I have been under pressure recently from 50% of my readership to lift my game with regard to my Berry Grand Design blog.  I’m not sure what the other 50% think – I’ve not heard from her for a while.

So, my research tells me that the last blog posted was on 31 August.  My total reverse shoulder replacement (Google it) was three weeks old and I was still in a sling.  We were waiting for the roof to go on. 

But, of course, before the roof goes on, the scaffolding must go up.  It only took 2 days.  Once it arrived.

Now the scaffolding is up, the roof can go on.  But it doesn’t.  There is some delay.  There is always some delay.

But, hey, another week later the roof arrives.  On the longest truck permissible without an escort.  There is 5mm to spare!

Effortlessly they are lifted into position

Looking good from down here

And looking good from next door. Meaning that we are slowly building them out

And all on a safe site

Two weeks later, and out of the sling, Cherrie and I took the dog for a walk.  Out of the blue, with no warning, I fell flat on my face.  Again.  And on my new shoulder.  Again.  With blood pouring from the face, but not the shoulder, we had to call a friend to come and get us.  Between them they eventually stemmed the blood and a subsequent x-ray of the new shoulder mercifully showed no damage. 

The roofing people move much more slowly than me, even in a sling with black eyes and bloodied nose.  That’s me, but they are the ones who deserve those eyes and noses.  A premonition.  Our greatest stress on this build has been Parrish Roofing.  Not that I want to mention them by name, for fear of causing offence.  They, that is Parrish Roofing, are the most ineffectual and inefficient contractors in the Shoalhaven.  And that’s saying something.  Not that I would name them, for fear of offending. 

But I digress….

When, eventually, the roof is on Christo visits.

And now it’s a wrap (don’t we wish) the wall insulation can go in

It’s not like us to drop names, but when we shared a meal with Peter Garrett recently, we didn’t mention the pink batts.

And then the external wall cladding commences. This is also the job of Parrish. They started on site in August.  They have still not completed the job.  I can’t show you the photos of this progress because the snails have been chasing the cladders (from Parrish Roofing by the way) down the road. 

We are building a low maintenance house and all the exterior will be this Colorbond metal.  Just hose it down occasionally.  Or at least climate change will do that for us.  But not before it’s finished, by which time there might even be an effective climate change policy.

In late October, investigations commence as to the cause of the numerous falls I’ve been having.  It only takes a couple of days and a brain scan followed by a targeted MRI to find the brain tumour.  Surgery a week later

This is a bit of a set back but I am incredibly blessed that the tumour is benign and all of it was excised.  Recovery is a little slow but full.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the important plumbing commences

A visit from the air conditioning man

And the start of the plastering

Not all phone calls are so uplifting

The fireplace reveals itself

Finds it’s home

And settles in

The bespoke, oversized (my middle name is not moderation), recycled hardwood pivot front door is hung

And then the piece de resistance.  These little spotted gum soldiers

Step up

And voila

The Christmas spirit is entering the site.  The building gang accept an invitation to the certifiers’ Christmas party in Wollongong and all go up by bus.  The next day they are informed that one of the guests on said bus had tested positive for Covid.  So they are all isolated for a week and our site goes into lockdown. 

But the tiler didn’t go to the Christmas party.  He got his Covid somewhere else.

The cladders, that is Parrish Roofing, could work.  They just don’t.

Back from isolation, the week before Christmas the floor goes down

The tiler gets his second bout of Covid

And everyone goes home for Christmas.

Cherrie and I spend the first two weeks of January cleaning up the site, clearing rubbish, painting the one existing boundary fence. We can only do between 6am and 10am because of the unrelenting heat and humidity

On 11 January the team returns.  Except the tiler.  No prizes for guessing why.

The builder’s mother in law gave her family 10 days on the Gold Coast for Christmas.  To be taken mid-January.  Predictably he returned with Covid.  Another week off.

But the house is taking shape

And on January 21 the pool is dug

And before we know it, it’s full

The following Monday they pump the uninvited water out and the next day they deliver the real pool

But, hang on.  That’s too low.  Who measured wrong?  Never mind.  Let’s just get the crane back tomorrow and take it out again

Mollie briefly gets a pool while they correct things

Back again

That’s better

Builder Tim returns to work looking terrible and says he has never been so sick in his life.  Covid hit him really badly.  But he slowly gets back into the swing.

The house we are renting is on the market.  Removalists booked for 8 April. 

The kitchen is almost in.

Inside will be finished by the end of the month, but we have a weather event. It’s not Lismore, but it’s wet and has been for 2 weeks

Fortunately the painter can continue to work inside.

The builders can’t do any more inside until the painting is finished.  They can’t work outside because of the weather.  We can’t move in until outside is finished. And because I insisted on a completely level house there is a lot of hard landscaping (aka shoving soil and road base around) to do to bring the ground up to house level. Who knows when that can happen?

Kevin would love this. We are over budget, behind schedule and there’s a major weather event.

Could it get any worse?  Yes, of course it could.  We could be in the Ukraine.