Much rushing about

After the super long update last time I think this one will be much shorter, or at least I hope it will. It's been a manic busy day today and I'm late starting the update so onwards.

Monday

The storm on Sunday night was intense, it disturbed A more than me but we were both aware of lashing rain and very strong gusts battering the house. Unfortunately this storm blew a lot of the blossom off the plum tree so now I'm expecting another rubbish harvest from it. We also had some more water come through the balcony door into the bedroom which was less than ideal; replacing that unit is probably next on the list of priorities now.

Just getting started on the tiles

Using a chisel to remove tiles

The toilet room is also attacked

The only way I could capture a picture of the snow; in a spiderweb

It was a bitterly cold day all day with no sun to speak of at all. My morning tasks were just some tidying around, shifting the kindling bundles into the box in the garage to make space for the good wood that needs to come inside from the wood store, and a few other bits and pieces of tidying. When Bekir and Sally got here they were both wrapped up warm and Bekir didn't take his woolly hat off all day and who can blame him. They asked what the next job should be and I suggested clearing off all the tiles and breaking up the old drop toilets and getting ready to run pipes and electric for the bathrooms so without any waiting around they got to work and were hammering and chiseling the old tiles off. I was pretty busy working all day so didn't get down as much as I like but I did pop down when it started snowing to tell Bekir, and try and get some pictures. It wasn't heavy, and didn't last long, but it shows just how cold it was getting.

All this water from our drainage

Sally has nearly finished the corridor

Bekir removing the old toilet

A and I headed out to town to get the tiles and sink ordered for the bathroom which was a relatively quick trip. The puppies came with and charmed everyone at TED, then whinged when A headed into Kaufland to buy carrots. I went past the machine shop to see if my SDS was fixed and it still isn't so it's looking like a new one will be bought tomorrow. On this trip the problem with the battery resurfaced so after dropping A back off I headed over the garage to show them. As I was leaving I snapped a picture of the water pouring out of our drainage - it's working really well, but causing a  bit of a swamp on the lane so the sooner this can be diverted into a fresh water pond, the better. I was able to actually demonstrate the issue to Lyubo and he identified that I did need a new alternator so one was ordered. There were two on offer, one twice the price of the other, so of course I chose the cheapest. When I got back I found Sally was working his way down the corridor removing tiles and it was quite hard going. Bekir had pulled the pneumatic breaker out and was working on chipping away at the floor in the toilet room. This was also slow going.

The greens raised bed, stuffed full

A handful of cabbage leaves for dinner

The turnip, with lots of green and mud

A was cooking a cottage pie for our dinner so I was sent out, while doing the water round, to harvest some cabbage and pull up the turnip, which has started to split. This bed has done so well since planting before Christmas and the cabbage was super lovely with dinner. The turnip is still sitting on the landing waiting to be heeled into some sand for storage until we want to eat it. I had called Chaz just before taking the men to find out how things were and we had another call saying they were going to come over the next day which was great to hear.

Tuesday

I woke up having slept really well (A said she'd had a coughing fit but I didn't even hear it) but feeling tired anyway. I put this down to anticipation of the day ahead and how manic it was going to be. I was not wrong.

Peach sky early in the morning

Thomas with a frosty windscreen

Pretty chilly start

The sky turns red, just before the sun appears

Half an hour's graft - not too bad progress

All the wood I moved inside

The alarm went off and I went outside onto the balcony to get a picture as the sky was a lovely colour. It was pretty cold so I went back to bed and then got up again a bit later to get another picture. It was -2 degrees at that point and Thomas had ice on his windows. I'd taken the battery out from Thomas the night before and put it on charge so before A left I headed down and put it back in then started him and scraped the windows for her. Before I did this, before I even had a brew, I cleaned Sassy out and did the humanure and kitchen waste. It was a busy start and when she left it didn't stop as I was straight outside to start the process of emptying the woodstore that would need to be taken down this week. I did eight wheelbarrow loads and moved about half of it. I am running out of space in the section I had cleared for this wood so I'll be needing to make another pallet store in the morning.

