Week Fourteen

On Monday I phone Gareth the Wood early to see if he can make the plugs that Dave the Miller has not provided.  The answer is no.  Excellent.  8.15am on a Monday morning and already Tuesday is going pear shaped.  I phone Dave the Miller’s mobile.  Turned off.  I phone Dave the Miller’s office.  Answerphone.  I leave an answer and begin to worry that he has gone on holiday…. But he does phone back and, yes, he can make the plugs as long as I can pick them up in the evening.  No problem, had planned an easy night before picking Guy up from the coach – he comes back TODAY!!!   On my way home from work I go to order a CLOCK.  Not just any old clock, but a HUGE CLOCK which says ‘Waterloo’ on it…. I’ve wanted one ever since I moved to Waterloo but could never think of anywhere to put it – now I have a huge cabin and it needs a clock.  Clock shop shut.  I drive home, oil wood (again), clean Guy’s car, drive my car to Guy’s house, walk home with Blunkett, get vaguely clean again (mental note to myself that it would have been easier if I hadn’t got grubby in the first place) drive off in Guy’s car to get plugs, hurtle home, feed Blunkett, feed me, go to fetch Guy.  I have vague directions on where to pick him up which results in me sitting in a layby facing in one direction and Guy going past on his coach in the other direction, and both of us waving frantically.  We do eventually meet up (I chase the coach) and both Blunkett and I are deliriously happy to see him again, although it is Blunkett who throws herself upside down on the pavement and waves all her feet in the air.  I consider joining in but think better of it at the last minute….

On Tuesday Gareth the Wood arrives to do the surround, Guy and I are both off work to help – which basically means being around in case there are any questions.  Luckily Gareth just gets on with it.   But slowly.  Very s-l-o-w-l-y.

Patience.  I must have PATIENCE.

Guy and I stay around but not helping much – we decide to make the path alongside the French windows of the cabin.

This is what it looks like before we start….

The path is going to be gravel, but to stop it all falling down the hill we put in hideous green lawn edging as a temporary measure until the earth is all in place.  It looks entirely gruesome.  I try to convince myself it’s temporary, but it’s still gruesome.

Then we add slabs to the sand, gravel between the sand, and by the end of the day – hey presto, A PATH!!!  And it’s BRILLIANT!  We are Very Pleased With Ourselves.

It is agreed that Gareth will come back again on Wednesday and that I won’t wait to see him which is probably just as well as he doesn’t turn up till 1pm…  When I get home from work, he’s not there again, and progress has been, er, slow.

Guy arrives to view progress… except there isn’t really any, and then Gareth reappears to carry on.  I mow the grass, and Guy walks in front of the mower rescuing baby frogs from it’s path so that they don’t get decapitated.  Guy goes, Gareth carries on, I put off having dinner till he’s finished, change my mind and eat standing up in the kitchen, Gareth ACTUALLY FINISHES the surround and leaves at 10.45pm.  I head straight for bed!

On Thursday I get up early (this is becoming a habit) and want to oil the surround – it was just TOO late last night, and it was also very dark despite the lovely fairy lights….  However, I discover it needs WAY more sanding than I had thought possible, so it will have to wait until after work.  Instead I measure the floor, calculate what I need for the flooring and go to the builder’s merchants to order it for delivery on Friday.  I have an email from Wyn to say can he please come on Sunday to do more electricals and I phone him up to say YES PLEASE.  Excellent news!  In the evening I spend over an hour sanding the surround…. and then oil it.  It’s a lovely job putting oil on, very soothing.  I feel calm and serene and optimistic.

On Friday the flooring is delivered late, which puts paid to the calm, serene and optimistic feelings….  And in the evening I sand and oil the surround again.  Guy cooks us dinner and we curl up on the sofa with a DVD.  Of the pool installation.  We watch the nice calm man on the DVD who makes everything look easy showing us how to put in the liner.  And making it look easy.  This is EXCITING STUFF.  Once there is a liner it will look like it will be a pool SOON!

On Saturday we hoover around the pool walls to clear up all the sawdust left from the surround work.  Then we put Jablite insulation against the pool walls.  And hoover around the pool walls to clear up all the Jablite left from insulating the pool walls.  Guy puts a final coat of oil on the surround, and I put the LAST COAT of woodstain on the rear of the stud wall.  NO MORE WOODSTAIN!!!  Or at least, not till I make the outer pool walls….

In the afternoon we do – nothing.  I know, I know – you don’t believe it, but it’s true.  We sit out in the first proper day of glorious sunshine – and do nothing.  For at least two hours.  Then we shove the enormous doorstep into place (thank goodness for crowbars and brute force).  In the evening we get properly dressed up and go out for a meal and to see Spiderman 2 at the cinema.  Just like normal people!  We don’t talk pool stuff at all – well, apart from discussing suitable artwork, which isn’t really pool stuff.  And the film is great, although I still don’t understand why the policemen couldn’t just shoot the baddie.  Except that it would have made it a much shorter film….

On Sunday it’s even hotter - we polish the surround and Wyn arrives to do electrical stuff, while Guy and I move three tons of gravel and 10 bales of compost.  Excellent plan for a hot day!  Janice comes too and kindly does the washing up from lunch while Wyn does more electrics and Guy and I rake gravel and shovel compost.

I stuff some plants in alongside the new path.  (Eat your heart out, Alan Titchmarsh).  Yes, I know the hideous green stuff is still in place – and, yes, I know it’s still hideous.  It will have to stay put until the ground has stabilised in a couple of weeks.  But the plants help cover it.  A bit.

Hours worked:  Tuesday’s path took about 8 hours, Saturday was about 4 hours, and Sunday ended up being a stonking 12 hours!!!  It’s now Sunday night, and I’m too tired to add that lot up….
Achieved:  A POOL SURROUND! A path, a gravel front, doorstep, planting, an electric cable through the wall of the cabin and a fuse box in place….
Wine consumed: Several bottles – well, we had to celebrate Guy being home! And a fair bit of sloe gin – Gareth drove me to it.
Purchases and pressies: All the flooring.  Does that count? Two lovely planters for outside the stable door, lots of compost.  And I bought a swimsuit so that I can look gorgeous (?) in all the photos I’m going to take when I HAVE A POOL WHICH WILL BE SOON!
Casualties:  Don’t think there were any – and no dead frogs either.  However, I do have some very interesting bruises… and some Seriously Stiff Muscles from all that gravel moving…
Cock-up of the Week.  There wasn’t one!  Well, apart from a mercy dash to get plugs and the surround taking two days instead of one….