At last, word from the supplier that the missing parts for the Shepherd’s hut had arrived in country and were being dispatched to my address. So one order promised but the drive belt for the mower is still missing in action after being told the manufacturer had dispatched.
Still the week was planned to be in Cardross and make inroads to the task of reorganising our storage to allow us to add furniture if required. Since moving out of Nethermill, storage has housed all of our books and trinkets gathered over the years together. It has been dipped into on a regular basis when we realised we need access to something boxed away and in doing so the space isn’t used efficiently. So Karen and I set about the task of moving everything still housed there into approximately one third of the rented space.
This is essential to our plan to downsize from the rental we are in and a move to another temporary home much closer to our renovation site. The intermediary landing spot will be much smaller so storage is going to have to accommodate a few more larger items of furniture but that seems quite possible after three days of sorting. Pleased with our efforts to compact what is already there we need to turn our focus to anything not screwed down in the rental and move unnecessary items now. The game of sell / store / dispose will again be key for the remainder of the month and next.
A return to Gigha then on Sunday at the start of the week for a couple of days, the start of which felt more holiday than work with the good weather making a re-appearance. A midday ferry trip allowed collection of the missing parts for the Shepherd’s hut and plenty of time to in the afternoon to ready the site for build activities on Monday. We took mum over to view progress, making three generations on the trip to enjoy the sun in the beer garden of the Gigha Hotel:
And then to the serious build stuff on Monday with the objective of having the base for the Shepherd’s hut complete by the end of the day. Not really something I can spin into a tale as it was largely trouble free. Plenty of measure and remeasure, level and re-level but we ended up with a base we were pretty happy with, only one noticeable error in our build sequence that may need slight rectification later. Some pictures of progress then.
The missing bars that have caused delayThe bars reinforced the frames built previously and centred them to the axlesSeven cross beams built and added at right angles to the frames65 floor boards to be added to that baseA production line and two hours of hammering….…..Base completed
So the good weather in Scotland finally broke and a realisation that a mix of inside jobs to go with garden duties would be needed the week I was joined by my good friend Pete. Pete and I have known each other since our early twenties when we worked at Rolls Royce together. He, like many of my friends from former lives, loves Scotland and will jump at the chance to visit, even if it means being put to work by his host.
Rain at the start of the week allowed stripping of wallpaper from the ground floor hall. A task that had long been identified as the damp had sorely affected the room and discovery of damage to the plaster walls underneath was necessary. I cannot spin an interesting story out of wallpaper stripping so I will offer a couple of pictures and move on. Needless to say the blog entry takes it’s name from this activity merely to grab attention!
Pete in actionPart abstract painting, part relatively good plaster.
Blue skies returned the following day, well overcast, but it doesn’t sound quite as poetic. Back to the garden and the main task of the week, to reduce a hedge that had grown to approx. twenty foot high down to a more reasonable six foot. The hedge borders the south of what is intended to be the formal garden, the hedge to the east was trimmed by a combination of friends back in May (thank again to James & John) and has produced a leafy screen of privet as intended at the lower boughs. We are hoping in time that this hedge can do the same, the first being so successful it needs a further trim.
Again I’m going to let the pictures do the talking but two days of clipping and a third of burning the cut privet resulted in the desired effect. Plenty of scratches, bruise and the odd burn as the privet fought not to be reduced to a reasonable height but I think we won in the end.
Before the cut on the left, after on the right for comparisonPlenty of hazards to snap back and catch you unaware when climbing to a height to cut.Pete used as a yardstick to height of hedge throughtout.I can now see the house from the garden…. just. Other obstacles still need to be dealt with.
Keen eyed amongst you will notice that our appointed joiner visited this week to complete all work requiring scaffold. The dormer window frames are now repaired as well as unnecessary vents removed from the roof, gutters are back and a final accent of black paint has been added to the chimneys. We think it’s all beginning to look rather good on the exterior and cannot wait to have the windows back in. All that in a little time as glass is still awaited in the workshop.
