Week Eighty-two

Week beginning 25th December 2023.

It’s Boxing Day afternoon and we have just arrived back at Gar Bothan after our Christmas trip to Edinburgh. We arrived on Friday night so we could take Niven and Caitlin swimming at Dunbar Leisure Pool on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, Caitlin wasn’t well and only stayed in the pool for ten minutes or so, which is most unlike our mermaid grandchild! Niven and Pete stayed in much longer and they had a lovely time there.

On Christmas Eve we had our annual Ross/Campbell Swissmas gathering, hosted this year by Kathleen and Ross. We had a lovely time although we did miss Caitlin and Mary, who were both unwell.

Christmas lunch this year was spent with Kathleen and Ross, who invited us to join them at their house. But this time it was Pete who was unwell and spent the day in bed. Christmas lunch was a vegan and vegetarian feast followed by gift giving, then dessert and hanging out chatting and listening to music.

Today, Boxing day, we should have gone walking with Nicky and Graham but because Pete is not fully recovered we have postponed it for another day.

We have arrived back to find a digger parked behind the mega-shed so Kevin has obviously dropped it off ready to get started on the landscaping. We are in the house having a look around and we can see that Des has been busy, because the toilets and basins are fitted in the shower rooms. The place is looking great.

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There was a terrible storm through the night with howling winds and we have woken to a power cut and it’s very cold. Very unusually, there is no mobile phone service here either so we have no way of knowing what’s going on.

After a slow start we are up and about. Luckily we have the caravan which has it’s gas cylinder for cooking and the 12v battery for light. We’ve put the gas oven on to try and generate a bit of heat but it’s a bit feeble as obviously it isn’t designed for that.

With no electric light in the house and no heat we have decided to generate our own heat by painting the glaze on the gable wall and vaulted ceiling above the east mezzanine.

It’s going on a treat and the physical effort of rollering is keeping us warm. Des has also arrived and is starting on fitting the heat battery and some final details on the basins and toilets.

He tells us that the road to Oban is blocked because there’s a tree down at Inver Awe and a tree has brought the power line down and it’s not expected to be fixed before 5:30pm.

We have cut some ply for Des to sit the heat battery on and have now moved onto applying glaze on the west mezzanine gable and ceiling. But before we can start that Pete is rollering glaze on the north wall of the straight stair. Molly is cleaning the trusses of plaster residue and splatters and now that Pete’s done he is joining in with this task.

That’s it for today and we are very happy to have used our time well despite the ongoing power cut and lack of mobile phone service.

We are in the caravan and it’s blooming cold! It’s after 6pm and still no power or mobile phone so all we can do is have something to eat and head for bed. This is a new experience for us, no power and incommunicado! It is a bit unsettling because we are so used to having all this information and means of communicating at our finger tips so we always have a good idea of what’s going on or going wrong.

It’s 8:45pm and we have our mobile service back so we can check our emails and answer our social media. But, still no power so we are going to go to sleep now, cosy under a duvet and a couple of blankets.

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The power came on a while after we were asleep and we woke up as our radiator had kicked in and what with the duvet and blankets we were roasting hot.

So we are back to normal this morning with power, heat and light.

Craig and Kevin have arrived bright and early to start preparing the ground for the kerbs that need to go around the house and Des has arrived too, ready to get on with the showers. These are the indoor showers unlike the terrential rain showers outside that Kevin and Craig are having to cope with.

We are doing wee tasks and trying to stay out of the way. Pete is filling a hole in the plaster above the cooker hob and Molly is varnishing the spice rack.

We have just finished adding legs to the bit of the work table we cut off so we now have a modular work table – one large bit and a small bit which can be used individually or together in various configerations. We probably should have done this ages ago as it is very practical and adaptable.

