Its all happening at once.

What is it with projects like this. One day hardly any of the contractors show up when they say they would, the next day there's so many of them that there is a traffic jam in the lane in back of the house, and one of them is broken down...
But last night was lovely, the 'megamoon' decided to make an appearance as the clouds lifted briefly, so I got my new (second hand) tripod out and stumbled about on the lawn using some settings on the 'ol Nikon I haven't used before. Then a bit of editing and.... voila!

 

I have also been taking some shots for our brochure/website of the garden and how it looks throughout the year.

 

We have had a few sunny days this week, it doesn't take much for the flowers to bust forth.

The treehouse and the garden chair are in use, there I have sown some wild flowers and grasses to compensate for the damage the last owners dogs have done. The ancient apple tree's flowers have all gone, I wonder if we will get any fruit?

 

The boxes containing the new bathroom ware have all but gone and john has asked us to use the new bathroom this weekend so we can see if anything leaks.

At the risk of grossing out her children, Judith very bravely posed for a couple of tasteful shots of her in the new slipper bath in the new front bathroom

 

 

Surrounded by drying plaster and builders rubble!

 

We went to see Martin Stevenson and the Daintees in a free gig at the Victoria hall. They live in Scotland and were on their way down to Glasto, so this was a warm up gig. Remember 'Crocodile crying' It was their one big single. Unfortunately the warm-up slot was his partner, who although played a lovely hoffner semi acoustic very well, would have been more at home in a playgroup singing to under 5's. And whats all that stuff about aligning his Chackras during the encore? Bloody 'el this is Yorkshire, not Islington. I do like the fact that the town pulls together when needed. As they played for free, Anne who books the acts got the Lion to put them up for nowt and Internet Andy to feed them breakfast at his lovely café the next morning. I saw lots of people buying them drinks too, and there was a collection at the end to pay for the sound man and PA hire.

 

Today (sat 29th June) we are off to Pickering and Paloma Faith at Dalby Forest . So its an outdoor gig and theres a 90% chance of rain. Waterproofs and wellies may be in order. Its right the other side of Yorkshire, we have to go through Harrogate and Leeds to get there, its not far from Whitby. We are staying at a small hotel and the receptionist has promised us she will be able to get us too and from the gig as we don't really want to drive.

 

I went back to Bradford Royal on Friday to have a fitting for a bloody hearing aid. seems there's not much they can do for me otherwise. I worry that its going to make me look every day of my (nearly) 57 years. The NHS have been absolutely fantastic, the service terrific and of course the treatment and eventual hearing aid completely free. But it is rather clunky technology . What's a bit galling is the adverts in the Audiology department for the private clinic nearby who do the slim-line aids with better acuity for a mere £3,000. I suppose that's quite hypocritical of me, after all, I was working for many years in healthcare sales, on both sides of the fence, NHS and private. Ho Hum.

 

On a lighter note, what is it about cats and confined spaces? This one has to inspect every floorboard lift and cardboard box. I just hope she doesn't go to sleep somewhere when they are finally nailing the boards down again. 'The tel-tale heart' anyone?

 

Probably wont be in any fit state to add to this on Sunday, so its a goodnight from him. See you next week . A week that promises to be quite fraught as the narky sparky is holding everyone up  (gas engineers, plasterers, etc.) and seems quite happy to do so. But once he's finished, the heating can be tested, the plastering finished, the Amtico floors laid and we can then get on with the month or so of decorating.

 

 

 

 

Such sweet sorrow

Good (Sunday) evening everyone. It was a strange old week just gone. Judith was away from Monday till Saturday when I picked her up from Lancaster. She had been visiting her parents down south, and I'm very glad to say that her dad seems to be getting better. Unfortunately she couldn't get to the funeral of her friend (time constraints) so the new black hat had a return trip. I will be quite happy if it doesn't get any more outings for a very long time to come.

So Its befallen me to look after the plumbers,

Neil,

His dad Barry

 

 

And Howard, who is a bit camera shy.

The outside of the house continues to look great as everything in the gardens is growing at a seemingly exponential rate. The Wisteria is flowering, as are the huge poppies, the lupins and the peony. Its an inverse proportion to the insides though. I thought all the messy stuff had happened, but no, more holes in walls and a serious plumbing failure in the Attic which I will not mention here for fear of offending readers of a delicate constitution. But you can probably guess what it involved.

 

 

 

John who is the main contractor has been doing sterling stuff , this is the new front bathroom with a large walk in shower. I went off to Skipton to Oldfields to buy a chandelier and some special spots for the shower. Its going to look great.

 

 

 

Of course, throughout it all the cat loved nothing more than to find a really dusty spot, preferably with some sun pouring in and act all cute for the builders. Such a tart.

I take pictures every evening documenting everything that has happened that day, so I have hundreds that I could put up, but that would be particularly uninteresting, so here's a few only of what the gas /heating/hot water engineers have been up to this week.

