Nearly at Practical Completion, we think

Just a handful of pictures from last Tuesday. It seemed that nothing else had been done since our last visit; though there are still some matters to clear up - the holes for wires down the backs of the shelves, squeezing the washing machine and the fridge freezer into their tiny spaces, fitting the Velux blinds, replacing TWO broken loo lids, tarmacking the entrance to the drive. The whole place is rather dusty and full of sawdust, waiting for the cleaners; but it could pretty much be lived in now.

The Wood

On Thursday we met Graham Moss there, the heat pump man; and he programmed the Nibe timer for us and began to explain how it is all controlled. We have sheaves of instruction manuals and he is expecting us to call him for explanations when we are in residence.

We need a working party to help saw logs. Any offers?

Nearly finished, perhaps.

The Wood, 11 August 2008

We have been to the house twice in the past week: Monday and Friday, on the way to and from Runival. The photos which I think I will be embedding are of the first visit. A pity, now I come to think of it, as there had been some changes, as one might have expected, between the two visits.

On the first visit the electricians were in, along with Alistair's brother Donald, who is his site manager, I think. Donald is quite sure that the shelves under the back window in the kitchen were cancelled. Not by us, but we may just live without them. We rather improperly (such things are meant to come from the architect) confirmed that we would prefer white sockets in the shelves at the back of the island, rather than the metal ones which were originally planned to go into the wood at the ends, which we thought was too lovely to cut into. We mentioned the hole needed to take the wires down from the hi-fi shelves. (Still not done by Friday but it is a small thing.) We were a little surprised at how far the little round lights on the stairs stick out; but by Friday we were used to them. This is a psychological phenomenon.

I broke the lid of the downstairs lavatory by sitting on it. Bad lady.

By Friday, the wood tops to the shelves behind the loo and the bath in the bathroom had been fitted, and very handsome they look.

The grey doors, for which Max is taking ALL the credit, and let's humour him, are just the thing and I am prepared to bet that Mary will like them too and we may see them in other Dualchas houses.

Perhaps the most noticeable change is outside, where all the crisp packets, odd lumps, bits of plastic and crisp packets have been buried in gravel. It is not quite as I had envisaged it on the south side, but it does look smart. Some top peat, if I may call it that, has been moved from other parts of the site to around the house. It will need to be redistributed a bit; but it is an improvement. I was very pleased to see that many of the raw bits beside the track and where the original abortive track was tried, have greened up very well.

The well head has been buried, which I think is a pity, though it will save on the cost of building a lovely stone pyramid or other allegresse.

I have taken some videos, at Diana's suggestion; but as Livy is in Seth Efrica I can't upload them.