Author Archives: nickjtj

Tuesday. I’m waiting for the stair man to ring me back. Yesterday and today have been dominated by the internet on screen. It really does make sense to get the stairs in to ease working on the first floor, as David has been trying to tell me for weeks. Not only will it be quickerContinue reading “Apples and Pears”

Lacking grass to pitch the new tent on, we scratched a circle for the footprint and covered it with crumbled wood fibre insulation, hoping to protect the new groundsheet from any remaining stones. Next two thicknesses of heavy duty polythene, then the tent, around which we cut off the excess plastic sheet. Pegging out wasContinue reading “Instant guest wing”

After last week’s three days of landscaping I was pretty done in and took it easy on Thursday, with a bit of reading, writing and research. Recent weather has been fine, sometimes hot and with very little breeze. If the cloud thickens, breeze fades or the sun gets low the midges are likely to beContinue reading “Midges, housework and five visitors”

I was just pouring the tea this morning and trying to think what I’m meant to be doing today. I ache all over with a feeling of anticlimax or post-euphoria. Perhaps euphoria is too strong a word, but the last three days’ landscape work wrought such significant changes so quickly: exciting, surprising, pleasing and exhausting,Continue reading “Twenty tonne of peas; drains and landscaping.”

With Andrew’s arrival for a week’s groundwork imminent it seemed a good time to continue tidying up outside to make sure the machinery could get about the site unimpeded and to start to sort out the space under the workshop’s roof overhang, the north wall that’s not yet larch clad, not even battened. As theContinue reading “A little bit here, a little bit there… and here comes the digger again.”

As though the cat were not enough of a threat, we have introduced windows. Everywhere. It was warm, the French windows were open and Tash sat with her back to them at her keyboard. Hearing a thud and a flutter she turned to see a tiny bird indoors, fly west from the high east gableContinue reading “Treasure at Gooseberry Cottage”

Still I’ve not ordered the outstanding bathroom and shower room bits and pieces so have been putting in the extra glass wool insulation and lining the east, south and north walls with OSB sheets. I worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning including time out to attend to the return of Brian’s scaffolding tower and aContinue reading “Pressure tested or not?”

The house is built of softwood and this (about 15mm long) is a large pine weevil… …they’ve been appearing in twos and threes and sometimes sixes since the weather warmed about two weeks ago. I can find nothing on the internet about them eating houses, but the way they appear inside the house and workshop,Continue reading “The Greater of Two Weevils”

Friday. The landline’s been down since we got back from Islay and the neighbours’ has been very noisy. I couldn’t see anything wrong at our end, so Tash reported it. Two engineers arrived within thirty minutes. The young one confirmed our line seemed fine but his equipment indicated a fault a hundred and forty metresContinue reading “Bad Crimp in Torinturk – a mixed weekend”

Another week (ten days? two weeks?) has gone. The photovoltaic installation has, inevitably, been postponed, again. Definitely next Friday (tomorrow). Or at the worst Saturday. I’ve been moving on several fronts in mysterious ways. Although at the end each day I went round the house to see what the electrician had been doing, I didn’tContinue reading “Rebuilding momentum”