyubo at the garage do when he drove us to go fix Lucy by the side of the road.

Sassy is just out of sight round the corner

I made it back without running out of fuel and headed upstairs for breakfast. As I was munching on my bacon and eggs (yep, back to that after the tremendous disappointment of the toast yesterday) I glanced back and saw that Ralf was laying down staring intently into Sassy's room. I snapped some pictures then stood up and tried to get round to get a better picture. As I spotted that he was nose to nose with Sassy again, he moved, and they didn't get back together again. Shame, really.

Sally and Orhan on the roof

The men had gotten on with their task immediately as usual however they were very much happier than yesterday with the weather being more conducive to outside work. Carrying on from what they had started yesterday, Bekir explained that they were going to be removing the next third of the roof and putting up the ribs and duskat on that before setting to on the last third. I think then they will do all of the covering with hardboard, waterproofing roll, and tiles at once. Exciting times.

The fog is slowly burning off

I had Ralf with me and we went on a little tour, admiring the view as the fog and mist finally started burning off. Ralf did his thing, standing and looking over the edge, though he didn't actually get up and stand right on top of it like he had done yesterday once while I was shifting water.

Sally and Ralf on the roof

Sally was sat on the other return of the roof sorting through tiles and I spotted him through the small hole he had made to gain access. He smiled and laughed and waved at Ralf so I passed Ralf up to him. Sally seems to have really taken a shine to Ralf and it was a lovely moment.

These are nearly ready to eat

As I haven't been around the plants for the last few days due to the inclement weather I decided to take the boys for a short wander around and see what was going on. Ralf remained on his lead and they were both largely very good and obedient for this trip. First of all I walked past the pots which were quite wet from all the rain. My chilis are doing very well and looking good and I reckon soon I'll pick one of these and try it.

Gorgeous red tomatoes

Next to them, the tomatoes are also looking good and there are probably three or four more ready for harvesting. This is quite amusing as this morning, before I left to collect the men, I was stopped by the Little Lady who gave me two more cucumbers and three tomatoes. Great.

The roses are blooming, but also having their leaves eaten

Next on my route I went down the entrance garden and checked things out down there. The Fuschias have lost their flowers (I think largely knocked off by that heavy rain) but they are looking spry and alive. At the bottom the roses are also doing OK, though they are being eaten probably by ants which are nipping away at the leaves. I do hope it doesn't get eaten to death. Any ideas from any of my gardening expert readership?

Tea tree lost a limb

Talking of the storm, the tea trees did not survive unscathed and there are a few branches that were knocked down by the high winds. This is one just next to the humanure, which may get used by myself to cover the pile in the future.

That tile didn't make the grade

As I made my way round the side of the house and up onto the top bank I saw that Orhan and Sally were both on the roof and were taking tiles off; this is Orhan lobbing one of the rejected tiles onto the back bank. It is going to be such a job, and maybe one for a labourer or two, to clear that bank now; I will go through the wood and I am contemplating getting Thomas and the trailer up there this weekend to tidy and move the wood piles into one of the rooms in the green building. We shall see.

This Zinnia has a flower bud

Onwards we went, up to the top where the Zinnias are and I was so pleased to see that they are growing quite nicely now, thankyou, and a few even have flowers budding on them. Excellent. This will be stunning when they are bloomed though I may have to put something else in the part of the bed where they just haven't come up at all. They will self seed up here from now on though.

Three spiders webs

It was still quite early and the dew was thick on the ground, beading in the multitude of spiders web that scattered across the grounds up here. I am not afraid of spiders and these ones in particular are so beautiful I love seeing their webs and their super colourful bodies. So much diversity here. True diversity.

Loads of dust as they remove a plank

I went back inside and got myself ready for my chore; getting into town to pay the electricity, and go fill Lucy back up to the brim. I had looked for a can of petrol which I thought we had here but hadn't found it but then Bekir pointed out where they had put it (it had been used for the chainsaw) so I was able to put a few litres in before setting out. They were still hard at it, now taking the planks down and there was so much dust everywhere it was incredible.

Very excited to see this little fella

My trip to town was simple, with a bit of humour at the post office as they asked if I didn't want to put this bill onto a direct debit. It took a fair while before we understood each other and I got a fair amount of use out of "ne razbiren" but we got there. Now it may seem to make sense to do this however I quite like getting down there to pay and while I may eventually decide to DD this at the moment the enjoyment of getting out and interacting with the locals is too great. I fuelled up (filling two large jerry cans with petrol at the same time) and headed back home having not taken that long. When I arrived the Little Lady was there swinging the grandson on the swinging chair with the granddaughter and Usmivka watching; they had been over with coffees for the men. I got some of the cold dregs, showed her the Olive trees and was very excited to see that a couple of the melons have sprouted already.