It wasn’t all work this week though, I did allow Pete a day off in the middle to explore the peninsula. Argyle & Bute have recently been promoting the Kintyre 66. A route of 66 miles, from which the name is taken, taking in Tarbert, Isle of Gigha, Machrihanish, Campbeltown and Skipness to name some of the stops. For anyone who is interested take a look at: https://www.wildaboutargyll.co.uk/destinations/kintyre-and-gigha/the-kintyre-66/
Although it was a wet day we (I) thought we would brave a trip to the Mull of Kintyre lighthouse. The beaches of west Kintyre made for stunning scenery on our drive down the Atlantic road of the west coast and visibility was good. Not so as we (Pete) drove the final seven miles of B-road, and then descended approximately half a mile by foot in the direction of the lighthouse. We did glimpse the associated build through the mist that Paul McCartney once so fondly sang about but at that point lunch in the old clubhouse at Machrihanish golf club looked far more appealing. I can highly recommend the fish and chips: https://machrihanishdunes.com/dine/the-old-clubhouse-pub/
A trip to Campbeltown for paint and provisions at the local Tesco, then a drive back up the east coast of the Peninsula. A half hearted attempt to find the Anthony Gormley statue at Saddell failed due to poor navigational skills but more luck was had in finding the Seafood Cabin at Skipness: https://www.skipnessseafoodcabin.co.uk/ Again you will observe the author has more joy in finding food related locations over historic artefacts.
Back on to garden clearing at the end of the week. Much more cutting back in the walled garden to reveal the space that one day will house vegetables, or at least we hope. And further clearing back into the orchard before we were joined by a larger work party at the weekend. Always great to have company and the first persons to brave pitching a tent to enjoy the wonderful views the meadow affords. More harsh pruning back in the front garden has made us realise too how much ground there is yet to be put to use at the front of the Manse, reclaiming this will allow much better access for vehicles. Further too it as uncovered some great flowers that should be less suffocated by others that have been dominant.
In the veg garden, access back to the orchard gained from cuttingVegetable garden. more strimming and poly tunnel to be partially clearedHedge cuttings, now to be disposed of and path clearing along the west wall of the walled garden.Front garden, for the first time the wall of the garden visible and the magnificent bay tree
So another week done and we are beginning to see potential being converted to actual physical gains. The north wall of the garden has trees identified, two fig, pear, olive and peach join a herb garden containing fennel and mint to name but two. The orchard needs much cutting but there are at least twelve apple trees bearing a good harvest of fruit – although I am told by those who have picked they are sour tasting. The vegetable garden has been cut back and while not quite bramble free is closer to being so bar the raspberry canes, blueberry and blackberry that have been identified and left intact. The least-formal formal garden has again been cleared of unwanted brambles and the two bordering hedges cut to a reasonable size leaving the mimosa and eucalyptus trees as centre pieces. A lawn is being discussed.
The house and external works are also coming together. The pictures above show the significant effort from our roofer and joiner to get us this far. The Isle of Gigha is becoming our home and we love it here, the peace an tranquillity are just what we wanted, the stunning sunsets and the clear night sky are both natural treasures that I will never tire of. So to finish this weeks instalment a view from the scaffold before it disappears (gives a great perspective of the Old Manse grounds) and some from the boat house where I have enjoyed the odd beer this week.
Not quite the colour to the naked eye but the view out from the boat house bathed in late sun setting behind usAnd the view from the table – I highly recommend a visitFrom the highest point of scaffold the view to the westAnd to the East the grounds, so much achieved, so much still to be done and maintained…
Who would have thought, another week of good weather in Scotland. Gingers are still plastering on suncream (photographic evidence below) and taps are still off (photographic evidence withheld as not suitable for publication).
First let me tell you progress continues on the stonework of the building and soon the scaffolding will be down to allow final removal of render / rubble and pointing down to ground level. The chimneys have been re-rendered and are now resplendent in white, they have been joined by new window frames where the old ones were too rotten to renovate and both are starting to look the part.
White chimney just visible over the treesShiny new window frame
Meanwhile Dan and I have been continuing some garden archaeology, well digging anyway. To his credit it was mainly Dan who was doing the digging and he started the task of excavating the furthest of the outhouses last Sunday. Self proclaimed Indiana always believed the floor of the building was around a foot deeper and he was proven right after more than an hour of digging. In the process of digging a channel from door to door we also realised how many slates are buried beneath, whether they are any use is debatable.
