Cryptic message

Three years ago, before the builders handed over the workshop for me to complete, I was sitting on a plank up on the trusses in the windowless building, where the sleeping platform would be. A swallow flew through the high gable window, made a circuit in the space, then noticed me and flew out. I felt somehow blessed. This time I wasn’t here but today a swallow flew in through the open door. Tash saw the cat looking at it as it made its daring reconnaissance behind enemy lines, and then she saw it too as it flew back out. Up on the sleeping platform it left a deposit on the duvet. It has waited three years to do this. Perhaps it’s a lucky omen. Perhaps it’s a message regarding ownership, a territorial claim. Perhaps it was just a nervous accident.

Two swallows now have a nest under the workshop’s overhanging roof, on one of the high ledges that I hurriedly put up in late April, and a pair of blue tits are in the log nest box further along. Both pairs of birds come and go every few minutes, each with their individual manner of approaching. The swallows swooping, both more direct, whereas the female blue tit flutters straight in to the nest box while the male flies to an adjacent bay then flits between rafters, hesitant, cautious, a bit, a bit more, then in.

Building: I returned from my week in Sutherland via Glasgow. Martin put me up on Sunday night so I could start Monday collecting pre-ordered bits and pieces for the house. At Screwfix I bought exterior lights then met Keith the glazier in the carpark who brought my custom-made shower screen. I hadn’t quite thought how I’d fit everything in the car – a thorough repack was needed and I had a lot already in the car, with more to collect. Next to a swish showroom collecting six panes of glass for the bathroom’s clerestorey and a shaped mirror to reflect it. None of the glass was protected except for plastic corners and some sticky film. With all the glass on board I drove east to Hamilton (Tile Giant for our last box of white subway tiles, grout, adhesive, spacers). So far so good. My last shopping stop was Ikea (more lights – five indoor spots, four pendants, shower-room lights, bulbs and a microwave).

And fifteen jars of pickled herrings.

While I was scooting round Glasgow, David was on the train from London, arriving at Glasgow Central en-route for Islay, where he has to receive a custom made double-glazed chapel window and a tracked vehicle. Glasgow has been brutalised by roads and motorways but it means that, within two minutes of coming off the M8, I could be picking him up from a city centre street, then, just as quickly, we could be back on the westbound motorway. It was good to share the journey with an old friend rather than wait several more weeks for our paths to cross, though some creative packing was needed to fit him and his minimal luggage in with the car’s fragile contents. His small suitcase strapped onto the back of his seat, behind the headrest.

Nothing got broken and on Tuesday I started work. A good start and an easy win was glueing the mirror in place. I made a thin wooden ledge to support it and echo the frames of the clerestorey windows it will reflect…

So that was one piece of glass safely out of the way.

Next I tiled the end wall, still not quite ready to tackle the shower screen…

Towards the end of Tuesday I re-fixed the two-piece larch frame for the shower, this time glueing the pieces to each other and the ceiling, and replacing the door post to help support them. There was no going back and, with the door post in place, I could measure and cut the first piece of chromed U-channel, which would sit on the shower tray and hold the bottom of the new screen.

While customising the shower door post (cutting off a pointless flange), I scratched the chrome surface quite badly. A careless moment and a lack of experience. I tried to prevent the same happening to the chrome-finished U-channel by brushing the bench and using the original protective wrapping whenever I clamped down a piece of the channel to cut or file it.

I first cut the channel with an angle grinder and diamond blade – wrong!

It created too much heat, left a huge bur of metal and was less accurate than the hacksaw I subsequently used. The hacksaw cut needed far less filing to smooth it and adjust the fit. The hacksaw was the better tool. Several small marks appeared on the chrome surface but not enough to worry about.

I was going slowly, trying to think through the sequence of events and not make a wrong move. Three of the U-channels would be sealed/stuck (with CT1) and screwed in place, while the fourth would be sealed and screwed to the door post. Once the glass was set into three fixed U-channels the door post would be offered up, its own attached channel pre-charged with clear sealant, and fixed in place (more sealant and a custom-made bracket to fix it to the shower tray). It was the morning of the third day when I sealed the glass in place. Phew! A weight off my mind and not my favourite job. It required a precision I was not confident of achieving and a level of care I’m not used to exercising, but I think the result is good. Even if every detail isn’t perfect, I feel the original concept of a light, simple and somewhat unusual bathroom space has been achieved.

Grouting the tiles was a quick job, then there were the little making-good tasks – such as removing a strip of masking tape from the wall where I’d prepared to seal the first door post but not done it. Lesson – don’t leave masking tape on too long. It comes off reluctantly and either takes paint with it or leaves a residue of sticky adhesive. Sand and paint. A bit of shaped wood was needed to finish the wall above the door post…

There was also a small strip of floor in the plant room with slate scraps cut but not laid. I was left with a tiny rectangle of slate that had clearly been part of a neat solution but time and my memory is too short. It’s round the corner, in a plant room.

Friday woodwork: where has the week gone, again? I made sides for the bathroom’s under-sink cupboards then fitted one with a back (in two parts) and a shelf.

Looks like I’ll need more plywood for this job even before I get onto the doors – which can wait.

Out front, east of the house the potential wildflower meadow is coming along. When I weeded it a couple of weeks ago I noticed how many small specimens of yellow rattle were springing up, many of them cheek-by-jowl, roots intertwined, with the reeds I wanted to get rid of. Now a few weeks later the larger plants are flowering. Hopefully they’ll continue to spread, parasitising the grasses and holding them back enough for other flowers to become established.

many of the