A busy day

Hello there after a busy day today with lots of workmen around and plenty of progress to report. It's been a lovely day today, marred only by my realisation just before I headed off with the men that I had forgotten to have a siesta and so suddenly felt like I had been hit with a bat. Anyway, I'm going to batter through this so I can get to bed earlier than last night.

Out of bed but not awake

After our excellent evening and the time I spent updating it was nearly 11pm before we headed to bed last night which is quite late for us. I opened the window above my head wide, nervous that I may bash my head on it as our windows open inwards, and also had swapped my pillows and I slept much better which was great. I think A slept OK as well however we were both pretty shattered when the alarm went off. It was not an easy waking up. I'm thinking this was because we were late to bed but who knows. The girls were also pretty tired; they were curled up asleep at the foot of the bed when I woke. First they went into their own bed and then they went into the bed in Room 13 before I managed to get them to go outside. Bless.

Cuddly puppies this morning

Once our brews were made we headed out onto the balcony to enjoy them for maybe the last time until the roof is repaired and we have tiles on the floor; how exciting. The girls had been out as normal however they are still being quite cuddly and so had come straight back in and were on the balcony with us for a fair while. Eventually they decided they wanted out so A let them out the back door and they were off up the bank as usual.

The start to another beautiful day

It was a gorgeous morning, as usual, with beautiful colours in the sky and a coolness in the air which I appreciated very much, but A found a little chilly. The really cold weather of Sunday (down to 13 degrees during the day; unheard of!) has passed thankfully and our days are being lovely and warm however the change in the ambient temperature is marked over night and in the mornings.

Dead sunflowers in the sun

We didn't have time for two brews today as after the first we had to clear up the wooden patio set and all the other stuff from around the balcony so it would be fully ready for the workmen. We also moved the rug and the dresser unit in the bedroom so they wouldn't be in the way for all the traffic that would be going through there. Once this was done it was time for A to head off and I went down to chainsaw wood.

Rescued this little fella

It needed refuelling part way through and then just after I got started again I was interrupted once more by the workmen, and boss, arriving to start on the balcony. I went to watch as he gave them their instructions and corrected a couple of things then waved goodbye to the boss as the men got started. They first of all lifted the slab which had been broken by the earthquake last year and right there, underneath the gap, was a tiny bat. I picked it up and took it as quickly as I could to the green building where I put it in as safe a spot as I could think. I hope it is OK. Maybe this is the one that was flying around inside, in a nook it found after being evicted. I do feel a bit bad.

The new boy: Gyuner

I got back to the chainsaw and got another five minutes or so, trimming down some of the branches in the brush pile, and then suddenly A was back with the men so I stopped the chainsaw and went to see her. She had brought three men with her this time, not just Bekir and Sally but a new boy: Gyuner. He has been brought along to dig out a trench along the front of the building which will take the ViK water for drinking into the kitchen, and bes pare water over to the chicken house, and a standpipe for watering purposes. He got stuck in pretty much straight away and has done a sterling effort through the heat of today, up to 29 degrees at least. He also speaks very good English having been in London for several years so that is also nice; a top lad all round.

Superb yoghurt for breakfast

I decided that breakfast was in order before popping out to finish my abbreviated chopping session. Rather than go for bacon and eggs today I went into the fridge for the special yoghurt I had picked ou the other day. It was so nice I had to physically stop myself eating the whole carton. Lovely. After a couple of slices of toast to top myself off I went out and did the final bits and pieces of the wood. There is now quite a pile to be sorted out so I may have to do that in the morning before I start chopping anything more.

Uprights for handrail

I picked up my day job after this and got as far as I could and then was stumped again so headed down to see how things were going on around the house with so many different areas of work. First of all in the kitchen where Bekir and Sally were hard at it with grinder and antique welding kit getting the uprights for the handrail in place, and polishing and smoothing the other joints. It is looking so amazing now; I'm so pleased we got them to make it and that it can now be such a custom centrepiece for our home.

Gyuner with the menagerie

Next I went outside to see what the puppies were up to and found them sleeping in the sun on the patio while Gyuner sweated in the heat to dig the trench and Rambo watched on causing much amusement. Gyuner had suggested that he not dig out the drainage but open a new trench so the pipes would be buried in soil which was a very welcome suggestion and this alone proves his worth. It's amazing that someone so capable and hard working is available on an evenings notice to work the next day. Amazing and damning for the work situation in this area.

Pulling the slab off the top of the flat roof

Finally I headed up and snapped a picture through the balcony door of the two workmen there hard at it pulling up the top layer of the balcony. They have now revealed enough of the concrete underneath to confirm the assertion that it is not damaged and so the plan to waterproof, insulate and recover then tile is enough. I can't wait.

