Well, the builders were back again today after a week’s absence, something about delays due to inclement weather, which I can well understand following the days of heavy rain we have had recently, and also recent heavy frosts. And when I say builders, not the same builders, different builders, Fifers, from across the Firth of Forth in the Kingdom of Fife. Thankfully, this time I can understand what they are saying. And that makes a huge difference, I can assure you.
A day’s work has seen our holes in the ground start to bear fruit, in the way of substructure blockwork walls. And I’m pleased to say that they seem to have done all the correct stuff during the build. The rainwater drainage pipes have been carefully lintelled over, the cavity filled with concrete and they even made attempts to keep the place tidy, at least for any given value of the meaning of tidy. Construction site tidy, possibly. Tomorrow they will return to finish of the in-situ insulated concrete floor slab and step at the new entrance door. And, fingers crossed, I’m hoping they will re-lay the driveway pavers around the porch.
Todays has presented me with a mystery. In three days of heavy work neither of the two squads of builders showed any sign of visiting the toilet, nor have they requested use of our toilet. So, where do they go for a slash? Do they actually take a piss at all? A mystery indeed. And this in light of the fact that they drank bottles of fizzy coke almost constantly and also downed all the cups of tea and coffee I provided for them. Do they have totally humongous bladders, carefully developed following years of dedicated heavy drinking in the pub? In most likelihood I suspect they simply slipped into the bushes when I wasn’t looking.
The contracts manager for the project also appeared on site today. He intimated that superstructure work will start next Monday and the overall build should be completed by the end of the week, except perhaps some internal plastering or external rendering. Excellent news. I’m slightly perturbed to see how small the porch is when viewed in reality but it is what it is. We were restricted to the space between the bedroom and bathroom windows. However, it is large enough for its purpose, mainly somewhere to hang wet clothing and leave muddy walking boots. And on the plus side, the driveway space between the new porch and the garden will now become part of the rear garden, always a plus. Back soon.
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