Arms plastered with factor 50 please note mum
Still lots of work to do there and the slates all need to be moved to another location to allow further clearing and, with pun intended, get to the bottom of this. Meanwhile I have continued to wield the brushcutter through the orchard. We are blessed with approximately a dozen well established apple trees (the walled garden also has fig, pear, hazelnut and olive although the latter two appear to be non-fruiting at present) but they are currently competing with brambles, nettles and a variety of yet to be established others. Anyway the orchard is looking clearer but again has a lot more work to progress.
One of the smaller trees cleared round and showing plenty of fruit…….let’s hope it tastes good!
The father and son team united for the next big job of the weekend, Dan joining me in the orchard for further excavation – this time of the well we knew to be located on the property. The well was easily identified by the small fence that did little to stop anyone getting to it in its decomposing state. The well had been significantly overgrown and we knew little other than it was fed from an underground spring.
Although it proved not to be deep we didn’t know that when we started so a fair amount of caution was taken as we cut back to reveal a couple of slabs protecting the opening. Fortunately, Dan was able to move them with relative ease to reveal a pool of water below.
It’s down there somewhere..After cutting backUncoveringWater, water, everywhere
Having found water we decided our best option was to empty, realising that the bottom was approx 3 foot down it shouldn’t take too long. Half an hour of pumping water saw us reach the bottom that was heavily silted so we set about removal.
You can just see a small amount of spring water beginning to flow back into the well after removal of silt and whilst it won’t be clean enough to drink it will be very useful for irrigation of the vegetable garden. At the moment, with the dry spell we have experienced, water is not filling the well fast though.
So these for me were the interesting things to tell you about but there has also been paying bills and arranging quotes for the internal works. There is much paperwork to be done to secure grants that we believe to be available to supplement our fast disappearing budget. The missing parts for the Shepherd’s hut still do not have an estimated date for delivery, which is hugely frustrating given this was meant to be a clean space away from the house once internal work started (the photo below is me collecting the internal wall who’s delivery was meant to coincide with an already built exterior). I’m attempting to escalate this problem but largely failing to get traction. The weather looks as though it is about to turn, meaning the good weather remains precious until the building is made wind and watertight. One can but hope, it is Scotland after all.
Weather seldom seen in Scotland for the last two weeks has seen Gingers running for shade and even the most hardy Scot reaching for the factor duffle coat. Taps off indeed. And because of this we have all been outside making hay as the saying goes, not having time to commit to the written word. So let me tell you what we’ve been up to…
The weekend before last Karen and I attended a dry-stone walling course run by West of Scotland Dry Stone Walling Association or WSDSWA for short. The course took a format of practical interspersed with short spoken tutorials. The wall, on one of the paths we walk in Cardross regularly, was to be deconstructed and then rebuilt. Probably most easily explained with a few photographs:
Foundations stones re-laid after establishing larger stones from the deconstructed wallLayers of wall built up ensuring each layer is stable by pinning the larger stones…… …….and filling in-between the two outer stones with heart stonesthrough stones are inserted at half-way, they span the wall and more to provide strength and tie the two sides togetherMore layers are added to bring to full height and a cover stone is added as a last layerFinally coving stones finish the wall being tightly pinned so as not to move and secure the wall at the finish
A hard couple of days in the heat but a new skill learned and a very satisfactory result gained from our efforts. Worth noting that a stretch of wall of approximately 20m took a team of 20 split evenly between tutors and students 2 days to rebuild. Whilst no all needing attention the walled garden is approximately 50m square so I have plenty to practice on. A think the walls we have are differently constructed to the one of above featuring two walls built in the shape of an A frame and tied together using smaller stones as the walls reduce to half the size of the base at the top.
On the following Monday I left for Gigha taking my old friend Paul for company. Paul was under strict orders to do no work and use the week to convalesce, being there to ‘keep an eye on me’ and to ‘stop me doing anything stupid’. We arrived on Gigha to find my boy, who has a tendency to race ahead when unsupervised, had already achieved the latter…..
