It just doesn't stop

The title of this blog was settled at the end of yesterday but today has been such a rush I changed it. Having got our place nice and tidy finally it's now in a total state again, and won't change at least until Monday. But that is preempting my update so get reading to find out more...

Wednesday

Having failed to leave on Tuesday due to the rain we still had our insulation workers on site on Wednesday but they were hurrying to get done and out of here during the day. It was a normal work day for me and A so we were stuck at our desks for a lot of it so there aren't actually all that many pictures.

A really overcast and low cloud start to the day

Needing some more work

Thomas with a load of pipes

Asen up a tall ladder

Much amusement painting with a makeshift handle

Sally getting stuck into the plastering in the nook

It was a miserable start to the day with a smattering of rain which fortunately cleared quite quickly. There were so many jobs left to be done that both A and I were a little unsure if everything would get done in time. The biggest thing we were concerned about was around the door and window from the bedroom to the balcony. The men were up super early obviously full of beans at the thought of finally going home. A picked Bekir and Sally up and went via the shop to buy the pipes we need for the drainage towards the grey water. It didn't take her long and I had to ask Bekir to wait so I could grab the camera and get a picture. Asen was up a ladder fixing flyscreens at the back and scaring me with his disregard for how high up he was; they just don't care. It was a day of odds and ends for them and there was a lot of smiles, including when they bodged together a long roller using a broom. Inside the electrics were still being worked on while Sally was starting to plaster the walls of the nook; what exciting progress.

Ivan waving a hose around

Power washing the tiles

Having to scrape the mortar up

Sally nearly done this wall in the nook

Rambo sitting AND looking at the camera

As I say it was a pretty busy day for both A and I and we weren't really able to get out much to see what was happening. The one time that I did get out was when Ivan needed a hand getting a hose onto the balcony so he could power wash the tiles and remove the plaster that had dropped on them. He didn't have the power that he was wanting, unfortunately, so it was all hands on deck with scrapers while he sprayed. They did a pretty good job in the circumstances and have convinced me that we do need a power washer for all the outside tiles we will have. Inside Sally was still plastering away and Bekir (of whom there are no pictures at all today!) was working away on the electrics down the corridor towards the bathroom, hoping to get this all totally completed. At around lunchtime Chaz came to pick up one of the workers and he didn't stay long before he was scooting back off. Almost before we knew it later on it was time for Ivan to go with the final men and we had a lovely group photo on the porch taken by A.

Resolving the blockage while The Special One looks on

This is called Salad of Boss and it is

A beautiful sky to come home to

Such a huge smile from Louise

For the latter part of the afternoon I had a bit of a run in with my accountant who I found was over charging me for something that I didn't actually need so that was quite a lot of fun and now I am looking for a new accountant. After this finally stopped it was time to take the men which was easy until I got back and found I couldn't get through the gate. The mini digger we had hired for Thursday was being delivered and they were stuck on the hill into the land with the wheels spinning on the truck pulling the trailer. After a bit of effort they eventually unloaded the digger and it was all OK. I shook hands with the boss and agreed to see them at 8am the next day. With us finally in an empty house we had decided to celebrate by going to our favourite place for food so, after I had distracted myself briefly by taking all the remaining curtains down, we  packed ourselves off down there and it was lovely. When we got back the sunset was marvelous so I dashed onto the roof terrace to get a few photographs. There was then a bit of time to relax on the sofa with the puppies before we headed to bed.

Thursday

That was when we thought it was over for a bit and we could relax. That didn't count for me and my cunning plans. It was a pretty bad night's sleep for A unfortunately and I was a bit disturbed as well so when the alarm went off there was a lot of snoozing and then I was up making coffee for A so she could snatch a little more rest.

A very much nicer morning

This plum isn't looking great

These poppies are though

She dragged herself up and got dressed to collect the men leaving me with a bit of time before the digger man was due. It was a cool morning but the sun was shining and warm so my first job was to water the plants inside and sort Sassy out. Next I went and mixed some of the preparation that Bekir had got us for treating the disease that is afflicting a number of our trees in the orchard. I had to put 0.4ml into 2 litres of water and after a few attempts I got the pipette right and so went and sprayed every tree. Apparently I've got to do it again in 3 days time. While I was out there I got a lovely picture of the poppies on the pile of dirt we pulled out of the chicken house. Lovely.

Bekir about to make a start on the plumbing

A load of soil for the orchard

Mini digger gets into spreading action

Seed trays that didn't produce any produce

A stowaway amongst the seed trays

A got back with the men not long after I got in from doing this and I sent her pretty much straight to bed to have a rest as she was exhausted. I headed downstairs to chat with Bekir about today and we discussed plumbing before he got stuck in with cleaning up and channeling for the pipework. I went back to my desk, looking at my watch as there was still no sign of the digger driver nor big digger with hydraulic breaker and then at about 8.40 the first truck load of soil arrived in the truck. He emptied this out by the orchard and then the digger driver came along and spread it all over where I wanted it, doing in about half an hour what would have taken me weeks. There was still no sign of the hydromech and the driver had disappeared in his truck without taking any of the big pile of rubble so I went back to my desk to wait and then, feeling impatient, did a bit of a tidy around after the insulation workmen. As it happened I only had some old seed trays to sort as everything else had been made tidy. Brilliant. While I was doing this I accidentally caught a lizard in the wheel barrow which I let go after getting a picture.

