18. Tesco coming soon

18.             Tesco coming soon.

We are back after a really enjoyable Christmas break.  We have recharged our batteries and full of vitality to return to the building site.

We have taken on the completion of the block work ourselves, and have made good headway.  We have completed all blockwork for the main house, except for a small strip under the main dining room window which we will complete this weekend.

The blockwork makes it easier to see the shape of the house as areas are more visibly defined.  

The entrance is just to the right of column 15
The stair raises up to the first floor in the area between 13 and 14, and 11 and 15.
The block work wall in front of the pile of blocks with hessian sacks on indicates where the level change is (with 2 steps down)
The black steel beams open to the ground is where the living room floats over the ground.
The floor is a beam and block construction which I will show you when it's installed.

This corner room (the other side of the column marked 13) will be the snug.
Small, enclosed, and inward looking 

In the foreground is where the staircase will be, within the entrance hall.
The entrance hall will be double height.
The concrete blocks running left to right in the picture represent a change in level down to the dining room which opens out onto the terrace (where the pile of stones is)
to the view beyond.
The higher wall to the right of the dining room windows is where the kitchen will be.
My small office is to the left (out of the picture) on the higher level, looking over the living which makes an L shape with the dining room
Max's studio is to the right (out of the picture) 

Having completed this stage in the main house leaves 'just' the stepped retaining wall of the studio to complete.  This is a fairly mammoth task.  One person mixes the concrete, another barrows it to the base of the wall.  The concrete is then transferred to a bucket (half filled only) and lifted up on to the staging, for a third person to pour it in between the two faces of blockwork, filling the cavity where the steel mesh is.  Quite a slow and heavy process as we can only fill two or three courses at a time.  We are now up to the last two sections.  The higher it gets the tougher it becomes.    We have decided to use the pump for the last section (a good back saving devise) as it will be coming to the site with the ready mixed concrete lorry when we lay the slab in a week’s time.
Fred, our local hero has found us a labourer to help with this last stage.  By the end of this coming week we hope to have the blockwork behind us.

This is what we have achieved this week - thanks to Max.

Two amusing things have happened.  With all the rain it was a battle to keep everything dry.  Unfortunately the file with all the key drawings of how to build the blockwork, all colour coded for ease of explanation, got left out as everyone dashed for cover when the rains came down.

Here they are drying out in the caravan with the heating turned up high.
The whole caravan was converted into a drying room for 3 hours.
All was OK

This colour key represented a different structure of a wall.
It was no mean feat to keep track of exactly what one should be doing where.

And this was a particular junction that very nearly defeated us.
But what we have built, actually does look like this.
Except for the colour.

The second event: We returned from a shopping trip to find a notice on one of the fences.

We were fairly certain that it was a joker in the village, so we left it up.
It does look a bit like Tesco at the moment but it will soften once the cladding is on.

The best laugh was when some young riders came by, and I heard one of them say to the other,

"Oh wow, we going to have a Tesco soon! How brill is that!"

What a disappointment it's going to be for them.

At a New Year's Day village lunch party given by Fred and his wife we discovered who the culprit was.  He is the butterfly expert in the village with whom we have had several conversations, and he is renowned for his pranks..  He couldn't resist mentioning the Tesco notice as soon as he saw us.  We sussed him out - and he owned up.
Everyone who stops by enjoys the joke too, we believe!

I think it will remain there.

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H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R  TO  E V E R Y O N E

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