SDS drill into action

Soon enough it was lunch time and Bekir had asked to be dropped down into town as he had a little business to do. I waited in the car at first but then popped to the market myself to get a rug for A to put her footpedal on. Afterwards we went and filled the gas canister for the kitchen up full and then it was back home. I had blue cheese and cooked meats butties for lunch and then was back on with working; this was one reason I missed out on my siesta. Bekir did also, to be fair, and a little later when I went downstairs to see progress again there was no sign of being jaded from him. they had done the uprights for the leg up towards the wall and were in the process of tying the steps that went up the wall into place. The first step was to drill two holes deep into the stone just underneath each step.

Sally hammering, Bekir cutting

The next step was to take a previously prepared length of iron bar and hammer it into said hole. These they were making by taking some of the metal from the old roof and trimming and straightening them. I love the way they make use of things like this and save money. It took some heavy whacks to get the bar deep enough in as well, though, I can tell you. While Sally was doing this Bekir got his huge grinder out and cut a few more lengths ready for the next steps. The shower of sparks was really something to see.

Welding the step to the wall support

The final step was to weld the step onto the slightly protruding bit of metal bar just left out the wall. Sally again did this and it always worries me that while they have all the safety equipment, and do have a mask, they just don't use it preferring instead to just look away as they apply the tip. I took this picture having pointed the camera before he did it and then turned away and snapped a few times as the welder was engaged. It's so bright it is scary.

Another rubble pile comes into being

After this sweep around to see what was going on I carried on outside and onto the top bank to get the BBQ and metal watering can in which had been left up there since our bonfire and BBQ night with my parents. The roof workmen were still at it at that point and I managed to catch them as they emptied a wheel barrow of rubbish off into the place I told them to.

Delivery for the other builders

It was then back to work and a nice amount of progress by the end of the day with all the problems finally ironed out between me and my colleague in London. When I reached the end of my tether with working I went down to sit with A and Rambo on the porch. A truck drove along the lane and I got very excited thinking it was the wood for the steps however it was another truck full of materials for the other builders however they had left an hour or so before. The driver unloaded them, which is unusual but I wasn't going to pay Bekir and Sally to do someone else's work, and left the bricks in a messy pile; these will need tidying tomorrow I think.

Reinforcing the handrail

I went in after this and finished the distribution box for the living room plugs and then took it into the roof and wired it in. Now all I need to do is get the circuit breakers in the consumer unit and we are all set and ready to go. Earlier in the day I had suggested that Bekir use the remaining "T" section metal to tie together the railing uprights and then mount the wooden handrail on top. He seemed pretty impressed and took to the idea straight away so the final little bit of the working day was taken up putting these on.

Successful wood scavenging

The other discussion which has been ongoing is about the wood for those handrails. We didn't see any at all at the woodyard last night so I had suggested looking in the old wood from the roof and Bekir managed to find some apparently good solid pieces in the green building which he took home with him to trim down and bring back tomorrow ready to be fitted. I took them home with no real excitement; I dropped Gyuner off at his own village which is the one below the men's but other than that it was simple. When I got back I found A on the balcony and Rambo locked away as he had gulumphed around the corner too fast and knocked her totally off her feet, watering cans meant for the chickens and all. Not good. He needs to learn to slow down and not run at people and be more careful as he is just too big to run around so blindly. He will learn and he has been in trouble all evening because of this and does seem to know why still. We shall see if anything changes though.

A beautiful setting for our dinner

Spaghetti Bolognaise

As the balcony is pretty much off limits now (though we'll probably get to have breakfast brews on there again tomorrow morning) we had taken the patio furniture onto the roof terrace and so this evening that was where we ate. What a lovely evening it was, back to not being too hot to be up there and with a stunning view to appreciate while we ate our food and waited for the sun to go down.

The cloud splits the sun into a figure 8

Slowly sinking behind the clouds

And it is gone, waving tendrils of light in the air

The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. I took a fair few pictures and have picked out my favourites for you here. It really does never grow old and again we commented (we don't repeat ourselves that much, it's just this seems to be a theme) how were aren't getting bored but are actually growing to appreciate these repeated views more and more as time goes on. Another interesting thing is that despite how glorious this sunset was it still was not as beautiful as the one the other day after the storm; contrast really does matter.

So I've sat and drunk a beer and missed out on the watering round while typing this and now it is time to have a quick shower then hit the sack and hopefully sleep well as tomorrow will be another full day. Night.