Preparing for the Storm

It's been a while since the last post, and there have been changes. Yesterday saw the builders battening down the hatches - well, the roof actually. The intention was to take the roof off tomorrow (Monday 10th), and put the trusses on the roof. Due to the high winds, it has been decided that this will not happen now, so they had to make the roof secure.

The picture on the left here shows them working, and it actually shows Nathan on the roof as well - he's the figure you can see on the right hand side of the roof - and you can see him quite clearly without having to enlarge the image at all.

We did have a bit of a shock yesterday. It turns out that in order to put the new roof on, the builders have to take down the ceilings upstairs. This meant that Nathan had to clear his room yesterday. Luckily we had sorted out our bedroom last weekend, and boxed everything up. Our current bedroom is having the least amount of work being done to it, but Nathan's is having lots of work done to it. The drum kit has now moved into the living room where the rest of the things have been stored, and you can still get in the door, but you can't move around the living room at all. I think the cats quite enjoy having somewhere to hide and explore.

I have spent the morning at the house clearing the office. That was quite a feat - trying to find places to put the things left in there. I've had to tidy it, sort out dozens of leads. We need to bring the chair and the desk down here to the flat. This means that I had to dismantle them both, as they were too big to bring out through the door. The pieces then needed to be taken downstairs, so they can be brought down to the flat.

Last weekend we went to clear our bedroom, and went up on the scaffolding again. The height of the scaffolding at this stage, is the height of the second floor - so the pictures give us a very accurate idea of what the view will be. It was a lovely day, and the ladder is now situated at the front of the house, which makes it a bit easier to climb up.

The picture on the left is another view. The roof has no tiles, and no chimneys. I'm glad that we're in the flat at the moment - you can see where rain has come in to our bedroom down the chimney. Also, with the high winds expected, I don't relish being in the house. At the same time, I'm not looking forward to experiencing the winds here either - I'll be able to feel the place shaking, and we'll both have trouble sleeping. Having spent time clearing this morning, I shall be glad to get back into the house, and not have the entire place looking and feeling dirty, and cluttered. The last photo I shall leave you with, is a view of the garden - I'll give you a warning - it's not good to look at it if you're afraid of heights! As you can see, the garden is a mess, and really just a building site. Still, at least I'll get a chance to design the garden as I want it to be!

Well - that's it for now - if I get a chance to take photos of the trusses going on the roof, I'll do another post. I'll also try to take some photos of the rooms without ceilings. What is a bit strange, is that we've contacted Torridge District Council about a rebate for council tax. We could only get a part rebate as the house is partly furnished. As the ceilings will be coming down before the new roof goes on, I'd have thought that we could claim more, as we really can't live in it, in that state - neither can anyone else - although Nathan has threatened to live in the kitchen.