Like a massive skylight

Once they had gone, taking the multitude of little buckets that I had collected with them, I went to see how the men were getting on and as I got to the bottom of the attic stairs I was greeted by light shining right through. This has given me the idea that I should, much later obviously, get some windows in there, maybe skylights, to allow use of the stairs without artificial light.

|Another beam is removed

Bekir and Orhan were hard at work removing the beams that were left in this section of the roof, working together to first loosen each one, then pry it free and lob it onto the growing pile of debris on the back. I got a little involved at one stage as Orhan went up a ladder that didn't look safe so I footed it for him until he had done his levering. They do scare me sometimes, with their cavalier attitude to personal safety.

Sally assessing tiles

I couldn't see Sally anywhere then I heard a thump and found him, sat on the roof sorting through the tiles. He was lobbing the bad ones, and keeping the good. There followed a lovely little exchange where he was quoting a guarantee on each tile: "10 years for this one, 0 for this..." lobs it "15 for this one" and he laughed when I said I would need his signature on those numbers. It was just nice to be able to joke with him and also to see him so cheerful and happy.

Sun loving dog

After this pleasant interlude I popped out and spent five minutes moving the gratings from round by the flat roof over to the tortoise house. Today I was determined to finish this off. After that I went and did an hour or two solid paid for work as I really need to keep on this and they are sending me stuff to do which is really good. It got to lunch time and I popped up to see what the state of play was now the men had stopped to eat but the best picture from this was of Ralf, settling himself into a patch of sun, on the stairs to the attic which is just at the limit of his lead.

My lunch was cheese and tomato butties with cucumber in to use some more of those infernal salad items up. I gave a chunk to Ralf and he munched it very fast but when I tried to give him more he looked at me as if to say "you're having a laugh!" and now even he has gone off them. Not good.

Now this is dog proof

After lunch I decided to take a few minutes to do the tortoise house as the men were no longer sleeping outside. I had three gratings and they were big enough to cover the whole thing. I juggled them a bit, as I need to be able to get in to put water in the little trenches I put in for them, and eventually I was happy with the arrangement. I have found that the second course of bricks is not as solid as I really need it to be, sadly, but I will sort this out later in the year. I do have an idea which will enable me to do it better so that is good.

Rambo pretending to be gorgeous

Both Rambo and Ralf were out with me, Ralf staked with his lead and Rambo loose. Ralf did his usual job of sniffing around and actually got his head and shoulders through the front fence again but pulled back before I could get a picture. Instead here is Rambo proving he can be obedient and sitting on command.

And they are in

With the house ready, water in their troughs, and everything else prepared I went and got the boys in their existing enclosure and carried them downstairs and placed them in the house. I then got a couple of long pieces of wood and built a ramp so they could climb in and out if they wish; I want them to have somewhere that feels homely to them and not just dump them out to fend for themselves. I have checked a few times since and they are still in this enclosure but I expect them to explore; they have always climbed the ramp that was in their originally so they will give this new one a go I am sure. Of course, the title of this blog refers to this moving event.

The roof keeps coming down

The next time I went up to see the men I found that Sally and Orhan now were working together to take down some beams. He really does seem, as I keep saying, to have fitted in so well and I'm so happy having him here; maybe even he can stay for the duration, right to the end, and not just for the roof; he works very hard and seems to have some skills to him as well. Some of the labourers I've had and seen are just not very bright young men who follow orders, badly.

Carefully moving the picture

They had got now to the stage where they were going to start removing the beams across the stairs and so Sally started clearing below, removing a picture they had retrieved and nailed up on the wall there and taking it over to the new part of the roof to rehang on a beam in there. He laughed when he saw me watching. I don't know who the person in the picture is but they have been very careful with him.

No fear of heights at all

One of the large 10 x 10 beams was put across from the slab and into a hole in the wall (probably left here by the original builders for this very purpose; smart) and then a basic scaffold was erected for them to walk on and get access to the far corner over the stairwell. At first this was just a couple of lengths of wood and I pointed out that they could get another supporting beam in using a couple of offcuts and Bekir agreed and put them in place. I was not really enjoying watching them walking around on such thin flimsy planks but it is what they do.

It was shortly after this, as Bekir and Sally were clambering around on the not-completed-yet scaffold and trying to remove the guttering from this section of wall (Orhan was down below salvaging some of the better wood that had been dumped to put into use on this platform) when tragedy very nearly struck. Sally was ducking under one beam and clambering up onto the wall with the aim of helping to hammer the board holding the guttering on when the beam he grabbed to lift himself up just disintegrated. He fell backwards right over the deepest part of the stairwell and I can tell you that if that had been me I would have been on my head at the bottom however, almost in slow motion, he folded himself forwards and caught the edge of the wall by his feet and pulled himself back. It was an incredible show of coolness when working at a height but it scared the living daylights out of me. When he was safe we all laughed. Of course.

Is it coming our way?

I left them to it after this, not really wanting to see anyone fall like that again, and did some more paid work. When I returned an hour or so later there were dark clouds approaching with rain falling from them but that was no reason to think that they would necessarily hit us; often it seems to be heading right our way and it'll swerve to one side or the other, or just break up before it reaches us. My fingers were crossed.

And again, yet more progress

A massive amount had been done, with the brickwork reduced to the level for them to work from, and most of the beams removed from this area as well. They work hard and fast and I love it when I can stay away for a bit and go back and see such a jump.

