An Extension

No, not that kind. Ignoring the wise words of our friend Val ‘not to set deadlines’ we tried to get the work done for the Building Warrant before it expired. This meant tracking down the Building Warrant which we couldn’t find for a while. Do we have it or does Chris? We had it, buried amongst the SEPA permissions.

Apart from some niggly things like patching plaster and replacing lights and switches, it seemed as though the end was in sight. The stone path at the front took ages to complete but Suse finished it off while John and Emily were away at the Saunders. We like it  and hope it will not be too slippy in winter when this side of the house doesn’t get any sun.

After 2 months of drought, the rain finally arrived and with it, winds, which wreaked havoc with the peas and onions. It was very welcome in the garden and made it psychologically easier to come indoors and upstairs, where the sub floor had been laid for the landing. Working with new flooring planks was much quicker than using the reclaimed merbau but didn’t seem quite right on the eco side. Can’t complain about the result, though. It’s lovely.

The next job was the marble tiles in the hall downstairs. This was a tricky one because we didn’t have much room to play with under the front door and stairs, but had a good 10-15 mm elsewhere. Suse went off to Tai Chi Caledonia for a week and returned to find it finished and grouted and sealed – not bad going, as John has been known to take a few minutes off to watch the Tour de France.

When Gordon came to check the electrics, he discovered that the Electricity Board didn’t earth the installation so it is all earthing off the rod that John put in. Getting this sorted and not having run through the drain test meant that we had to apply for an extension to the Building Warrant, giving us an additional 9 months. In a way it’s frustrating to be so close as we would both really like to have it all ticked off. But in another way it means we can relax a bit and enjoy the summer. We also want to make a trailer for our new kayaks from the old caravan and ‘get out more!’

On the social side, Andrew and Rosie departed for Skye and Karen arrived. We hope she is going to be happy here and got together with Fiona and David and family to have a welcome barbecue. With Dave, Ali and Lorna, we kayaked across to Gigha and camped there before completing the journey the next day. So, with various visits from friends and relations and more orienteering and kayaking planned, we’re really not doing too badly!