Away for a funeral

I've been away for the past week, and last night I clean forgot to write this update, hence why there's been such a long break and why I'm putting this out on a Saturday morning. Let's get to it, though.

Drilling through steel to fix the beams

Angela removes plants

All three puppies playing

Halil mixing cement

Bekir laying blocks

So we go back to last Friday and the men were in early and they began the day fitting more of the wooden beams on top of the steel. I dropped Rosie to school and while driving I suddenly realised that Angela was planting her new flowers and shrubs into the tops of the blocks by the path but we had said that it would be double height up by the fenced garden. When I got back after a quick chat with Angela and confirming this was what she wanted she went and pulled out the two that she had already set in and I told the men that as soon as possible they should swap over to get this wall built. They really aren't a fan of context switching however while I went into town with Halil for a chore Bekir started on this job and they finished it up in time to go back to the car port and finish the day on the wooden beams.

View from my hotel room

A blurry picture of me and John and our epic pizza

Dan pulls a pint at his Dad's bar

Glorious sunset on evening

A choppy sea as the wind blows

Early (very early) Saturday morning I was in the car with Angela and Rosie and they dropped me off at the bus stop. The travel on the way over to the UK was really quite good in the most part. I did break my journey in Manchester and went to buy some more combat trousers (which are very comfortable) and then had a long wait due to delays when I attempted to continue my travel to Blackpool but I arrived at the hotel in plenty of time to relax before my meal and then I slept OK. On Sunday I met up with John again which was awesome. We had an epic pizza, some very tasty beer, and a nice walk around town where I picked up an extra book and a toy for Rosie. Monday was the day of the funeral and if it can be said that a funeral is a "nice" thing, this was as good as it could be. The memorial service was perfect - I had smiles and tears in equal measure. Afterwards we went back to the house and had some food and beers and a lot of chatter and memories but I headed off about 6pm as I was very tired having woken at 4am with some anxiety about the day. I am so pleased I was able to make it! I had a Chinese on the Monday night which was nice but it wasn't from my favourite place which has changed hands sadly. Tuesday and Wednesday were both working days for me, Tuesday night I went out with Dan for a really lovely evening to catch up properly and have some food. Wednesday midday I was back on a train and headed to the airport hotel where I was in bed for 8 and up for 3am the next morning to start my trip home.

Cuddles from Louise and Xena

An awesome sight to come home to

Only a little left to do

The journey home on Thursday started off very well with a really easy trip through security and then a pretty comfortable flight but then it became horrible as first the normal bus was cancelled so I had to wait nearly two hours at the bus station and when I finally got on the bus it was absolutely full, one person even had to sit on the floor, and there was no air and no room to breathe. I got a stinking headache as the journey went on and it took hours. Thankfully the taxi driver who took me from the bus station at this end to home drove ridiculously fast and then I was sat cuddling the girls and eating a pizza while Donna told me about the puppies and work progress while I was gone. The men had been cracking on; one day was spent cleaning all the pipes for the fires inside and other than that they had done all the drilling and bolting for the wooden beams and next to completed the planks over the top. This was great to come home to!

The sun peeks over the horizon

Bekir fixes more planks in place

Touching up where the welding had burned off the paint

Painting wood preserve onto the decorative panels

Starting to treat the roof timber

The final tiny piece goes into place

And so we reach yesterday. It was a chilly enough start and I took Donna down to the bus early, collected a delivery (our new toilet to replace the damaged one downstairs and hopefully including the part to repair the first toilet as well) and when I got back the men were just arriving and getting stuck in. The first task was to cut and fit the final planks over the gap. At this end they are using the older wood and it took some time with the cutting and measuring. Bekir used nails for most of this but put some strong screws in along each end to help prevent the roof from lifting in the strong winds we get here. After this the next job was to touch up the weld burns with some metal paint while Halil got the rollers out and treated the decorative trim for the new roof. Finally for the day Halil swept the top of the new roof then began the long process of treating this as well. I need to go out today to buy more bezir for this. Bekir was finishing up the final slivers of gaps in the roof and then the day was done.

Stars and planets above

Step sisters cuddle

And there you have it. I'll leave you with a picture of the stars I took when I went to close the chickens up for the night, and Louise and Xena cuddled up while I watched a film last night.

Thanks for reading, I'll be back to regular service on Monday.