Getting colder now

Hello again and we're back to the fun and frolics of typing up about the day. Onwards without any more rambling I reckon.

Sun rises on a chilly morning

Once again we both slept really well last night, barely shifting all night. I think this is down to a combination of the traveling and the fact of the temperature change; our bodies are simply having to work harder to stay warm than when it is 30 degrees and you have no need to heat yourself up. Louise was really disruptive in the night, asking to go out twice (I went the first time, A the second) before the alarm went off. I stayed in bed after A got up but not for that long; I really wanted to be productive in my morning time. It was quite a chilly morning (A said it was 6 degrees when she got in the car) and she declined to join me when I went onto the balcony to get a picture of the sunrise. It was bracing though, I'll give her that.

Where the day ended yesterday

As I said yesterday Gyuner had made quite a good start on knocking away the back ledge and step with only the little hammer as I had been unable to find the lump hammer yesterday. I was put to shame for my man-looking when A got back with the men and found it immediately in the garage. At least it has been found and Gyuner was very pleased to be able to use the correct tool for the job.

Rubble that needed shifting (that big bit was HEAVY)

Anyway, back to the timeline. When A left to collect the men I pretty much straight away went outside, grabbed the wheelbarrow and shovel, and started clearing the rubble that had been left by the balcony men when they knocked down the extra bit of the balcony we no longer wanted. Technically they should have cleared this and removed it all with the rest of the rubble in the truck but no matter; it was good to be out there and working away again. I really need to get the chainsaw sharpened so I can go back to cutting up the wood every morning; hopefully tomorrow.

Too cold for this little fella

While I was on with this I kept disturbing a lizard. It moved from one hiding place to another as I moved each one, very slowly and not looking very pleased at being disturbed. Finally it wriggled its way right underneath the overhang of concrete which Gyuner would be removing later on and I no longer disturbed it. Later on Thelma was going a bit mad over the stones I had moved that it had been crawling over however when I pointed out where it was hiding she didn't go in to get it.

Job done

It took me about an hour of effort to clear everything, and also move the broken up slab which Gyuner had done yesterday, and pile it all up a bit further up the bank. I will be getting the digger driver to come and collect this when he turns up to clear the rubble from the drive, most of which I will be keeping myself as it is good quality white stone and can be used around the garden for many different purposes.

Nearly all the bricking up done

I was just finishing up when A got back with the men and I went in to get a brew but first checked out how far Sally had got with the bricking up around the door the day before. This was his first task of the day and there wasn't that much left to do at all.

Cold enough to want the blanket

I was feeling pretty hungry after my exertions and decided that a cooked breakfast was in order. First of all, though, I had to fix the gas connector on the hose for the oven which has been leaking very slightly recently. I stole a newer connector off another cooker and swapped it over and it works fine now; on closer inspection one of the ball bearing was missing from the old connector. Not good. Breakfast was lovely, though I slightly overcrisped the bacon. It was just what was needed on a cold morning like this and to give you an idea of how chilly it was here are the puppies hiding underneath a blanket to stay warm.

Tiles are really going on fast now

The weather improved a little bit over yesterday, at least for those workers in the sun (unlike Gyuner, in the shade at the back) and the tiling really did crack on today. When I popped out mid morning he had already completed two rows from by the bedroom balcony door. He did scare me a little when he said we didn't have enough tiles. I went down and counted 36 more boxes which he was very surprised to hear but then laughed when I showed him the other stack. I think we have way over ordered. Ooooops but then if we have some left over we can use them on the little terrace that Gyuner is working on at the moment so no loss.

Balancing act

Sally had finished off the bricking up and was making plenty of progress on finishing off around the doorway. He started off inside though he probably would have been better to do outside first while the sun was out as later on he was pretty cold out there on the balcony as the clouds came in and the wind picked up. As you can see from the picture he was stood on a bucket to reach the high parts and when I gave him some steps to use he used them while I was there and later on was back on the bucket. I suppose it's what you feel most comfortable with.

Nikolai working on the retaining wall

After our decision yesterday that we wanted them to build a proper wall and not just fill the random cap with concrete I went and had a word with Nikolai about it first thing. He smiled his shy smile and said "yes, I'd thought that" so there was no issue whatsoever and he was pleased with himself for having worked out in advance what we would want.

Back step has disappeared

Gyuner had been working away all afternoon, though he was finding it cold going. This picture was taken pretty much at the end of the day and he has completely removed the back step, including all the white stone which had been used as a base, and is a fair way into lowering the level of the ground between there and the back door so we can have one slab across. This has happened so much quicker than expected, I figured another day's work to get to this stage, so that is great.

Concrete poured around the reinforcing

Bodged together buttress for the shuttering

I went out at the end of my working day to help out and get my blood moving. I shifted rubble from along the back wall of the balcony into the pile to be removed and also slung a few of the smaller rocks from where Gyuner had removed the strange, slight, step up by the back door. After I ran out of this stuff to do I strolled over to see what was going on with the driveway and was pleasantly surprised to see that they have started pouring concrete already. I suppose this answers the question about whether they will get a truck of mix in; no.

Cold end to the day for Sally

As I mentioned earlier Sally finished inside before heading outside but by this time the temperature was dropping and the wind had risen so he wasn't having a very good time of it. As you can see from the tiles they are getting very close to the door and we want to have a (tiled) step outside here which I think will be Sally's task for tomorrow. I think it is being done just with concrete but I'm not sure; those details I leave to Bekir who, once again (if you hadn't already guessed) didn't work today.

End of an overcast day

And so it became time to take the men home and off we went and nothing really exciting happened apart from several times when I kicked myself for not having brought the camera as there were loads of lovely shots as the sun set having finally got low enough to get beneath the cloud cover. I got back in time to leg it onto the roof terrace and though I was worried I was too late I did get a nice picture.

Lovely slow cooked pork joint

A was VERY impressed with these tatties

Served up and about to be eaten

Dinner had been slow cooking all day, again, and after a while it was ready. It was just as lovely as it looked and I wolfed it down and now I have to have my top trouser button undone while I'm sat here; I'm supposed to be losing weight!

And so another day with the fire on draws to a close. I was hoping it would be warmer today but maybe the weather has turned and this is it for a while. To be fair I think it is early to have a petchka on so hopefully it will warm up again. It's good to see the river with water in it again after our rain, though.