It’s been such a long time since I wrote the last blog – frankly I haven’t had the time, energy or inclination. Self-building is exhausting emotionally and I’m fed up today so I suspect this won’t be the most chipper of entries but I felt like writing today so here goes.
There has been so much progress since the last blog – we have essentially got a house, it’s just a bit of a shell at the moment. The frame is finished, the roof is on (well mostly, Jonny’s studio isn’t quite there yet), the windows are nearly all in. We’ve got plasterboard, we’ve got first fix electrics and first fix plumbing starts next week. Excitement should be building, but it isn’t. I am extraordinarily sick of waiting.
Waiting for deliveries, waiting for the next job to be finished, waiting for quotes, waiting for tradesmen, waiting to unpack our lives from storage.
The move in date has slipped and slipped, so we’ve booked the housewarming regardless before the end of summer. Weather we’ll be in or not…I don’t know. I think so but I’ve thought so before about earlier deadlines. I think I become used to disappointment, which is worrying.
I have mainly one topic of conversation at the moment as I don’t do much else apart from think about the house. But it’s also the last thing I want to talk about. I only work part-time but the build is taking up all of the rest of my free time. When I should be drinking coffee with old friends or making new ones I’m waiting in for National Grid or chasing quotes or Googling toilets and downlights. I’m bored of my own company to be honest.
We went to a party recently, so many of our friends were there and we’d been really looking forward to it. Being good friends and lovely people they all asked “How’s the build going?” a great intentioned question. But after the 6th person has asked you that in an hour you get tired of hearing your own answers. I try to be optimistic and non-moany. God how lucky am I that we’ve got the chance to build our own home how we want and that it has been designed so beautifully and build so expertly? How lucky am I that we’re living with patient family next door while it’s being done and not in some muddy caravan? Despite our inflating budget, it’ll still be a stunning home and we could never have afforded to buy a house like this one. But I’m tired of trying to be upbeat and optimistic and I’m finding it really hard to keep thinking of the lucky.
So friends please bear with me, don’t stop the invites just because I’m lousy company, don’t stop asking “how’s the build going” but do please move on and tell me all your news and adventures when my answer is fairly dull. I really need to hear it at the moment and soon we’ll be back to old ourselves. In the meantime here are some pictures of the progress. Just waiting for heating and flooring and plastering and bathrooms and kitchens and skimming and painting and unpacking and moving on. Metaphorically of course, I’m never leaving once we’re in!
Sarah