Week Thirty-one

Week beginning 2nd January 2023

Happy New Year. Wishing you all a fun, exciting and rewarding 2023.

We have just arrived back after twelve days visiting our family and friends in Edinburgh. We had a lovely time, with lots of catching up and lots of great food and drink. We didn’t have enough time to see everyone we wanted this time but we’ll be back before too long.

We are happy to be here but not so happy to have left our family and friends and to see our poor wee house has had to endure more rain.

After two weeks of luxurious living we are going to try and settle and adjust back into caravan living and try and get back into the work groove.

It’s Tuesday morning and to get us back in the groove we are going to tidy and reorganise the mega-shed. We did leave it in a bit of a chaos before Christmas and it is always good to try and start the year afresh.

It’s looking much tidier now and ready for the next stage in our build.

It’s wet outside so we are going to stay in the shed and do a better job of curtaining off the attic space so that it can better retain the heat and is a bit safer for anyone staying up there.

It hasn’t taken long to sort that out so we’re going to call it a day. It’s a bit of a slow start but we are confident that it won’t take us long to get back up to speed.

Today is going to be a day of progress because we are expecting our washing machine and tumble dryer to arrive. After our last couple of trips to Dunbeg, to do our washing and drying, being a bit of a pain, we decided to get our own washing facilities.

Almost the first thing we did when we went down to Edinburgh was to go and check out what ‘A rated’ machines were available and how much they cost. We had done some internet research but we find that, often, we end up going round in circles so visiting a shop and talking to the sales assistant is much more helpful. As it happened we just bought the machines there and then, our Christmas presents to ourselves!

While we are waiting for them to arrive we are going to measure up the trusses for trimming. We have to cut them horizontally at the bottom to fit the soffit. We have to take care with the measuring to ensure the soffits are nice and even and not wavy so we are using a string line and a spirit level.

We’re still working on measuring the trusses but we’ll take a break from that because the machines have arrived and we are keen to get them unpacked and installed.

It’s relatively easy to unpack them and the delivery men take the packaging away for recycling. We are installing the washing machine in the toilet because Des has already fitted the plumbing for the machine there and the dryer in the main shed space.

It’s taken us only an hour to unpack the machines, plumb in the washing machine and have them both ready to use. We just need to run a short wash cycle with the machine empty before we can do our first clothes wash.

We’ve finished the measuring while the machine is doing our first wash and Pete is now cutting the trusses. It’s a bit awkward and unpleasant for him. He needs to lie on the wet scaffolding because of the height of the scaffolding and because the cut is horizontal but apart from a bit of swearing because of the sawdust blowing in his face, he seems to be getting on well with the task.

It’s taken a while but now it’s done on both the north and south elevation and Pete is relieved that he won’t ever have to do that awkward task again.

All this work is in preparation for doing the insulation on the walls and another task is to fill the gaps round the windows with special foam that insulates and draftproofs them then tape them to seal them.

It’s getting dark so satisfied with our days work we are calling it a day and going for a wee walk.

It rained a lot last night and it is still raining so we are off to a slow start today. Pete’s doing a bit of admin to fill in the time.

The rain is off now and we are going to put up our tarpaulins to protect the walls from getting any wetter and, with luck, they might also dry out a bit.

In order to fit the insulation on the walls we need them to be fairly dry and to work on dry days. The forecast is not looking at all good for the next fortnight so we will probably need to work under the cover of the tarps or if that is too dark, we can get some clear polythene sheeting instead.

Just as we are preparing to fit the tarps our friends Michelle and Dimitri drop by on their way home to Edinburgh, having spent the New year on Lismore.

It’s so great to see them, and they brought Pasteis de Nata, Portuguese custard tarts, from Lidl and as a special treat a bottle of Greek red wine.

We’ll try and get some nice Greek treats to go with the wine and have a bit of a Greek night, if we can.

It’s a short visit and before we know they’re homeward bound so it’s back to fitting the tarps but it’s raining heavily now so it’s down tools and get inside where it’s nice and dry. The rain on the caravan roof is so heavy that at times we can barely hear each other so we decide to have a wee nap. Bliss!

We are up and about again after our 40 winks, well sixty actually, and the rain has stopped so we are going to go and finish what was so rudely interupted by the rain.

That’s one elevation covered but we had to get wet to finish the last wee bit of the fitting, which was done in the rain. It was worth it though because the wall will be protected from the rain and that takes some worry away from us.

It was a very wet and stormy night and at one point the noise on the caravan roof was so loud that it must have been hailstones. Luckily we haven’t suffered any damage.

It’s still wet this morning so we are going into the mega-shed to work out how to create some sort of safety barrier for the attic space.

We’ve had our morning coffee break and are going to the pharmacy and the local shop. The shop has been closed most of the time since we moved here but it has reopened under new management and we are pleased to see it is quite well stocked. We are especially pleased to see that they have nice rolls, naan bread, lemons, delicious Thistly Cross cider and wine as well as lots of other products.

We have foamed more of the windows and put up the tarps on the south elevation and the weather is staying dry so we are going to fit more purlins on the north roof. We didn’t manage to finish that job before the holidays because of the snow.

It’s the end of our first week back and we are quite pleased with our progress, given that it was a bit depressing to come back to the wet weather and the sad sight of our wet house.

Our life will be easier now that we can wash and dry our clothes here, we won’t have to worry about the walls getting wet anymore and we are almost ready to start insulating the north elevation of the house.

Now we are going to relax with some nice food , a few glasses of Thistly Cross and a glass or two of wine. Have a lovely weekend.