 

Basement room before,

 

                                                                                                                                                                            

 And after. These are the 2 hot water tanks to service the possible 3 baths and 3 showers that may be going at the same time. I think its a given that paying guests have plenty of hot water on demand, one of the reasons this project has cost an arm and a leg. We looked at this installation and thought they looked vaguely human, and we decided to call them  Scylla and Charybdis which are from the greek myths, neriads who were turned into water monsters by jealous lovers. They guarded either sides of the Straits of Messina and gave Odysseus & co a bit of bother. We also thought of tweedle dee and tweedle dum, Dennis and Margaret (bit creepy having them in the basement).Gilbert and George may have worked.  They are monstrous and deserved fitting names.

The business end of these is the 2 large boilers in the futility room and the big box called a low loss header which links the two together. I think we could heat the water for the whole road from the output of these two bad boys. God, I've turned into a plumbing geek.

 

 

So we also now have a personal bathroom, sort of, and I have been trying hard to get it looking ok for Judith's return. Once the last bit of plastering has been done we can decorate and put up some decent lighting and seal the floor slates, phew.

 

 

So that's it for the week, not a lot of sight seeing or humorous anecdotes, its not all gravy you know!

However, we may go to this in a few weeks time. Judith likes Jacobean Ruff (there's a joke there somewhere but I fear for my manhood so I'm staying schtum). Also a boyhood mate of mine is playing in a band called Wire (Colin Newman) We used to get drunk on cheap cider at the monument in Newbury when we were teenagers.

Oh yes, Martin Stevenson and the Daintees are playing a free warm up gig at the Victoria hall this Wednesday , en route to Glastonbury, so may have to miss my SAOS rehearsal. Oops.

Rain....

There's a lady who has been doing the teas at the half lime interval at the meeting of SAOS (Settle amateur operatic society) for a mere 60 years and she retires this summer. As a fitting send off we are doing a recital of some of her favourite numbers from the biggest shows, so I'm learning the words to 'Another opening another show' which has some interesting timings in it. One of the long serving members, Audrey I think her name is, reprised her role as mother superior from the sound of music and gave us a near perfect edelweiss, brought a lump to my throat.

We went out on Saturday night to the Victoria halls to see the Dougie Maclean trio who were very good, although it was a bit like being back at school as he strove to teach us the choruses of some of his songs. 'Caledonia' is his most famous one , I think every Scot who has ever travelled away from home must know that one.

The new bed that arrived last week has finally gone up in our bedroom. Its reclaimed wood and looks quite in keeping with the rooms other furniture. Thank you House of Frazer.

On one of our shorter walks through upper Settle we came across the local art gallery, possibly the smallest one I have ever been in. Its very Craggy Island. The current exhibition is all to do with local produce and there are recipe cards you can take, and a small video playing all about the artist, who's name momentarily escapes me. Just behind Upper Settle is a hill called High Hill. The interesting bit is that the main part of this lovely part of the Dales is called High High Hill, but the bit just here is Low High Hill.

 

 

I like the mosaic tiled floor.

Its been a busy week building-wise, We have two new members of 'Team Settle'. John has been here all week creating artistic arches , tiling our downstairs bathroom, and hopefuly we may get a useable bog by the end of next week. George the Surveyor/project manager has told us that it should be all finished by the end of July. And the cheque is in the post....

Turns out that this may be true as John is off on his holls in August, so time is of the essence.

 

 

 

This is our plasterer, he introduced himself as 'Big Al the ladies pal'. We told him about Judiths Big Al, that wiped the smile from his face, but only for a bit.

Here is a shot of him plastering our bathroom ceiling.

 

And this is Josh who works for (with?) big Al, putting the finishing touches to the wall behind which the poo pipe runs from the newly created front bathroom.

 

This morning we went out VERY EARLY to catch the dawn chorus over near Giggleswick.

Its funny how a ridiculously early start can mess up your whole day. And we didn't even get to see any new bird life, except a pair of Dippers near the Ribble beach.

It was very pretty though, the sun comes up a bit later than advertised due to the peaks being in the way to the east of us, and it was a bit cloudy, but that just adds to the scene as the rising sun finally reflects off the gathering thunderheads and makes for a spectacular show.

 

 

 I really must get myself a polarising filter, it looked much nicer than this, honest guv.

 

Cattle seem to roam free across the hillsides here. You have to remember that cows with calves to foot can get angry if you seem at all threatening, so probably best to detour round a group like this. The Longhorns up on the tops look much more dangerous than these, but apparently are as soft as puppies.

 

Well , its Sunday now and I was pleasantly surprised this morning when Judith brought me tea in bed and two cards from my daughters Zoe and Kirsty for fathers day. She had hidden them from me as they must have arrived last week. Its amazing how much joy a hand written card can bring, especially when you cant just pop over and see them any more.
This morning we went over to Langcliffe to an open studio event where 3 of Yorkshires finest artists were exhibiting their paintings and sculptures. I'm glad to see that a fair number of pieces had red dots on them, I'm told that means they are sold.

