Had to get up early today as we had a problem with our car last night - a brake burning smell that doesn't bode well for its trip to the local garage mechanic. Hilary had noticed it earlier in the day when she went over to Babbacombe and I noticed it when we paid a visit to B&Q in the evening to collect some laminate flooring and wall tiles for our new bathrooms. So I drove over to John Barton & Sons, explained the problem, listened to the sucking of teeth while he checked his computer - "Well, Mr. Woollard we've never changed the pads in all the time you've had it, leave the keys in the ignition and we'll check it over and call you." Then I started on my trek back home, just under 2 miles I reckon by the time I had called into the local shops to pick up my daily newspaper. The good thing is that the sun was shining through a thin layer of cloud all the way there and back. Perhaps last night's TV weather forecast was wrong and we will have a dry day after all.
Our truck load of cement for the footings didn't arrive last night but Tony and Simon are confident that it will show up around noon today. On my arrival back home I noticed a new face helping to shift the breeze blocks from the driveway onto the boards covering our back lawn. The Young One introduced the new man as "Tony's brother" and I guess that he is here to help with the barrowing of the cement from the front to the footings. I did notice that today we have three wheelbarrows in operation and I have offered to lend a fourth if they need one.
The Readymix arrived around 11.00am together with the rain of course. I watched from an upstairs window as this huge lorry backed closer and closer to the small stone bridge which we have to cross to get to our gate. This stone bridge crosses a leat built by Drake in the 1600's and is of dubious construction - we know of one further up the road that was cracked by a refuse lorry, so I hoped against hope that ours would remain intact. As the photo shows the Readymix driver was skillful enough to stop well short and our bridge came to n
o harm. Initially we had a 4 man team with 3 wheelbarrows and one shovelling and tamping. This didn't last long however as they kept getting in each others way along the narrow section outside the house. After a few trial runs they settled on two men barrowing and one tamping the cement into place, the unloading of the cement took about 45 minutes all told while our workmen shovelled, prodded, raked and tamped for a good 15 minutes after that. It was a huge amount of cement and my comment that it could have supported Buckingham Palace was met with the retort, "That's the planners for you, we have to allow for two stories to be added even if the construction only needs one." With the job done, all our workmen trudged off up the road for a well earned tea break with their mates.
The rain stayed with us all day as did our stalwart workers Simon and Marcus (formerly known as The Young One), who returned from their tea break to continue shifting blocks from the front to the back and then when this was completed they started digging out our old clay pipe drains. I mean, slippery mud is bad enough but stinky old pipes, even I have to doff my hat to them for doing that. It does mean that tonight we will be without our one and only bath/shower room but they did leave us with a working loo and a small sink. Hilary has taped up the door into the shower room just in case I forget on my midnight meandering.
My day concluded with a return walk to John Barton's Garage - this time only a mile and a half as I cut across the golf course instead of going via the shops. The news was 50/50, the front brake pads were replaced, linkages greased and the brake system genera
lly checked over. No guarantees were given that the brake smell problem has been resolved but at least I didn't notice it after the short drive back home. My final act for the day before settling down for an evening in front of the TV was to take some photographs of our soggy concrete footings nestled in a sea of mud and the best one is shown here. Tomorrow we are out for the day helping Hilary's sister and her husband to fit out their kitchen prior to their house sale. This will mean that we will not be able to monitor our worker's progress unless I fix up that webcam in the Buddha........ It will be interested to see how they progress without us constantly looking over their shoulders.
Our truck load of cement for the footings didn't arrive last night but Tony and Simon are confident that it will show up around noon today. On my arrival back home I noticed a new face helping to shift the breeze blocks from the driveway onto the boards covering our back lawn. The Young One introduced the new man as "Tony's brother" and I guess that he is here to help with the barrowing of the cement from the front to the footings. I did notice that today we have three wheelbarrows in operation and I have offered to lend a fourth if they need one.
The Readymix arrived around 11.00am together with the rain of course. I watched from an upstairs window as this huge lorry backed closer and closer to the small stone bridge which we have to cross to get to our gate. This stone bridge crosses a leat built by Drake in the 1600's and is of dubious construction - we know of one further up the road that was cracked by a refuse lorry, so I hoped against hope that ours would remain intact. As the photo shows the Readymix driver was skillful enough to stop well short and our bridge came to n
o harm. Initially we had a 4 man team with 3 wheelbarrows and one shovelling and tamping. This didn't last long however as they kept getting in each others way along the narrow section outside the house. After a few trial runs they settled on two men barrowing and one tamping the cement into place, the unloading of the cement took about 45 minutes all told while our workmen shovelled, prodded, raked and tamped for a good 15 minutes after that. It was a huge amount of cement and my comment that it could have supported Buckingham Palace was met with the retort, "That's the planners for you, we have to allow for two stories to be added even if the construction only needs one." With the job done, all our workmen trudged off up the road for a well earned tea break with their mates.The rain stayed with us all day as did our stalwart workers Simon and Marcus (formerly known as The Young One), who returned from their tea break to continue shifting blocks from the front to the back and then when this was completed they started digging out our old clay pipe drains. I mean, slippery mud is bad enough but stinky old pipes, even I have to doff my hat to them for doing that. It does mean that tonight we will be without our one and only bath/shower room but they did leave us with a working loo and a small sink. Hilary has taped up the door into the shower room just in case I forget on my midnight meandering.
My day concluded with a return walk to John Barton's Garage - this time only a mile and a half as I cut across the golf course instead of going via the shops. The news was 50/50, the front brake pads were replaced, linkages greased and the brake system genera
lly checked over. No guarantees were given that the brake smell problem has been resolved but at least I didn't notice it after the short drive back home. My final act for the day before settling down for an evening in front of the TV was to take some photographs of our soggy concrete footings nestled in a sea of mud and the best one is shown here. Tomorrow we are out for the day helping Hilary's sister and her husband to fit out their kitchen prior to their house sale. This will mean that we will not be able to monitor our worker's progress unless I fix up that webcam in the Buddha........ It will be interested to see how they progress without us constantly looking over their shoulders.
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