We continued that day to clear more of the overgrown outbuilding and strim the paths adjacent to them. And with all that work Dan and I decided it was time to exercise our golf membership for the first time, taking along Paul and Anna-Rose for company. For a small island and a volunteer workforce the course was in great condition and provided a good challenge with 6 par four and 3 par threes. The golf course, being a short walk from the Old Manse, is absolutely perfect for a player of my standard to improve and relaxed enough to walk along and just play selected holes whenever it takes my fancy.
Good CompanyGreat views
Anyone reading the last blog or following also on Instagram (@OldManseGigha) will know of the battle to convince EE their Island mast is not working as intended. Dan has made several calls, the last resulting in convincing an engineer to come to the mast on Tuesday morning, so we primed ourselves to find him – a real case of we know where you work (sounds threatening but not meant to be). Handily we had scoped our way to the mast, conveniently located above the golf course, the night before so we were confident we could make contact. And that we did. I’m not going to bore you with the detail but the problem now seems to have been fixed resulting in a real win and allowing good download speeds at the Old Manse making (computer) work there feasible.
Tuesday continued inside, returning to the task of ripping out the attic room. Not a particularly interesting story to tell other than to explore the state of the roof from the inside and ensure any damp insulation was removed before starting to build the rooms up from bare brick again.
Wednesday started with a trip to Campbeltown to dispose of all the redundant plasterboard and insulation removed in the pictures above. The trip had two more objectives to find an outdoor tap for a repair of one that has been constantly leaking (success) and to buy a replacement drive belt for the tractor mower (failure). The ferries to Gigha have been at capacity in this good weather so we found ourselves lucky to grab the last car spot at midday allowing a few more jobs that afternoon. Notably coving boards were undercoated before we headed out to show Paul more of the Island as part of his convalescence.
Back in black, coving & gutters and downpipes to be in black on the Old ManseGigha harbour providing a beautiful backdrop to the Boat House RestaurantThe north facing twin of Gigha’s twin beachesSunsets looking west to Jura
The missing parts for the shepherd’s hut still frustrate me but I decided I now had enough information to complete the base. Thursday saw me clear the site of roots and lay landscaping fabric across the area we want the hut to lie. That allowed me to calculate where the feet should stand and dig four holes to be filled later with concrete topped with a slab. If my calculations are correct this should provide a sturdy support. The following day, on what seemed the hottest day of the week, I shuttled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of render chipped from the Old Manse to act as the cheap type 1 to cover the fabric and hopefully deter any further growth once the hut is established.
To the weekend, where Paul and I were joined by my friends Graham and Jacqui. They had volunteered to continue clearing the outbuildings and walled garden of ivy and small trees. Jacqui had previously scaled the gable end of the last outbuilding to strip back and phoned to say they were determined to finish the job. That allowed me to turn attention to the drive that had also been overtaken by brambles and grass that now very much needed to be strimmed.
BeforeDuringAfterDoesn’t show how much effort went in to stripping this wall bare of ivy but what a result!
I should add that work continues to point the now bare stone of the house and the windows are being worked on in Helensburgh. So lots of progress in the time I have been away from the blog. For those who want a more regular fix, with my new found internet connectivity, I’ve tried to post daily to Instagram. Most recently I’ve posted a series of videos that give a tour of the garden and if I can figure a suitable way to prep and upload them I will copy them here also. This week sees us deal with a few things in Cardross before returning to Gigha again next week.
It was always going to happen. Trying to maintain a long distance relationship was always going to be difficult and the cracks in our relationship living 100 miles apart began to show this week, but more of that later. Let me first discuss the aftermath of last week’s visit and confirmation of the old wreck I am.
I awoke last Tuesday with a searing pain in my right foot, to be more precise at the joint of my big toe. Having received blows to the joint many times in my sporting years from both cricket and hockey balls I put it down to old war wounds aggravated by some vigorous digging days before. When I couldn’t bare weight on the foot on Wednesday a doctor’s consultation was necessary – her verdict, gout! So as my good friend Kathryn later pointed out, the common factor with others she knew with gout was maturing years and obesity, seems a fair and honest assessment. One that dictates that I need to start being more careful with what I eat and drink coupled with more exercise from the renovation.
