Week Ninety-five

Week beginning 25 March 2024.

We’ve decided to try and take it a bit easier today. Our first task is to move the cladding from the back of the mega-shed to the back of the house. Luckily we don’t have much cladding left so it isn’t too hard and doesn’t take us long.

We still have a pile of stone chips to cover the ground at the back of the mega-shed so Pete is on shovelling and Molly is raking. It’s a small area so, again, not too hard and we get it done in double quick time.

Just had a quick coffee and now we are moving the scaffolding platforms to the area where the cladding was. We seem to have moved the cladding and scaffolding here, then there, then here, then there so many times it is kind of ridiculous.

This afternoon we are doing another tidy of the shed in anticipation of the electricians coming tomorrow. We are cutting some battens ready for cladding around the polycarbonate windows and painting them with black wood preserver.

That’s it, we are finishing early and are off to have a wee siesta.

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Molly is off to Pickleball because it’s Tuesday and Pete is working at home until lunchtime so he can be here for the electricians.

It’s after 10am and they still haven’t arrived so Pete is giving them a call.

Arghhhhhh!!!!! They had been booked to come today but for some inexplicable reason they have decided to come tomorrow and didn’t bother to tell us. Communication is everything but not a thing tradespeople seem to take too seriously!

Molly is back from Pickleball so we have time to have lunch together before Pete heads off for an overnight work thing.

Pete’s gone and Molly is off to Oban to do some shopping. Kevin has just messaged Pete to say he is about to move the caravan down from the mound to behind the mega-shed. He has brought his wee tractor and is carefully manoeuvering it down the ramp.

Molly is back to find the caravan in its new position but Kevin is gone.

Kevin is back moving the top soil around the front garden so things are really taking shape and he should be done soon and that should be the end of the digger on our plot.

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It’s 9.30am and Molly is on her own. The electricians have arrived so Molly is doing a quick tour checking that they know what still needs doing. While they work in the house she is doing more tidying around the house and shed, ready for when Pete’s cousin, Jenny from Switzerland, comes for a holiday with two of her children.

Molly has to be on hand for the electricians to answer questions and make sure everything is as it should be.

The electricians are gone, time is marching on and Pete isn’t back. He better get here soon because we are invited to Cate and Steve’s for dinner.

Molly is painting the surrounds of the polycarbonate windows while she waits for him.

Phew! Pete’s back just in time to go for dinner. He is really tired but it’s nothing a glass or two of wine can’t fix.

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It’s Thursday and the electricians are due back today to get on with, and hopefully finish, the electrics. Pete is working from home today. It’s his last day with the organisation so he has quite a bit of office work to get on with. It’s a day of mixed emotions for him – he loves the work he has been doing but he is also looking forward to having more time to finish the house. After that who knows where life will take him.

Molly is on hand for the electricians and is now giving the caravan a good clean so our visitors can use it as a bedroom if needed.

Kevin has turned up and is doing a bit around the west side of the house and the electricians are concentrating on the mega-shed.

The electricians are heading off and Kevin has also gone. The electrics didn’t get finished because they didn’t have all the supplies they needed, a bit of a disappointment really.

Chris, our neighbour form Portobello, has arrived and will be staying the night. It’s lovely to see him and have a good old catch up while taking a stroll up Glen Strae.

We are back for dinner and more chat but we’ll have to make sure and not stay up late as Pete is seriously running out of steam.

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It’s a bank holiday weekend and we are off to Edinburgh to see our grandchildren. Happy days!