Our final task before lunch is to prepare some timber for the threshold at the balcony door. Pete has tried to use the existing decking planks but two don’t quite cover it so we will need to use a 200mm cladding board and adapt it to fit. We had put a couple of off-cuts in the mega-shed to dry so now we can sand them so that they are smooth, like the decking they will go alongside.

We’ve had lunch and have loaded the car with lots of cardboard packaging from the lighting and various bits of rubbish that has been created by the electricians and Des. So we are off to the dump then to pick up some supplies for decorating and finishing.

The journey to and from Oban was pretty awful, it was torrential and on the way back and it was getting dark so visibility was poor. In quite a few places the road was badly flooded and we need to take a lot of care but we are back now, safe and sound. This rural life is a lot tougher than living in the city, especially in winter when we need to travel far to do basic things.

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It’s Friday again. Molly was meant to go to Edinburgh today to pick up Niven and Caitlin so they can see the New Year in with us but she is ill in bed. It looks like she has caught what Pete had earlier in the week.

While Molly rests, Craig is getting on with the kerbing and changing the traps for the gutters and downpipes. It seems the ones originally fitted are the wrong type and won’t sit close enough to the walls. Des is starting to fit the wet walls for the showers and Pete is working out how to do the mega-shed window sills, putting aside the correct timber to dry before he can prepare and fit them.

It’s 10:30 and Molly has emerged, wanting to help with some work, even though she is under the weather. We are working together to fit the two bits of timber that will make up the balcony door threshold. There is a bit of toing and froing to get the fit just right and to make sure that the custom timber made from the larch cladding sits at the correct height.

We’ve just had lunch and Molly is taking a nap so Pete is going to have a go at fitting one of the down pipes to the house. Craig has swapped out the old drainage trap for something more appropriate so it’s all ready to go.

Pete has to cut a section of downpipe to add to the gutter outlet so it drops enough before he adds the bends round the soffit. With the measuring done he is cutting the pipe with his angle-grinder. To cut a nice straight line around a pipe is a skill and one Pete doesn’t yet have. One of the challenges we have faced is that we are taking on tasks, most of them for the first time, that we don’t have the experience or skills ready to do a good job. Cutting the pipe is a case in point so Pete’s first attempt isn’t too impressive but he is a quick learner. The edge of the grinding disc cuts but the face can be used to grind or file the edge, this does a good job of making the dodgy cut acceptable.

Pete is asking Craig for advice, he has done many jobs in the building industry and so has a lot of experience. Craig thinks the cut pipe is too long and Pete needs to take another 50mm off. This time Pete’s cut is much better. With the section from the gutter outlet to under the soffit in place Pete just needs to measure and cut the long downpipe then level it and fix the brackets. Molly has re-emerged just in time to help fix the pipes in place and the extra help makes it much quicker and easier to do.

This has been a job that has waited a long time but it turns out it’s just as well it wasn’t done – the traps were wrong and needed changed. We are both best pleased because the downpipe is looking good. It’s too dark to fit the other one on the house so Pete is limiting himself to cutting the first wee section to extend down from the outlet for now. He has cracked the skill of neatly cutting a section of pipe and gets it right first time.

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It’s cold this morning, but it’s dry for now so we are going to fit the downpipe on the south elevation of the house. We know what we are doing now and Pete prepped the extension piece yesterday so it isn’t taking us long to fit it. Happy days!

We’ve loaded the car with more rubbish and are about to head to Oban dump then for a shower and another wee shop. Pete is heading to Edinburgh tomorrow to collect Niven and Caitlin and Molly is going to stay here and recover and help Des who is coming back to install the shower screens.

Tomorrow is the last day of the year. We originally thought we would be in our house by the summer, then the autumn, then Christmas and all of that proved to be very optimistic. We aren’t disheartened though, if you are going to build your own house you need to be pragmatic, stoic and philosophical otherwise you will be a very unhappy person. We are sure we will move in before this time next year. Happy days!

We wish you all a very happy New Year.

May 2024 bring peace and tranquility to humankind and may sense prevail.