To have found our man for the job meant that we had to speed up clearing the space. Fox and I, but mainly Fox, had to lift all the floorboards in a very short period of time. We then removed all 70 odd oak beams, each weighting a ton, and stored them under the préau. We could barely stand after that.
Cast iron radiators felt the wrath of Thor, Fox's favourite hammer, pipes went too, along with the sink (which we will recycle in our own bathroom) and the previous heating system. The classrooms were now stripped of everything but their walls. Oh yes, and I got to use noisy, manly powertools, especially the angle grinder which had the dramatic effect of spraying sparks all over the place!
Cast iron radiators felt the wrath of Thor, Fox's favourite hammer, pipes went too, along with the sink (which we will recycle in our own bathroom) and the previous heating system. The classrooms were now stripped of everything but their walls. Oh yes, and I got to use noisy, manly powertools, especially the angle grinder which had the dramatic effect of spraying sparks all over the place!
Since then we have seen the rebuilding of the wall running through the building, followed by the laying of the concrete beams and concrete blocks onto which more concrete will be poured. The electrician has almost finished running his first round of cables (as we haven't got any ceilings as yet), and all eight windows have been fitted.
We also have had more visitors this winter than throughout the summer. Despite our repeated warnings about the house being very cold and with only (at the time) two wood stoves for heating system (now we have three), no one was deterred. And in a sudden turn of event, papa came to see us and announced he wanted to settle in or very near our village after leaving his girlfriend. Within three days he had found another. We were of course delighted of his decision to come live closer to us, but also couldn't help making lists of jobs he could do. Naughty naughty I know.
Mooh's doing well, getting very big and boisterous, going stone deaf as soon as she is out on a walk and enjoying her status of Lady of the house. She still insists on climbing onto our laps to have a cuddle despite the fact that she is huge and can barely fit on them.
And as for my job, it's not getting any better thanks to my boss. The expression "wolf in sheep clothing" has never been so true. She's all smiles and looks at you (well, the clients) the way Mother Theresa looked at lepers but becomes a cold selfish ruthless bitch that makes Hitler look like a choir boy when you least expect it. And should you stand up for yourself she reverts to her little girl act and starts crying (to which I last replied "whatever" before leaving the room).
We'll try to update the blog much more regularly from now on, promise (since I stopped caring about work, I found a lot of time to tweet, catch up with emails and endlessly stare into space so that shouldn't be a problem).
