Mnogo toplo

Well it is super late that I'm starting this one tonight after a full day which has segued into a full night involving BBQ and stars.

But to this morning. The alarm went off and it was snoozed until it could be no more and still feed the dogs; a cuppa and a bowl full for each dog and with the water still being off I went and filled their water bowl from the free water and then, finding it was running, I set to filling the receptacles there incase it went off during the day. Ralf apparently stopped eating when I left (he hasn't done that before) and then he left half his breakfast again but no matter; it was put into the fridge. We did a substantial amount of watering this morning before I left for the men and then while I was gone She did the top bank and Silver Birches. The collection went well and I even had time to pop into their shop and grab some eggs which makes a lot of sense and I can see myself going in for supplies there more often.

Cunning slide for tiles

We got back and without much delay at all as per usual the men set to for the task for the day. Using this awesome contraption to get the tiles that are stacked all over the roof down to ground level so that whoever I sell them to can collect them easiest. Now I did think I'd rather the person buying paid for the wages required to shift them but I had not counted for them being in the way for the progress on the roof to continue.

The moon during the day

I snapped that pic from the balcony and when I turned round the sight of the moon so bright in the early morning sun just had to be snapped.

Big grin before setting to with the huge task ahead

I went onto the balcony to see how they were going and it was early in the process, a couple of tiles had been dropped and there had been a few breakages so Bekir was trying to arrange Mahmet and Orhan to put more padding at the bottom of the drop. They had lots of polythene which they had folded up but this wasn't proving enough. I got a picture of grinning Sally before I headed down to the ground floor to assist with the padding problem.

Ralf copying Bekir

Actually while I was up there Ralf had joined me and this picture of Bekir yelling down to the men on the ground, and Ralf checking out what was going on, is so perfect I had to include it too.

Adding padding

When I reached the bottom of the slide I found that they were trying to pad with some pretty thin items and I realised there were the two old sleeping bags that had been laying on the rock pile for ages. I suggested to Bekir he make use of them and he was grateful for something a bit more substantial than see through plastic. It was quite a mission lifting the whole contraption enough to get the sleeping bag situated and then, the two legs holding it from the side of the school had to be knocked back into place.

And down it slides

I used the sports setting on my camera to snap some of the next test tiles to slide down and the padding did its job and there was no breakage so the set to properly. Slightly afterwards I checked again and found that even that level of padding hadn't been enough; they had got a sack and stuffed it with the sofa foam I used to pack the laycorn boxes with, and some hay. A fair few tiles had been lost before this decision had been made and after this they lost next to none.

Egg in a cup and loads of nommyness

While I had been pottering around wasting my time taking pictures She had been in the kitchen making me breakfast of egg in a cup and wow it was epic and gorgeous and tasty. I wolfed this down and then finished the remains of hers. Sadly, as there was still no water (and, to spare your suspense, it hasn't come back yet as I type this) we had to boil the kettle for washing up water and even my asbestos hands needed to wait some for it to cool down. The washing up was successfully completed eventually however.

New desk in place

There were a couple of tasks set ourselves for this morning and the first of these was to get a desk for Her to sit at with her laptop. The men had saved the old school desks I requested them and one of them was in a really good state of repair. Myself and Bekir carried this down to the 1st floor landing (he wouldn't let Her do it haha) and then we gave it a sweep and carried it into Room 13 where it fit very nicely into the slot previously occupied by the DVD shelves (which are now quite gorgeously situated next to the window by the bedroom window though the picture I could have sworn I took appears to have existed only in my imagination.

Before and after

Shifting wood like a real man

This done and She being happy we went outside for the next chore which was to start shifting the humongous pile of wood thrown down by the men over the past few days. We did this in two periods of half an hour each, both of us getting very hot and very tired and by the end of the second stint, quite in need of a more substantial rest. The progress made was very good however and if we could have started earlier today when the sun hadn't got round so far we probably would have done even more.

Post Rambo-groom

After this I was able to get some paid work done and we sat together in Room 13 on our respective computers co existing quietly. It was good to have worked out so much in the morning as from now on the temperature just rose and rose until it was really quite seriously warm. Lunch for me was cheese and tomato butties, for a change, and they really hit the spot. Rambo had been in a serious need of brushing and She decided to go and do this properly. I headed out to see what was happening but it had already finished being done so I was just presented with the huge pile of hair that had been removed. He has been super happy after this, and grooming sessions will have to be more regular.

Waterproof above the bedroom, just in case

The afternoon passed in a haze of wickets (England on top AGAIN today; can it get any better!) working and, when it just got too hot, the hanging chair (and the rug) was taken down under the shade of the trees on the front and we dozed and read and played with the boys and ate icecream and generally enjoyed the peace and quiet that this place offers. Towards the end of the day I took a tarpaulin up to the roof and asked the men (as this weekend, typically, there is rain forecast) to stretch it out over the roof above the bedroom. I only mentioned it the once, and pretty much in passing, but when I popped up just before taking them to have a look at what had been done there it was and perfectly weighted down. They are amazing workmen.

All the tiles have gone

When the men started this morning I was convinced that it would take them two days (taking up Monday as well) to finish moving all the tiles but they have done the lot (well, apart from a small number under the existing new roof which we may attack this weekend if we get time) and now the roof is clear and totally ready for starting afresh.

Shifted in one day

The volume of tiles moved in one day is quite astounding when you look at it; the men were exhausted after today, particularly Mahmet and Orhan who were at the bottom in the sun all day with very few breaks. Now it is done however I can spend some time finding the best customer to buy them all off me.

The evening was another BBQ on the balcony and it was heavenly. Early on there threatened some music but it quickly went quiet and we sat there as the sunlight faded and the stars came out (She even saw a satellite) and all we could hear was the frogs and the crickets. Now as I draw to a close other than my fingers on the keys that is still all we can hear. Lovely. Tomorrow we have plenty to do but I'll try and be a bit earlier with the blog. Maybe.