I was woken this Saturday morning at 4 by the huge storm with quite the noisiest thunder I have ever heard. When the storm died down I found myself awake and worrying about the many issues we are encountering at the moment – the biggest of which is The Man – but back to that later.
Last week we had a date fixed for the last of the concrete for the foundations, the timber frame had been signed off by Building Control and it was all progressing, moving forward and so I could begin to let myself think about inside, and this week’s topic was bathrooms. My main concern was toilets –or specifically the upstairs toilet which the boys will share. The space is narrow and the people at Bath Store said it couldn’t be done. Never before have I given cisterns a second thought – taking their rather wonderful and hygienic engineering for granted. Those days are over. It seems you can even get cisterns now that are only 8cm wide and will fit into an internal wall – someone needs to tell Bath Store this.
Today the world of toilets seems very far behind me. Yesterday was a trying day. I worked every day last week so couldn’t be on site at all – I was installing an exhibition which is always stressful and tiring. Yesterday it was the final day of the install – too many little jobs to be done, lots of stress and not enough tea by far. This was when The Phone Call came.
It was Andy, my groundworker. The Man, AKA the Building Inspector, had been and he was not happy. My trenches are insufficient it seems and the soil is too soily – the trees are too close so they must be deeper to ensure not roots can get under the new timber frame. The current foundation plans (the ones passed by planning) are not good enough and must be done differently. This is where my amateur status lets me down as in between profanities Andy explained the new system The Man had requested, I didn’t fully understand but it involved the phrases 6 feet deep, raft and more concrete, and in reality meant that Andy would have to re-dig. I’d have been swearing too if I realised that my work in 30 degree heat had been wasted. He is quite annoyed as am I – I can’t really blame The Man, after all he just doesn’t want my house to fall down. Although it must be said that the trees have not moved closer since his last inspection and the groundwork plans have not changed. I suspect it’ll cost us time and money and a few more hours of sleep lost to worry.
I know in my heart of hearts that we will get there but my god groundwork is so very depressing. As much as I have enjoyed making tea for Andy and Tina and hearing from Tina of Andy’s many antics I will be glad when they have finished this stage. I suspect we’ll see them again for internal walls and landscaping but I absolutely cannot think that far ahead today – I am too tired and must concentrate on my other job – Mumming. So for now I’ll sit in a splash pool feeling slightly chilly watching the boys pile down water slides and then traipse around pretending to get enthusiastic about vintage cars. Just don’t make me talk about concrete ‘til Monday.
PS. I feel I must add a little thank you and sorry to my hard working colleagues and specifically the one who was up a ladder adjusting lighting at the time The Phone Call came yesterday – I’m sorry I was talking foundations whilst being in charge of your safety up said ladder, I promise I was still holding it tightly!