We travelled back to Gigha on Sunday, starting the diet straight away with a bacon roll in Tarbet. A beautiful spot that allowed me to practice another hobby that hasn’t been at the fore for a while, photography. I really like the shot below, captured on an iPhone, for the largely monotone moody nature accented by the orange and blue boats just in shot.
We had returned to Gigha to meet with a chimney sweep and Argyll & Bute’s heating advisor. Obviously though, there were many other jobs to progress, but for once we put them on the back burner to meet other residents of the island. Delighted to have an invite to Achamore Lodge from our host Ellie and to meet several new faces. Also had the chance to try our hand at croquet!
In fairness beforehand we had managed to construct our old ‘party gazebo’ as a makeshift cover for the shepherd’s hut build. So Sunday afternoon was put to good use by Karen and I whilst Dan continued to persuade EE that the solitary mast on the island was not functioning as it should. We also continued into the evening attempting to clean brickwork with wire brushes attached to an angle-grinder. Realisation was soon upon us that to clean all the exterior walls in this fashion would be extremely time consuming and son had to abandon. Frustrating.
We woke on Monday to talk through options for heating the Old Manse with the man from A&B. We fear that our original idea of utilising ground source heating will be beyond our budget and it looks as though we need to consider more conventional systems. A report to those options is underway and will no doubt be the subject of many discussion before we can arrive at a solution.
The chimney sweep arrived later as planned. Perhaps unsurprisingly the verdict from the cameras post sweeping revealed a collapse in the lining of the chimney to the main sitting room. We had hoped that a fire could be lit here to temporarily warm the room we are using as our bed / living / kitchen prep area at present. Not to be, frustrating.
Meanwhile, in parallel to chimney investigation, the father son duo had begun work on the shepherd’s hut from the newly supplied instruction sheet. We were still missing parts required to connect the axle to the base frame but we now had within our gift all that was needed to plan the concrete pillars to act as a base. The frames were built and placed as plan, with the afternoon and following day planned to re-dig foundations and lay concrete.
But that was as much progress as we were going to achieve for this trip. The plan had always been for Dan and I to return a day later than Karen in the Hilux left for that exact purpose the week before. However, when Karen asked the question of ‘did I have the keys for the Hilux?’ on her departure I could only answer in the negative. A frustrating mistake by myself meaning we all had to return that afternoon in the CRV in which we came.
And that brings me to the point about long distance relationships, if we were 5-10 minutes away the issue could be easily resolved. We are not however, and at a point when the weather remains favourable there are so many jobs that could be progressed could we spend more time there. Lesson learnt and we continue to strive for a solution, in an ideal world a nearby rental will open up…..
Progress has certainly been made in the last weeks, seeing the render removed from the Old Manse and pointing going well with a team of five in attendance. We are loving the look of the stone and posts on Instagram suggest many others do too. However, it is apparent that there remains a certain amount of concrete residue on the stone giving a lighter colour than the original. To that end we are trying to find a solution to cleaning the stone further without damaging the pointing that has already been applied.
Work has also started on the restoration of the windows. We particularly loved that the original sash windows were present (with one exception) and wanted also to restore the shutters as they were originally intended. The shutters in the Old Manse, like so many other buildings of that age, are pinned back and painted over so they are non-functioning.
Apart from an empty space where the window once was or the board that now replaces it I cannot show a particularly inspiring shot. The windows themselves are being taken back to a workshop for individual restoration. So a no-inspiring photo of the plywood now covering the hole left behind.
We continue to fight against nature (and midgies) to keep the garden at bay. Paths are cleared to where we intend to site the beehive(s) that have now been scheduled for later in July and the site is prepared for the Shepherd’s hut. Friends again visited with us this weekend and tackled ivy removal from the outbuildings reclaiming more of the stone – there is definitely potential to bring these buildings back to life. How and for what purpose has provided much debate already.
The building of the shepherd’s hut didn’t go to plan however. It became apparent as we started to plan the foundations having built the axles that either a component was missing or we were holding the wrong instruction sheet. The issue is yet to be completely resolved and I fear that now the I have the correct instruction sheet, there is still a part or parts missing. Frustrating to say the least, as this delays the construction of our temporary home. Again I don’t have an inspirational photo but I always said this would be an honest blog that recorded both the ups and downs.
