What a swell shell this is
Ok so that should be party but we cannot have one just yet as we have no back on the house. But we do have a shell for the extension and very fine it is too. Completed ahead of schedule and at the price quoted - sinister eh?
So what have we got? Well so far about 62m2 of blockwork building with a single ply membrane roof with skylights installed. We also have all the wiring in for the 40 or so lights for this area and some rendering on the external walls. The weather has been a bit brutal for this piece of work and I am so grateful for Antonio who has continued in the torrential and icy rain. A lesser person (such as myself) would have buggered off down the greasy spoon for a couple of hours but not him. In fact he stayed until about 7.30 last night to make the most of the break in the weather. I am sure his lovely wife Sacha was delighted to have no assistant for bed and bathtime for the children and was singing my praises throughout the evening…However, though small consolation it will be to her, Antonio's work is amazing and I am now considering defecting from Restylane to sand and cement.
If the weather is not too grim and the render can be finished we hope to plasterboard the ceiling next week and get on with the chasing out for the sockets etc. Alan made a mercy dash from Cyprus on Monday evening to start the wiring. Although I am devoted to take away's and sachet dinners for one, CB and the children are sick of bread and jam, Pomm Bears and fish and chips. I have promised if we can just eat at the Tulip cafe three times a day for the next four or five weeks then I'll knock up a meal or two for them when we get a cooker. In the meantime I shall enjoy private dinners while CB is away ( on Wednesday I dined like a Queen on a box of Mint Matchmakers and some old wine I found at the back of the fridge).
I would like a Tsunami kitchen but it would not like the budget I have to acquire it. The model I dream of is called Atelier and comes in at about 80k. Yes, that is eighty thousand pounds. Although I have no doubt it represents fine value blah blah blah it is definitely not within even light years of our budget. Thus we have turned to McGovern Carpentry and Design to build an approximation of this for us. Barry, who along with his partner Steve and team built the extension, is a nifty carpenter. He has had a look at the kitchen and we have come up with a design that he could build for us. Although it will not have been hand crafted by ethereal beings using gossamer and fairy tools in the same way as Tsunami kitchens must clearly be, I think it will be amazing as he is clearly a talented man. In fact it would be worth saying that the whole of the team have been delightful and the whole process to date has been virtually stress free. I say virtually only because I have developed extreme nervousness and anxiety lately none of which is related in any way to the build or the builders. I have been prescribed Dr Stuart's tranquility tea by a friend of mine who although, as he keeps telling me, is nudging 50, looks about 35. If it works I shall be amazed but grateful as not sleeping is undoing all the good work of the facial filling