I just checked when the blog was last updated: 28 March, so not even 3 weeks and yet (fanfare please) it seems a lot longer because so much has been done. First of all we have an anniversary (to celebrate?). 11 April 2023 was the first day work started on the house. Let’s remind ourselves what is looked like on that day: The crane had been up a while but the first thing they did was remove the doors. And…
Anyone driving past the house over the last few weeks will be thinking to themselves that nothing seems to be happening. Indeed it has been a bit disheartening to turn up and once again have no workers on site. Everything has been going much more slowly since the start of the year and our optimism that we will move in next month is waning. The culprit, or at least the scapegoat, is the weather. Two internal coats of paint are…
We are greeted, on our morning dog walk down to the river, with quite a cacophony of sounds. Leading the charge are the thrushes. There are a number perched high on top of the chestnuts, easily spotted on the leafless branches, calling out a series of repetitive screeches and squawks. It’s not at all musical, I’m not sure why they are called song thrushes. They are joined by the more pleasant warbles of the robins and wrens, the flute-like song…
Happy New Year! January has already given us four seasons in one month: a touch of frost, high winds and storms, downpours, sunny spells and glorious sunshine. Today we have drizzle. Nothing has stopped us either sporting sunglasses or donning our waterproofs to brave the elements and stretch our legs. The coast is one of our favourite destinations for the weekly family outing: we have the beach to ourselves and a seafood restaurant is always near (and Betty, exhausted, is…
A stormy start to November, with Ciarán doing its best to leave a mark. Not as destructive as the tornado that hit Jersey but certainly enough to whip up the waves to destroy the boardwalk and paths down to the beach. Betty didn’t care, she was delighted to be running along the sand once again, it’s been a number of years since we have taken her to the seaside. No shells for us to collect but lots of lovely colourful…
A surprisingly cool September. Building-wise a tad sluggish, slowly but surely, step by step. Having said that the photos taken over the month do seem to show some progress. All the internal walls have been covered. They are now lined with a double layer of silver thermal insulating material (a kind of posh bubble wrap) and bricked over, both downstairs and up. The only wall to remain uncovered is an original external wall which separates two rooms, one which is…
Another three weeks, another giant leap forward. Despite most of our photos showing blue skies it has been quite rainy this month, with some torrential downpours. Fortunately, these have been mainly over the weekends so the workmen have been able to crack on. And summer rain, in case we need to remind ourselves, is one of the reasons why we moved up here. So this was the last blog stage: And now? Well, Richard has made this nifty vid of…