Putting his back into it

Bekir and Orhan were back in a pair tearing down some of the large cross beams that were now surplus to requirements; I watched as the managed to lever a large solid looking one down and then the nails were knocked and pulled out and it was put into use for the platform. The rotten pieces (like the one that gave way under Sally's not-great weight) were lobbed over the side for future tidying.

More wood for the platform

Sally was downstairs getting some duskat to build the platform out a little more, carrying them up and balancing them so he could then climb and pull them the rest of the way, then shove them over the void and across the thicker beams they had previously been using as walkways.

All three of them safely supported

With the platform made large enough first Orhan, then Bekir and finally Sally all walked out onto it and resumed removing the bricks and taking the beams down that were remaining. In all fairness the boards didn't even wobble and they were probably quite safe but it looks very rickety. I left them to it then a bit later brought them coffee and it started to rain. I was not impressed but Bekir pointed out that it would keep the dust down which is no bad thing.

Find a patch of sunlight...

As already observed Ralf loves the sun and he also seems to have the ability to curl up anywhere and sleep; a relic, probably, of his past on the streets when he was wild. I snapped this picture as it shows how even now he is being kept on his lead all the time he is still able to enjoy the sun and take himself across the landing.

Opened it all out

The men were cracking on all this time as per usual and when I upstairs next, a couple of hours later again, the roof was almost entirely down from above the stairwell over to the corner over Room 13. They had been clearing as they went; waste going over the edge and good stuff getting tidied up (nails out etc) and stacked in piles ready for reuse. It is great just how the work, so economical of effort but resulting in a clean and accurate finish.

"A duty of care"

After Orhan's nail injury the other day I had let them have one of my first aid kits and it was good to see that it had been hung up in an easily accessible place. They are very careful (normally) but having plasters and bandages within reach makes me feel happier as well as hopefully them.

Take it down and lob it

It was time for one of the main frames of the old roof to be brought down, stretching from past the chimney and to the edge of the stairwell. This had old and new wood tied to it, from last year where Bekir and Sally made sure the whole lot wouldn't come down, and it took them a fair amount of time, and a lot of faffing, to detach everything and safely lower it all on to the slab. Bekir was up on the top with the wrench and the chainsaw, chopping and disengaging support beams and hammering at planks of wood and after all this Sally and Orhan carefully lowered the structure to rest, then it was taken to pieces and the chunks chucked over the edge.

In the dog house

When I came back down from watching this I found that Ralf had pulled the bin apart and Room 13 was a mess; I told him off quite severely (more so because he had jumped back and tucked his tail as soon as he saw me, even before I knew what he'd done, so he knew he wasn't allowed in there) and so I pulled his lead short and gave him just enough so he could move a bit,and lay down comfortably, and then ignored him for a while. He hates this and it is the best way of letting him know he is in trouble.

The next time I went up to the roof the men were taking the next major beam down and I snapped some pictures but then thought "I'd rather have a video" so I rushed down and got my phone and the above is what resulted. They didn't seem to mind me filming but I did get a lot of grins and laughter.

Not long after this beam came down I was aware that they were out and washing up so I took the boys to their compound, showed of the tortoise enclosure (probably much to their bemusement) to the men and then we were on our way to their home. The journey was very swift and uneventful and when I got back I immediately let the boys out and then went to the toilet. When I walked back along the corridor I saw that S and S had arrived and were playing with Rambo outside. Lovely. We had a quick tour of the changes since they had last been (they LOVED the roof terrace) and then I had a swift shower before we headed out for beer and some food.

What the hell IS this?!

As we were leaving they spotted, clinging to my fence, a huge and bizarre looking creature. It was like a cross between a locust and a beetle. How freaky looking is this! I snapped some shots and then we got in the car and decided where to go.

Stunning sunset from our dining table

I suggested somewhere different to our normal haunt and so off we went though when we arrived we swiftly realised that it wasn't Greek food at all, just Bulgarian with a menu that had Greek words on it. We sat outside and drank beer and chatted and the food turned up in bits and bats as it does and it was pretty tasty though not exceptional. The sunset, however, was.

It's Hitler

I snapped a picture of S but you will have to go to the "Cast of Characters" page at the top of this page to see it. He looked great. I've not got a picture of th'other S yet to add but that will come when a suitable chance arrives. What I did get a picture of was one of the little kittens (who we nicknamed "Hitler" as it had a little black moustache) which S and S were feeding with yoghurt. It was a cute thing but did not want to be held if you weren't feeding it and ran off eventually.

And so I sit here, having been dropped back off and offloaded three of my cucumbers to them, and am so glad I spent bits of time through the day typing this up as so much has happened I would have had no chance of getting this done having gone out for the evening. What a long blog. I did warn you. Tomorrow is Friday, the rest of the roof will be removed tomorrow in preparation for the new one being started on Monday. I got distracted and forgot to take the "state of play" picture this evening so I'm going to do my best to remember to snap it first thing in the morning.