Categories: uncategorized
Date: 25 August 2007 20:04:26
Hopefully that's our three disasters out of the way.
First there was the tree roots forcing the builders to dig the foundations 2.5 metres deep. It was quite something to look out from my front door and see a hand waving from deep down in the trench! It was amazing watching the digger driver though - such amazing expertise in driving such an ungainly machine with incredibly accuracy to make tiny precise movements in digging and in shifting the accumulated mass of clay and rocks. He was too polite to complain at my obsession with watching him work.
Then the moment came ..... they knocked the gas pipe. The Gas Man came to look at the damage. "Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?" The gas pipe was rotten and had to be turned off at the mains... permanently until the pipe can be replaced. That was bad enough, but the meter where it had to be capped was in the back of the garage - the garage full to bursting with carefully stowed furniture.... and the Gas Board Man wasn't supposed to move any of it. Good job his boss wasn't looking - Mr Gas Board Man did a good job for customer relations, as did my wonderful building team. A chain of people hard at work and it took a matter of minutes for all my father's worldly goods to be relocated on the drive. Not so easy packing it all back in again, but teamwork saved the day yet again. He said the pipe had been rotten and it was an accident just waiting to happen. And who needs hot water, heating or cooking facilities for three months? Pah - we can manage!
With the hold up waiting for the gas to be turned off, the bad news was that there wasn't really the luxury of time to allow me to have my long awaited go in the digger. I am sooooooo disappointed - even more resentful of that than of the extra cost!
Then came number three. They got to the last stretch of digging, only to discover a water main, electricity main and drainpipe at about one foot apart across the place they needed to dig. Fortunately they only had to go two metres deep at this point, but I can tell you two metres of clay is pretty deep when it's got to be shovelled out by hand!
Still, it's all looking very exciting. The foundations are now finished and the blocks have arrived for the first layer of brickwork to begin on Tuesday. Plans are in place for relocating the drains too. It's looking totally different to how I envisaged, of course, but really quite exciting. And Smudgelet, home from Scripture Union camp today, was delighted to discover that we have to walk the plank to get into our home!