The Renovation Diet

For as long as I can remember I have been overweight and in an attempt not to be I have followed many unsuccessful diets. There was the cabbage soup diet – a strictly prescribed eating plan for a week that involved, as you may guess, cabbage soup whenever you were hungry beyond the basic meal plan.

The cabbage soup diet worked at first shedding weight the first time I used it but second time around around saw zero weight loss. Until that is I went to the local hostelry to banish my blues, drank my body weight in lager, and was so ill for 48 hours I did indeed lose weight. Most unhealthy.

I had more joy nearly 10 years ago now when I tried the 5 2 diet. Eating sensibly for 5 fasting 2. But in the end with the regime abandoned the weight went back on. I have now though discovered the renovation diet, on which I have lost a stone in the last 6 weeks. Let me lay out some key points:

1. Move to an Island where there are no takeaways or convenience stores open for a quick fix when hungry or craving food.

2. Buy a house with 4 acres of land that you dedicate to clearing for waking hours of the day.

3. Buy 2 weeks food in advance, plan this to fill 3 meals a day for those two weeks. Place it in a freezer / fridge in a house approx 400 yards from the one you live. Only retrieve the food you intend to use that day to said living abode.

4. Ensure the weather in you chosen island is suitably wet and cold that you are not tempted to retrieve more when cravings hit in the evening. That’s it.

Back to the diary or the exercise regime for the last week or more. Two bigs jobs to tick off as progress.

Firstly, a big shout out to Paul who courtesy of storm Arwen stayed on island for a couple rather than one planned day this last week. Paul contributed to cutting back outdoors but had a huge input into ripping out the second attic room.

Back when we bought the room looked like this

Like the first of the attic rooms we intended to remove the strapping that was there to hold plasterboard. The remove the plaster from the gable wall to reveal the stonework beneath. As I often do, I’ll let pictures tell the story.

The exposed boards and skylight facing the hill

To have three of us concentrate on this task allowed us to complete the rip out in under 48 hours compared to days spread across 3 weeks for the other room. Karen and I the took a trip to the mainland to dispose of approx 30 sacks of rubble – again great exercise no gym required on the renovation diet.

The second task, I again must give thanks, this time to Donald and his chainsaw. With his help the front garden has been reclaimed. First Karen and I removed the dead buddlea and hydrangea before cutting the boundary trees to a height of 6 foot. The latter where the chainsaw came in handy.

The montage of pictures above shows the front garden when we bought. The reality was that over the summer, when concentrating on other areas, the plant life / weeds / bramble took over much more of the lawn by the time we started this task. There are pictures of interim states on previous posts and on Instagram @oldmansegigha but here is the result of which, we are very proud.

In front of the Old Manse the magnificent bay tree

The brown earth in front of the tree line indicates how far the garden encroached over the lawn

Some work to repair, but the drive is no longer impeded by overhanging bushes.

Most recently, to complete the inventory of tasks, we collected roofing sheets for the shepherd’s hut from the mainland. Our thanks to Ros for taking delivery at our old address and Dan for help in offloading in our absence. The sheets travelled safely in the back of the hilux yesterday to Gigha through wind, sleet and rain. All of which making me think I need a new waterproof.

Safely tucked away whilst more Christmas provisions bought at Morrisons Helensburgh.

It wasn’t all work though as I had the opportunity to indulge in no less than three of my favourite passions. In pictures below, first my photographic attempts to match present day Old Manse to photo archives of yesteryear. Second, my attempt at goose stew – those who know me, know how much I love to cook and a gift of goose breast prompted this meal. And third, but by no means least, a photo borrowed from @darkskiesgigha, of the recent planet watching hour. My friend Keith really knows his stuff and provided a fantastic tour through stars and time on the night.

Clockwise, the gift of goose, prep, 6 hours of slow cooker, the result

Blessed with clear skies for views of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter.

A frustrating 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…..

Frustrating.

Renovation reality

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 Manse

Much 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 Manse

Approximately 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.

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.

Momentum

Things are starting to move forward at the Old Manse. The first wave of work was always to make the building wind and watertight this summer and we believe we have been able to co-ordinate professionals to do these works for us starting with a scaffolding company. The logistics of carrying a significant amount of metal on the ferry and erecting said scaffolding in itself presents a challenge and it is not without significant cost.

Next comes a team to who I most grateful. The plan is to start stripping render from the building, a task which we are unsure how long it will take until we begin work. We are of the understanding the concrete render was never suitable for the building, suffocating the airflow that is associated with the Georgian build. Where the render is damaged water ingress has been trapped against the outer wall permeating inwards and causing damp. Hence, removal is essential.

