28.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

The second truckload of steel arrived this morning. There is tons of the stuff on site now. Edd is digging the front footings and pillar holes ready for Doug to inspect this afternoon. The brick layer is trying to work out how to deal with the recess that Doug wants on the back footing in a way that does not involve cutting blocks and Al has told me to get an order in for the log fire as it will be built in with the rest of the block work. I did not know that.

I love the look of an open fire but energy requirements make it a no no. We have found one type of inset fire where the glass scene can be lifted vertically so that one can have a closed or open fire if one so desires. So far I have only found one type that looks to have all these features and it is expensive, of course. Looks as if I will have to order one though, and soon.

Our concrete team will now start on Monday. It is, apparently, unlucky to start a job on Friday so as Edd needed more time for digging and inspections everyone was happy not to start today. I have been working on the weeds and grass around the place but there is still junk left around from the fires and once the grass grows it lies hidden until my mower get tangled up. Mowers here have a hard life. My job is to keep order around the building site and do the accounts because I am not really up to heavy digging. I am not sure Edd is either but he is being quite a hero.

I spoke with the window people just before Xmas and they said the windows should be ready by early February, which will work out about right. What we need now is a day’s trip into Melbourne to order bricks and the fire. I have done nothing about a kitchen yet except buy stoves. I will relocate my fridge from the donga. There is a slight problem in that we changed the door after it was brought in and now the entrance is too narrow for it to get out! This is why I have not wasted time painting that area.

OTHER NEWS

Josh plans to leave for Perth today but he has not yet returned from a night out saying goodbye to his mates. This time he could be gone for a whole year. I am trying to get him to promise to come home next Xmas and celebrate in our new house.

Bo and x cooked a meal for Australia day and we all had lunch at Bo’s house and watched slide shows of our English relatives and ancestral country. Al had gleaned much more family gossip than I have ever managed to extract which made it all the more interesting.

It was great to see Al’s kids looking so well and relaxed. We all plan to go sailing together at the weekend and have a BBQ here. Edd will have to work some water magic on the pool because it has gone green again. It also seems as if hay is being cut. We keep getting unannounced rain, which is making the process very difficult. It may or may not yield usable results; we are too busy to keep a firm enough eye on it this year.