First off, here are a bunch of stills of animal life onsite:
This week has been interesting in terms of staff changeover when lots of things are going on all at once. Welcome to Paul who is looking after the site while James is on holiday after taking over from Nic (phew).
The biggest event was the arrival of concrete plank flooring for the first floor on Thursday. Paul had his work cut out in organising minimal parking at the top of road so the crane and lorry loads of planks could make the turn, and kept his team at either end of the lane while the planks were offloaded. We’ve already had one angry neighbour on the phone concerned about access and the possibility of needing an ambulance should the need arise (?). When these things happen, it does make me wonder rather why on god’s green earth, when we’re the residents who have been here the longest of any of the 12 houses down the lane bar one, we’re investing our future in an area that is becoming increasingly less and less tolerant. Does civility have to be the price we pay to live here? I hope not, and I remain firm in trying to rise above the pettiness and try to see the good in people even when they’re struggling and perhaps at their worst. But the the guys did a fantastic job, the road wasn’t blocked, and only the bus from one of the local private schools opted not to travel the extra distance to the end of the road. So all in all, a success!
Dulux was back from the initial demolition, doing his best to fend off potential parkers from the top of lane, and he was chuffed to see how the build was coming on. Hopefully we’ll see him again soon.
But before that, the last minute adjustments to the steels were put in place on Wednesday. The last minute adjustments quickly turned into a last minute replacement of every piece, but it was finished by the end of the day. The bricks team couldn’t be onsite with this much action, so it was a good time for them to take a day doing another job and the scaffold team raised the level of the boards while the steels-crane swung over their heads.
The weather went from oppressive and overcast in the morning to weirdly-oppressive and gloriously sunny in the afternoon on Wednesday.
The team worked seamlessly with one guy on the truck sorting the lifting chains and two guys on the roof putting the planks in place.