Our morning was totally disrupted by A suddenly noticing that Thelma's eye was drooping in a really weird way and not looking very good at all. I showed her to Bekir who wasn't sure what it was so we immediately decided to go to the vets. The Thomas wouldn't start as his battery was completely flat however fortunately the one from Julian was still charged and fine so we just swapped that over, put the original on charge, and headed for town. Louise has also had some red eyes recently so we took them both and she was really not happy, starting to fret as soon as she realised where we were going. The vet was busy when we arrived, seeing to a cat, but it wasn't long before he took a look and immediately diagnosed a bacterial infection. For both of them. He gave us some cream, and administered the first dose there, and then waved us off telling us if it didn't get better to bring them back. I took advantage of being in town to run to the bank to get some more cash out and then we went home.

Starting to make up the storage

Bekir getting some spare wood together

Hammering the upright in

Kitchen units in the bottom corridor

Bricks in the men's room

I got back to find Bekir starting to put together the "var" pit. He'd mentioned about wanting to go to the shop to get a few bags so I suggested he just get loads as there was a lot of work to be done and he agreed so he's called for a truckload. I asked him to move it from where he was looking at first (next to the plum tree) to down by the green building so it didn't effect the turning circle into the driveway and he agreed as well. I then went back to work but soon it was lunch so I did a bit more tidying, clearing the kitchen units out of the men's room and shifting some of the bricks around so I could put the chipboard down for the insulation men to be able to stay in there. I stopped to talk to my mum  briefly about the bath, ordered it and the tap for delivery there, and then wolfed down a cheese and crisp butty.

Lyubo and a sickly Thomas

The completed storage for the var

Sally widening a doorway

Ivan is on a diet, obviously

It was then time to leg it to the garage for the new alternator and once again I was seen straight away and drove Thomas over a pit so they could work on him. I had brought a book and it was a good thing as I was there for over two hours while they pulled half the engine out to get to the part that needed replacing. Fortunately for most of the time the sun was out and it was lovely to sit and read. At the end Lyubo found that I was very low on oil so we put loads in and he was happy to let me leave. I got back home to find that Chaz, Ivan and their builder were there and had measured up and were ready to go out for some food so I turned straight round and we headed to our favourite restaurant. It was really nice to see them, though I didn't get much time with them this time. Chaz had apparently tried to take Rambo for a walk but he was too excited and jumping around so had to come back; lovely of him to try though. We had very nice food, I just went for pizza as it was very early for me to eat, and then Ivan ordered a cheesecake and we all watched him eat it.

Distant mountains with Greece on the other side

A very obvious snow line

Harsh picture as taken with a flash

It was getting close to time to take the men home so we headed off, having said goodbye the Chaz and Ivan. We should hear from them about the next steps in the next day or so and things may move fast after that. As we pulled into the village Usmivka was stood there and we stopped to say hello then at the gate Bekir and Sally were just walking down to meet us which was perfect timing. I turned round and we headed out, stopping again to talk to Usmivka as we went past. It was a simple journey to their village and on the way back down their cheren put I stopped to snap pictures of the snowy greek mountains in the distance. When I got home A was just coming out to do the watering round so I grabbed the wide angle lens to take a very late daily picture, then went to check out the situation in the bottom corridor. We're definitely ready for plastering and finishing off as most of the preparation looks finished. I may need to remind Bekir to get the pipes and electric all run before the finishing off begins.

And so there you are; I'm already contemplating tomorrow and realising how busy it will be as I do a day's work and try to fit in a shopping trip for a new SDS, and a shower. Oh well, it can be a nice early night tonight. The puppies are snoring in front of the fire and A has been playing her Mario Kart game while I type this up. Time to relax before bed. Night.

{{edit of much importance}}

I went through this whole update thinking about this next thing, and then as I got to the end I forgot to type it.

It was two years ago today that my parents and I arrived at the Old School after an epic six day drive across Europe. Two years!!! What a thing, and so much has happened in that time. I was living in Julian, parked outside, with basically nothing usable inside and to go from that to this, sat in the lovely living room warm and cosy and fully on track to meet and even exceed the targets for renovation, is just amazing. What a two years, and here's to many more happy times here.