What comes next is wholly down to what we find underneath. If the stone is good enough we would like to leave it exposed and likely will employ a stone mason to point with lime mortar to establish the finish we want. This may or may not be practicable from a cost perspective. Again that comes back to the discovery phase over the next couple of weeks when we expose the gable end and seek advice on ‘what lies beneath’

Also planned for next week is the delivery of the shepherd’s hut kit. On Wednesday I intend to drive to Gigha with my good friend Paul, and take receipt of said package. I’m not one to often compare myself to Brad Pitt, but for anyone who remembers the final scene of the film ‘Seven’ where Brad drives to a location to meet a man with a package that’s what I’m referring to. The transport cannot take all the way to the island so I have organised a clandestine meeting in the car park at Big Jessy’s tearoom to move the load onto a trailer. The trailer I am borrowing from another friend on the Island, Richard, so likely I will first have to make the ferry trip over to bring back the trailer. The package size and the trailer size are a bit mismatched and why I quote the film ‘seven’ – I’m not entirely sure what I’m getting until it arrives having ordered online. I imagine though the story will be much less macabre.

In the meantime I have son to thank for his efforts in clearing ground to the final destination of the hut. He has also been doing pub research with our friend Campbell who has previously built huts on the Isle of Lewis,.

For some reason the uncovered outhouse puts me in mind of the Aztec zone in the Crystal Maze (another reference for those of a certain age). Still more strimming and clearance to do but we are tooled up for the job and looking forward to an exciting building project come July when I can dedicate more of my own time to proceedings.

Oh yes and one final footnote, as a teaser, the bees are coming on the 20th. More on that later.

The first shepherd.

So first a story of old. The Yorks have had many a family holidays and many a family skiing trip, 5 I think. For me they have been wonderful times bonding with our two children, great snow on three occasions and blue skies and sun every time. Absolute bliss and would love to ski again if my mind can convince my knees they are up for it.

Ask any member of my family the thing they remember from all those trips and either child will tell you the story of the time we picked daughter up at Charles De Gaulle airport. I refused to pay the high premium of the short stay car park, of which I discovered there were two on the airport ring road, both offering 10 minutes free parking with no restriction on return. I decided for the hour wait for daughter’s arrival to park for 9 minutes, drive to the next car park, and so on. On the 3rd or 4th pass the barrier appeared to be stuck and I was close to having to pay so chanced an exit without sticking my ticket into the machine. Barrier came down and appeared to fair worse than the top box as it flew forward now being detached from the usual mechanism. The French attendants didn’t seem that bothered, swore at me a lot in French that I didn’t understand and re-affixed it without too much bother. Daughter and friend joined us and we drove on to our destination, Valmenier, in some pretty foul whether. At some point we realised, alerted by furious waving of French drivers, that our top box hadn’t faired as well as we first thought and was now spilling its contents over the motorway. Our daughter still blames me for the loss of revision notes for less than perfect higher results.

The point in telling the story is we have tried throughout life to enjoy it to the fullest and we have lots of stories like this of when we’ve pushed a boundary and the result hasn’t been quite as expected. Some have been worth the gamble other have left us with a story of a glorious fail like that above. And the next paragraph is me letting you into the start of the next one.

I have bought the kit for a shepherd’s hut. Now there’s a sentence, coupled with my knowledge of building structures and the words son spoke to me today on the phone, “I was thinking of going to Gigha to do some random shit with a hammer” that has all the ingredients for a story. Let’s see together how it unfolds.

The kit is from a company called Tuin, https://www.tuin.co.uk/shepherd-hut-600.html if anyone’s interested, and the instructions can be found further down the page in the form of PDF. I am still trying to figure them, so if anyone reading this has built such a structure and can debrief me go ahead.

First decision is to try and find a suitable position and lay a foundation for the hut. Next, whilst there is advice to insulate the floor there is no clear instruction on how to do so. The insulating is left to the individual to make their own decision. In our case, knowing the high rainfall of the West coast of Scotland we are already discussing the addition of marine ply to the underside that allows us to first install a DPC and then drop insulation into the cavity before installing the floor.

Likewise planning to upgrade the roof structure with a galvanized steel roof over the kit provided structure with a layer of insulation in-between. Walls likewise need insulation and I’m sure the previous fitting out of the garage at Nethermill will give us some clues to this.

Karen is going to start a Pinterest board that I have asked permission to share on the blog and I will provide pictures as soon as delivery occurs. Oh delivery, that’s another story. No delivery direct to the island so I’ve asked the company to meet me in the Tayinloan ferry car-park. The delivery address, Big Jessies Tearoom, I kid you not.

So I will meet the wagon bearing the two packages in the bottom right of the diagram for onward carriage to the Island on the ferry sometime in Delivery Week: #24 (Jun 14, 2021 – Jun 20, 2021). Again I refer to the instruction sheet I mentioned earlier and I am now trying to work out what I can get in the back of the Hilux versus the cost of hire of a larger transit. Undoubtedly, I am going to have to break down the cargo to be able to carry it into whichever vehicle I choose, and likely I will be looking for volunteers to accompany me!

You already know the story that after driving the tractor/mower into the back of the Hilux I had no room for the grass box? I don’t think I’ve admitted to that here…..