2020 - What is going on?
So, it's been a while
since I wrote anything on here. Mainly because I just can't find the time to
sit and write anything, but also because progress at our end is steady but
slow.
Like everyone else in
the world right now we are stuck in limbo, staying at home and waiting for some
form of normality to resume... Although there are things I can't wait to do
(see family and friends, go shopping, days out, lunch out etc.) I'm not actually
sure I want things to return to "normal". I've seen small businesses
diversify and reach out to those who are vulnerable or in need. Local suppliers
selling in the village, and doing driveway drop offs. Local pubs and
restaurants delivering, and of course discovering new small businesses to
support.
Most of these things
seem small to most, but when you live in a village with no Uber, just eat or
Deliveroo you can feel quite cut off at the best of times, but during this time
even more so. So for now, whilst the builder’s merchants aren't delivering, and
we have no roof tiles to get started with the main roof, we are working on what
we can, using local businesses to achieve other things - such as concreting for
the patio at the back, and putting in a path down the side of the house for the
scaffolding to stand firmly on. We are also finalising parts of the house
designs that we perhaps weren’t 100% settled on (some window changes upstairs,
and the layout of the stairs in the hallway). So we are chipping away.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to write down a brief update
on what has happened in the last year (Year!!?) since last update…
April/May - The garage was up to ceiling height, and progress was
being made on the gable wall. This time last April Steve had managed to get 2
out of the 5 steels lifted up onto the garage roof.
May/June/July – Steels were in place, and the gable walls were
finished, and the roof trusses were in place.
August/September – Guttering, and drainage work done. Then roof work
started. Got it prepped with Felt and battens, and dormer window was clad with render board.
September/October – Tiles went on and finished, and the Velux windows
installed at the back.
Then as winter hit, this is Steve’s busiest time at work, so no
work was done over winter (apart from the odd bit of insulation here and there)
But for the most part the roof was made watertight.
Once his winter gritting season slowed down and the frost disappeared,
he started to plan and organise his garage, ready for 2020’s work to begin!
Feb/March - We bought an electric roller garage door for the back
(2nd hand eBay bargain!), and now the garage is pretty much water
tight, apart from needing the ridge tiles putting on (but I won’t let Steve
climb up on his own during a global pandemic) then it needs the front garage
door measuring up and ordering (no point in wasting this money just yet – he’s
rigged up something like fort Knox in the meantime).
March/April - Since lockdown started he has dug out and concreted
both side paths, around 60tonnes of soil from the garden by hand, and concreted
the patio. He has built a patio wall as the garden is slightly higher than the
patio level – this was hard work! He has also put in the cabling for the patio
electrics, and lighting in the summerhouse.
We’ve put in drainage along the back for foul and water waste, and
generally pottered around doing bits in the garden.
Steve and I are both classed as keyworkers, so we continue to work
a relatively ‘normal’ work week, so no extra work has been able to progress,
sadly. We have been home-schooling the kids where possible, and thankfully
school remains open for children who have both parents as keyworkers – which has
been fantastic for us from a work perspective, but understandably quite
worrying at the same time. It has left me torn at times, and not wanting to
leave our little bubble.
I think this brings up pretty much up to date – oh and I’ve managed
to get through the entire blog post without mentioning the ‘C-word’… and whilst
that has put a bit of a dampener on progress, we are doing what we can and
remaining positive!
Stay at home,
Love from the Fox Family x