So an early return to the rental home to deal with paperwork for the remainder of the week and try and resolve the error of parts. It made logistical sense to get out of the way of the professionals working on the house and the dust created from both jobs. I did have chance before I hurriedly left to take a few photographs in the garden and one of a particularly pleasing sunset, although it’s true magnificence cannot be truly reflected here. I will leave you with those….
I explained to one of my Instagram friends that I had taken the ‘nuclear option’ of resigning from the desk job, to which he replied of his admiration for my actions. It is a scary step because in my life as a project manager I have always had to balance budget, time and quality; I am too short on time which is how I have come to the decision to resign, but that immediately exposes the budget with no cash coming in. Every action has a consequence and this one certainly has a degree of risk attached, but one I also need for my mental and physical well being.
So now to hopefully catalyse the work we have started – that’s the plan at least. The reality is that to date whenever we have cut back the garden over a weekend we have returned later to find that nature has once again surpassed our efforts. I know from the weekend that in clearing a space for the shepherds hut, something Dan & Karen had already worked hard on the two previous weekends, that it takes a toll on someone who is not accustomed to physical exertion. That will improve though.
In theory this is the view from the hut back to the Old ManseMuch of the weekend consumed by burning trees, bracken and brambles previously felled. Now a clear view to the back wall.
We are taking friends to see the Old Manse who know they have a weekend of work in store. The plan will be to further make good the photographed area above and lay the foundations for the shepherd’s hut. Landscaping fabric and a redeployment of hardcore from the building will mean a significant amount of manual labour!
I should also mention the progress in taking the render from the building and the decision to point, as opposed to re-render, what we have found. As a compromise, if budget doesn’t allow us to leave stonework fully pointed, the back of the house may have to be treated differently. My second reality check came when trying to ascend the scaffolding for closer inspection of render, legs went to jelly on the second ladder up reminding me of my fear of heights. Something in the future I need to cure or find a way round if the building is going to require ad-hoc maintenance above the ground floor.
The view from the drive to see the changing face of the Old ManseApproximately the spot where vertigo struck, but proof that I got that far taking the picture below.View from the second floor of scaffolding
The final piece that I write for anyone thinking about a similar renovation, is be prepared to live in a building site for a significant period of time. We have collapsed our living to one floor in the Old Manse and largely to one room accommodating bed, living and kitchen space. We have the benefit now of a working shower and toilet so not without these essentials, and whilst in the throws of summer, the barbecue provides respite from using local eateries or sandwiches. No heating in the foreseeable future, luxury it is not. We still struggle to harvest a good Wi-Fi connection and with no TV aerial, entertainment is limited. In fact it is a pack of playing cards.
Back to basics
All of that said I couldn’t be happier with our lot. We found the garden producing some lovely blooms without any tending from ourselves that the bees will love when they get here. Karen and I took a stroll up to the ‘Witches Chair’, the highest point on the property we own to take in the view, and a couple of beers, on Saturday evening and I couldn’t imagine a more tranquil spot. I am really looking forward to spending more time on the island and hopefully seeing the progress that we both crave so we can share moments like this more often. After more than a year of lockdown to various degrees this is certainly a fillip to my mental well being.
I’ve written a couple of posts already about the want to have the Old Manse wind and watertight this summer. I have also written on the ambition to restore the look of the building to its original stone form, render-less if you will. Well we are getting down to the crux of the issue with much of the render now removed in the last week, we are getting a much clearer picture into whether or not this will be possible.
I think the gable end as presented above looks a lot better without the uniform render and we now have planned a power-wash and a test of pointing early next week. All of which I am leaving in the capable hands of Michael Ross Roofing. Of course there are patches that look better than others for those who are interested there are more images below, but I’m acutely aware that this is about as interesting as watching paint dry for anyone not directly involved (unless you have a strange fetish for stone).
There is still the question of disposal of the removed concrete but for that we have a cunning plan. The shepherd’s hut needs a base built and rather than order hard-core to be brought in we think we can use an amount of the stripped render in the construction of a hard-standing. Perhaps this will only take a small amount but as the shepherd’s hut is a blueprint for future ventures and storage on the Old Manse’s land is plentiful, this does not present an issue. What may be an issue is the back-breaking work to move it!
