Another Lifetime to go

22nd April 2018

There was devastation from the badgers visit during the night. Colin had built some defences from previous attacks, but they had just moved to another portion of the fence and burrowed under. The bird table had been pushed over one time too many, and was laying in a few pieces. This was going to be my project for the day, so I set about the repair and reconstruction.

There was the obligatory visit to B&Q for supplies of cement and hardcore, so Colin was set to build his version of the Berlin Wall. I suggested searchlights and bells, but that was ignored. My job went a little easier, and by mid afternoon the resurrected bird table was complete.

21st April 2018

This has been a successful week, so I just wanted to rest. I reflected on the progress made, but I was hit with a larger than usual invoice. Guess that’s a trade off I had to endure, everything costs. As I tot up the running totals, I have to believe it is worth it.

There has been a few times when I have question my decision, but I am in this spiral, and one day it will be finished.

20th April 2018

Another trip to Wickes in Trowbridge to purchase another six bags of plaster. The Shogun groaned as I loaded the bags, I have given the vehicle a hard time, but it has been brilliant. I have carried a variety of things from bags of rubble to grandchildren to school, and it feels like a workman’s truck, but without the copy of the Sun on the dashboard. I get the knowing nods from my fellow builders as I groan loudly with each twenty-five kilo sack I load. I haven’t yet mastered the skill of carrying the sack on my shoulder like a sleeping child, I’d rather hold it close to my tummy like an extended belt.

The air was cool, and the mist was hanging in the valley, and I was gasping as I carried the plaster to the cottage. Six times I scaled the dreaded slope, my body has to be getting used to this? Would I ever get a six-pack? I doubt it now, I’m lucky that I haven’t had a heart attack.

Later in the morning I had a delivery of timber for the bathroom floor and skirting boards, at last a job that I can do.

I struggled up the slope with this oversize load, the sun beating down on my already red bounce.

I set up my chop saw to cut the skirting into the different lengths to fit the room. I worked around Andy and Ollie and marked the pieces that I then cut. Each piece was then labelled, and loaded into the truck.

As the day drew to a close, I surveyed the progress. The high wall next to the stairs still needs to be completed. I celebrated by opening a can of black currant flavoured cider, it was disgusting.

Loading my glowing body into the truck, I set off for my weekend retreat.

19th April 2018

The cottage was full of plasterers slopping the pink stuff about, I don’t know what a collective of plasterers are called, maybe a “Tub of plasterers”. Each chap had a large plastic container, for which they would mix shit up with a giant food blender, that they would have to wash, then pass it to another, who, would go through the same procedure. However the process worked and soon most of the two rooms were transformed. This was an expensive day, three bodies, but at least most of the downstairs is finished.

There was not a lot for me to do at the cottage, and I didn’t want to get splashed with plaster, so I decided to finish Ryan and Louise’s pavilion that I had started last August. It could not be completed at that time because of a shortage of 11mm OSB. The sheets had been delivered a month after I was in the US, so the building was covered in a tarpaulin for the winter. As summer had hit the UK today it was perfect to do the job. At the end, the top of my head was like a radish, I was dripping like a tap, but at least I finished it. I still have doors to fit, but that is another day.

18th April 2018

I was beyond the valley of happiness as the walls turned pink as the plaster was applied.

It has been a long time, but it’s getting there, and more progress should be reached tomorrow. As I walked around, after the guys had left for the day, I noticed they had scribbled “Thursday ” on various walls. I have always known that certain tradesmen pace themselves to squeeze as much money as they can from their clients, and there is little that can be done to avoid it. I had set Friday as the deadline for completion of the plastering, and it looks like they will stretch it out till then.

On the whole I have been satisfied with the quality of the work the builders have done. I have been amazed at the cost of materials, nothing is cheap anymore. There has been a lot of soul searching, and comprising, but I wanted a finish that I would happy with, and hopefully I will achieve it.

Nicola and Colin came to help with cutting up a rotten fence covered with more ivy that had fallen into my next door neighbour’s garden. This led to four trips to the dump, for which I can now drive in my sleep, and where the prospect of driverless cars seem appealing.

17th April 2018

The insulated plasterboard was installed today, the last of the exposed stone was now covered, and now the place is ready to be plastered. This has been a long journey, and driven me to the limits of frustration, but the end is in sight.

I managed two trips to the tip to dump six more bags of ivy, soon all trace of the hedge will be gone.

On a lighter note, Kelli informed me that it was snowing in Holland, shame.

16th April 2018

What a day it has been, not so much with the cottage but rather the garden. Nicola and Colin came up to tackle the ivy-riddled fence. Years of neglect allowed the ivy to cover the wooden fence totally. It looked like a wall of twisted branches growing over a rotten wooden frame. By the time I got to the cottage they had removed half of the fence, and when I got back after taking plasterboard off-cuts most had been cut down. It was amazing to see the transformation, and that continued when my daughter-in-law, Louise join the trim team.

At the end of the afternoon there were piles of cuttings to go for recycling.

In the cottage the gas supply was being installed, and the water system tested. There were no pools of water, or exasperated plumbers running around, so I guess it was a success.

15th April 2018

A lot of news about the Syrian air attacks on the various cable channels this morning, mmm, another one hundred million dollars worth of cruise missiles fired off. I don’t know how I feel about it? my mind is just numb from everything bombarding me. Chemical weapons are evil, and the countries that develop them must be evil also.

The other thing clogging the channels is the book from James Comey that documents the encounter between him and Trump. That is guaranteed to distract people from the truth.

Of course Trump retaliated with a series of tweets slagging Comey off, this will go on for ages, and the more tweets, the more books will be sold.

14th April 2018

I met up with my old art school friend Rob for lunch in Bath. The Indian restaurant was good and the Masala Dosa was wonderful. Rob has been spiritual from his early twenties, and traveled to India every year to join and involve himself in the teachings of his chosen guru. He had opened my eyes to the scale of his pilgrimage, where numbers of up to a hundred thousand people congregate to listen to the words of one man. Rob carries his beliefs like a cloak, it protects him, and he doesn’t try to indoctrinate those close to him. His view is that all people should wear a cloak to keep their personal soul inside.

The weather was good so we walked by the canal, young children are always fascinated by him thinking him as Father Christmas. He always plays up to them by saying he is on holiday, because it is cold in the North Pole. They soak it up, and he is happy to keep the magic alive. His knowledge of the city is immense, he led me to places I had not been to before, and I have lived in Bath all my life.

Over coffee we talked about our emotional lives, our loves and relationships. I learned that he closed his mind to have any form of female relationships because of his intense jealousy, and obsessive behaviour that he knew he suffered. He decided that for his own sanity he would lead a different life, and find contentment.

13th April 2018

Received a photo of the inside of the cottage showing the progress made this week. I was impressed. Most of the plasterboard is up in the living room, and the floor had been floated. This was a great relief, and there is a strong possibility that the two downstairs rooms will be finished plastered by the end of next week.

To celebrate, I did bugger all, but start planning out the rebuilding of the bathroom.