BT were due this week, Wednesday to be exact, to install a phone line. The installer had to phone me on the mobile to ask where I was, not a good start! They had it turned out given the install guy a totally wrong connection point so although he could add a box inside the house and connect up to the telegraph pole, which needed an extra person to stand by and watch him, he could not provide a working new line. The need to wait for a second person meant the install of this bit took best part of a day!
Thursday surprisingly saw an unannounced visit from Openreach to complete the new line set-up. The problem seemed to be that our designated line from the local exchange went to one pole and our bit of the line went to another! So as the two poles were about 400 metres apart it was too far to just string up a bit of cable and it needed to be routed underground. Anyway the guy did manage this after a couple of hours so well done to him and thanks Openreach I have a phone line! No phone to put on it but a working line for when we do! And what about a fibre internet connection you will be asking, you know the fastest possible internet as BT keep advertising well no chance! We are on super fast 4 megabit copper line so download central will not be us any time soon, in fact the mobile may be quicker on a good day when we have signal. Oh the joys of living in Britain in the 21st century!
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The next and last section in the main chapel was very old lath and plaster. The whole thing being lime it comes off in larger chunks which is great but makes massive amounts of dust. Once the lime is down, its the wooden laths next, these are in a very sorry state and wood worm ridden, the worst of all the chapel wood so far! When they came out, the hundreds of tiny but amazingly sharp nails have to to taken out one at a time. However, like the ceiling, when it is done there is a satisfaction of a tedious job well done!
So returned to the chapel and continued where I left last week working on the smaller brother wall of the big cement rendered one.
To be honest I had removed most of the cement from this one last week but had a metre or so to go, it came down really quickly and so I carried on doing the lime covered arched section over the window and moving towards to the cemented chimney section. Over the years the soot and heat had got up behind this area of cement and lifted it from the wall so it came away in big sections some parts with no effort required, it needed to come down or fall down! The wall at the entrance end has taken a very long time to get all the cement render off, but buy Thursday I finally managed to quell the beast! To celebrate I did a jig, had a beer and took a selfie.. sorry to inflict you all.
Its been a tricky few days the end wall is covered in a cement render that in places is 40+mm thick! Behind it the lime mortar is very damp and soft. Using the rotary hammer drill is hard work and my arms are aching but it has to come off so just got to keep going. Aparently the awning on the caravan nearly took off last weekend so I have purchased a few items to help, massive tent pegs and a storm brace kit. Hope they will keep it all safe and secure. The roofers turned up today to secure any loose slates and replace the missing ones that had come off due to high winds and nail rot, roofer speak for rusty nails! Unfortunately they managed to knock over a ridge fin, luckily it stayed in one piece and didn't slip down the roof. They managed to get up and reseat it using the same ladder that caused it to come off! So only keeping to low level repairs today they will return next week with different ladders to complete the job.
Today is a big day. We stop paying the huge price for storing our furniture in self store Portsmouth and have shipped it down to Cornwall to live in the container for a while. A great guy called Dave who helped us move out of Staunton Ave. to the flat is doing it again. I met them at the storage place and the filling up began. It took quite a while but it all fitted, just! We set off and arrived in Cardinham about 3pm. Then they unloaded it and filled the container right up! It just needs a few hours rearranging to give us back space, which should then take the rest of the furniture from our flat when Jan comes down in July, obviously only if we haven't finished any rooms in the chapel by then! Great job Dave, many thanks to you and Jack.
After digging several 'beds' around the chapel to take the 200 bare root native 'hedgelings' that we ordered, we prepared for planting. We chose Hawthorn, Buckthorn, Dog Rose, Field Maple and Gvelda Rose to create bird, insect and small creature friendly environments at various spots around the chapel. We mixed a gruel like paste to dip the roots in that apparently will give strong tap roots within a month and then began planting - what a mammoth task, it's a good job that Pete and I make a great team, luckily the sun shone down on us. Look really closely - those little sticks will be our hedge! Inside the chapel Pete has carried on removing the plaster and the scaffold at the 'Worship end' has been removed. The exposed 'bones' of the chapel are beautiful
During the week we've met with a joiner who will design and make the windows for us, worked with our architect to finalise plans, met many of our neighbours and finalised plans for drains to be dug and 'tapped' into the mains - it's been busy. I anticipate that this is just a taste of what the next year/18 months holds for us. we're holding on for the ride! So Jan and I went down to Cornwall and found a few sunny days to enjoy the Chapel. Jan spent time making the caravan tidy and organised, her skills being much better than mine in the practicality department! I spent time trying to take off the plaster on the entrance end which is very hard, made of a fine concrete layer with a plaster finish. It's going to take time. Jan has removed a layer of mud from round the back of the chapel which we hope will make walking to and from the loo less messy. As many were blocked and overflowing, we cleaned the gutters out to make sure they would carry away as much water as possible to help the walls dry out. We also now know how the caravan toilet works and more importantly how to empty it, I'm sure it will prove useful in emergencies! Finally this week we got a container. Many thanks to Bude Selfstore. We had an anxious moment when the delivery driver couldn't get the crane to work as his truck was not level enough. He tried it several different ways and eventually ... on site storage! |
AuthorJan and Pete, retiring Headteachers with a dream. Archives
November 2018
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