I'm a bit sad as Judith is packing to go see her parents for a week as her dad's poorly, and her mum needs her there. I will just have to deal with the builders on my owneo. There is also a funeral for her to go to on Saturday, a lovely girl called Jo who's life has tragically been cut far too short at the age of only 33.

Time to don some old clothes and do some wallpaper stripping  (John sets us 'homework', menial stuff so he can get on with the real buildery, artistic bits)

See you in a week or so, as long as I survive the builders.

End of the third week, the Somme revisited.

 

 

 

So, its the end of week 3 and much has been done. We warned that there might be a couple of weeks where 'It might be a little messy'. They were right, its like every room in the house has been destroyed. we now have to go to the loo in the attic conversion bathroom. When you want a bath, there is a great big hole in the wall opposite.

 

The partition that is to be the en-suite for the 'Green room' has moved on apace and now looks like Mr Fritzel might be proud of.

 

Its very dark in there. To the right will be a built in wardrobe.

 

The drains are all but finished , Tom the new boy has done a sterling job at creating a new manhole. Artistry in brick and cement.

 

During the week we decided to replace  the Kids safety mats that had been laid in the turf under their swings. Judith phoned the local supplier who for some reason or another didn't want to meet us at the depot, but at at a lay-by near Skipton. We needed about 20 Sq M and it came to £30.

Its pretty easy to lay as long as the ground prep has been done.

So this is 30 quids worth of grass we bought off a bloke in a lay-by near Skipton. The prosecution rests its case, Your Honour.
We have also been back to the woods near Astwick . I know we keep banging on about this place but it is truly lovely. At the moment the bluebells are out in force and on a clear day you can see for bloody miles over the sweep of the moors.

On the way to Oxenber woods we heard a strange bird call, and over a dry stone wall was an odd looking bird with a distinctive bent beak. My photo of it is rubbish but here's one from the net.
Its a Curlew, I think.

 

I'm usually behind the camera, but just for a laugh Judith took a picture of me in my shorts . Hope this doesn't put you off.

 

We also went over to Lancaster well, Silverdale and had a lovely walk across the bay, stopped at the wolf gallery for tea and cakes. On the way home we went on the back roads across Benson Moor . Just driving up a steep incline we spotted a Hare, first one I have ever seen up close. Far too quick for my camera though.

Instead, here is a bad picture of some shell ducks (I think) looking for small crabs in morecambe bay, just off Jenny Browns point.

 

As is the Perkins tradition, I have decided to do some thing so far outside my comfort zone its almost painful to write about it. Ive gone all Am Dram. I went to my first rehearsal at the old courthouse in Settle  (every Monday 7:30 sharp) and was SO nervous. Haven't been on a stage since shifting scenery in the 4th form at my old skool,  Hoverer, I'm on sort of familiar ground here as I'm a bit of a fan of the film and know most of the songs off by heart. I don't read music so getting the timing right during the men's bit in the chorus of 'Whip crack away' proved somewhat embarrassing as I kept on coming in during the Girls part. Tickets for the show in autumn will be on sale here. I expect many of you to swell the audience if only to jeer.

 

Well, that's off my chest at last.

We also went over to Hawes in the Wensleydale area of the N york moors on Thursday for a short walk up to the waterfall with the longest water drop in the UK at Hadraw , Hadraw Force.

Its quite nice but we found Hawes a bit too touristy, theres loads of pubs and tea shops and bunting everywhere. The falls were OK but you have to go through a pub to get there, the Green Dragon, which is really old and lovely, actually much nicer than the falls...

 

The building comes on apace, Its not quite so much of a swamp now, the Sparky arrived today (Sam) who is a wiry red headed young man who has just too much energy. He has been attempting to sort out our ground floor bathroom but we think you may have to stand in the bath to put the lights on, something not quite right there.

 

Today (fri 7th June) Ian the delivery boy (he's 67) from Merritt and Fryer's turned up with all our bathroom stuff. Judith couldn't resist a lie down in one of the slipper baths. All the gear is spread over the top floor and we have to inventory the lot this weekend to make sure its all there.

And finally, here it a shot i like of a drystone wall up on Gigglesworth scar. Is it sheer bloody-mindedness that makes someone build a wall to separate one area of Limestone pavement from another? This slope is about a one-in-three gradient and must have taken forever as its miles from anywhere. Not even the sheep go there.

Well time to go , We are off to see a band tomorrow night at the Victoria hall in settle, My sis sally may come over and I may attempt to cremate some beef on the barbecue if this lovely weather holds up. Oh, and I'm very proud of myself for fixing the electric roller door on our garage, thank you Youtube for the video on how-to, saved us a whole stack of cash.