A great couple of day’s in Gigha to receive the shepherd’s hut and get an update on the progress on the removal of render. Either my fairy Godmother or the Genie who grants wishes was looking over me for the duration as it all ran as smoothly as I can imagine, let me explain.
We got to the island to receive the trailer form a friend on the island in good time. Few issues with the size and shape that I couldn’t foresee without getting eyes on, but I was told to stop being a ‘computer jessy’ and make do. Back on the ferry for 12:30.
I had spoken to a receptionist in Norfolk, where the package originated, who had struggled with Scottish place names but was hopeful that Trevor would arrive around 2.30 / 3.00. Trevor’s arrival pretty much coincided with our own, Trevor proclaiming he’d managed to cut 2 hours off the satnav pleased as punch. Let’s call this wish granted number 1.
The next issue with the trailer became apparent as soon as we saw the package on the fork lift. We somehow needed to raise the level of the base so the package could be dropped flush on top to allow the forks to be retracted once dropped. Wish number 2, Big Jessies Tearoom came up with four pallets that allowed the package to sit flush as desired, ‘ya dancer’ as we say in Scotland.
By some miracle and the flexibility of cargo straps the 10ft trailer somehow managed to cope with the 4m package. Wish number 3 granted. This allowed us to be back on the ferry at 2:00, the best example of Just in Time management I can think of!
Next hurdle to overcome getting the trailer to as near as possible to the proposed site as possible. I handed the reigns of this one over to my good and long standing friend Paul. A bit of planning had gone into this knowing Paul had some experience of managing trailers in his days as a park ranger so I’m going to claim this one as good management. However, I have to give credit to him for reversing into and down the Manse drive and the narrow gate at the end as can be seen in the image below:
The rest is history but it involved Paul and I carrying the cargo from the end of the drive into the walled garden where it will be stored until the foundations are laid and the build itself can begin in July. Pictures below show the accumulation of the build parts to this new location over the next 4 hours – a job I thought may take us the full 2 days I had allowed if at any point before the drive we needed to split the package.
This story start’s at a point on Friday, a point where I had decided not to travel to the new home at the weekend as I was collecting the shepherd’s hut mid-week. We agreed with the roofer that it would not be right to ask him to stay at the house without a shower to allow him to rid himself of the dirt and dust associated with removing render. A call was put out to a local plumber who was able and willing to travel to the Island on Saturday, but only Saturday, so plans changed.
Karen and I hotfooted to Gigha on Saturday with a new shower to meet the plumber. Installation took place only to find that the problem was less of a plumbing issue but more of an electrical one. To a layman like me the circuit to the shower wasn’t meaty enough to both expel water and heat it (voltage drops were mentioned but I won’t pretend I understand). Fortunately for us a twin room was available at the local hotel meaning the roofer and his plus one didn’t need to be delayed, although it did mean further cost in the budget but no matter.
Fast forward to today where I sit at my desk anticipating a calm morning. The work party that went to Gigha on Sunday were reporting good progress. Son, amidst the wasteland that we nominally call the vegetable garden, had uncovered an abandoned trailer. A makeshift connection was made to the tractor / mower and hey-presto a means of cargoing heavy items around the patch established (extremely useful for the deliveries of shepherd’s hut and beehive I mentally note). Dan even had time to ascend to a position of good signal to send me the above and below pictures.
And then at approximately 11am came the call. Work having started on removal of render had hit a glitch. The same electrical problem effecting the shower was causing the supply to trip with the heavy machinery being used to do the job.
Here I have to complement my wife & son & partner for resourcefulness. Almost as soon as the call had ended I received a text to say she was on the ferry to pick up a generator, capably organised by a phone call by son 10 minutes before. I’m yet to hear whether collection was successful as I write this paragraph but will now pause the draft until further reports are received. Island life and the challenges it throws up make life both interesting and expensive!
Update: all is well and progressing. The search party that was dispatched from the Island found and brought back the generator, which now has the roofer working at full power.
Middle Age Musings 