Mini digger clearing the track onto the top bank

And now off to dig out the basketball court

Finally clearing away this rubble

Mini digger arrives about 11

Very quick moving soil

With the spreading done the digger was free so I asked him to quickly clear away the new route onto the back bank, involving ripping out some of the brambles and bushes and clearing a load of stones. He did this in double quick time and there was still no sign of the other digger so I made a snap choice and sent him onto the top bank to dig out the basketball court. In that time as well the truck driver had come back and emptied a second load of soil onto the top bank near the basketball court so I suggested the digger just keep piling up all the soil he scraped up in the same place. Meantime the truck went down and started loading up and hauling off the rubbish from the dump site. Bekir and I had been in looking for buckets and found three usable ones but almost all of them in there were split on the base which was strange. About 11am finally another digger came along but I was quite flabbergasted to see it was another tiny machine and no hydromech. The boss was there and I again made it clear how much hard stone there was but he smiled and said this machine would be fine. I disagreed but he was confident. To be fair to him this digger did an excellent job very quickly where there was no bedrock but after an hour or so he stopped as he couldn't continue. Surprise, the bedrock had stopped him.

Still more digging to do, but what quick progress

Finally we get the tool for the job

Channels for the pipes for my sinks

Sally plastering in the dining room

Lots going on, so much for a quiet day

The digger up on the basketball court took a short break to help with the truck loading the rubble then did a bit more work before he disappeared off to get a different attachment to attack the bed rock. There followed a bit of waiting around before finally at about 1pm he came back with the hydromech and got stuck straight into digging. He was quite close to the existing pipe and electric cable but managed to miss it all. I ordered 5 cubic of sand which the truck driver (also the second mini digger driver - are you keeping up?) headed off to get but by the time he got back the trench was too deep to drive over to dump it where it was needed so it just stayed in the truck. Inside Bekir was managing to make some progress despite all the distractions I kept throwing at him while Sally was on with his second coat in the dining room. One of the distractions Bekir had to contend with was about 1pm the firm for the whisky display shelves came over and the took a fair while of discussions to work out a design. They went off to calculate a quote (it came back and was extortionate so we won't be using them) and I headed into town to pick up some stuff and also finally get my SDS back which Bekir really wanted for his channeling.

Still digging away

Plaster on the floor, not where it should be

A problem with the ceiling in the nook

In the end the diggers were here right to the end of the day and they have left their machines here until Monday when they will be back to finish off. I did say to the boss, who kept coming to see what was happening, "I told you there was a lot of stone" but anyway, we may end up with the sump and pump for the grey water (see here for the design I'm following) on Monday. A had popped out in Thomas and got some deliveries from ekont as well as picking up some anti-swallow-nesting supplies; we had been told that they hate the smell of bleach so she bought a banned substance in our house and I watered it down and sprayed it. Against all the odds it worked. And so it was time to take the men, leaving the diggers still going. When I went down I found a glum looking Sally watching as Bekir pulled the plaster off the ceiling in the nook; it had flaked and fallen down. I was a bit surprised they hadn't scraped as much of the old paint off as I thought they would and now they have been set back a bit. I tried to get some smiles from them in the car and succeeded to an extent and they also have tomorrow off so now A and I do get to relax finally.

The correct way to end the day

They left their HGV here

I think they need a tractor

A very excited about her kebab

Mine is superb as well

Accidental double dessert

Chocolate everywhere

When I got back from dropping the men I found A sat on the balcony with the puppies nursing half a glass of beer and waiting to go out for dinner. The truck, still with the five cubic of sand in the back, had been driven onto the back bank and parked up to wait for Monday, proof again that the pump driver was an idiot in refusing to go up. Anyway we got ready and went pretty much straight out, having a laugh on the way at the Lada in the field overloaded with small bales of hay. We went to the kebab place that Chaz and Ivan had recommended to us and once again the food was incredible. We even had dessert but ended up by accident with two as the scoop of icecream we wanted on the side of our pancake came in a separate bowl as a whole dessert in itself. Suffice to say I didn't struggle to finish it all.

And so the day has ended. I've parked Thomas across the driveway so it's not possible for someone to come and steal the mini diggers, both of which have been left here with the truck. A had a brew before heading to bed about an hour ago and I'm going to go and lock the chickens away, let the puppies out for their toilet, and then hit the sack myself. We get a bit of a lie in tomorrow; how awesome is that.