Day Two Hundred and Fifty Three

Joe, the HVAC magician, is completing his installation this week.

When he started the job last October the time frame was two months from start to finish; so, we only held him up by six months.

That thing sticking out of the front window is a portable air conditioning unit, which is being used to cool down the the little place while Tom fits the floor - the Authority tells me that bamboo tends to warp in hot and humid weather.

See, I've got my timing wrong and everything back to front. HVAC first. Bamboo last. Will I ever learn?

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Two

Day Two Hundred and Fifty One

Rather important moment... the Champions League Cup Final is about to begin at Wembley. Manchester United v Barcelona.

Remarkable. Emily just said "Is that Madrid in red?". I've only been nattering on about this match for two weeks.

Anyway, the ground is being raised around the office next week - what I'm not entirely sure about is where the new earth is coming from...

Day Two Hundred and Fifty

Day Two Hundred and Fifty.

It's worthy of a Friday evening celebration.

That may sound like a lot of days, but considering the issues, silly steeplechase jumps, hidden hurdles and setbacks we've had to overcome, it's a remarkable achievement by Emily and Tom and Tom's team.

Frankly, this bungalow has been re-built from scratch...in 250 days.

That distant sound is me applauding the effort.

A thick layer of paper is laid before the bamboo. No squeaks. Really, it stops new wood floors from squeaking. I love this country.

But why do I love stuff like nail guns? I'm sure Noam Chomsky could tell me.

Words on the packaging of the HVAC grilles that arrived from Atlanta today.

The walls are painted. Pure and very brilliant white.

More kit from earlier this week. I'm now indulging myself.

The office...926 + 41 at 4.30pm this afternoon.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Nine

Day Two Hundred and Forty Eight

The office filing cabinets.

The front of the cabinet is going to be steel, the rest wood.

Aren't they normally just all black steel?

After so long how could I make such a silly assumption?

And the one below, I'm told, is the perfect combination taking into account the...I've forgotten.

Not to worry, the bamboo flooring will tie it all together.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Seven

The interior walls and ceiling have been twice spackled and sanded and are now ready to be painted. The interior trim has been fitted, adjusted and re-fitted. But, all of the photos I took of those areas today are out of focus...so here's some other stuff. Pretty boring stuff, but hell, it's only Tuesday and it already feels like Friday.

Par 20 and Par 38. That's how light bulbs are sized. Did you know that? I didn't know that. Perhaps that's why I'm forever buying and returning light bulbs. Not again. Oh no.

In a week's time this will be something of great beauty.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Six

Good things.

Like hinges and internal doors...

And beer for Matt (below, back in February), who worked through an horrendous winter putting the foundations together, but who left today to live in Texas. Good luck Matt.

Very cold winter. Nothing like Chicago, which is transcendentally cold - I'm sure I used to hallucinate a little on the walk home from work through the weekly blizzard - but cold enough.

The bamboo flooring arrived.

And Geoff and Emily watching Jerseylicious on Saturday morning.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Two

It's almost too much.

It's the renovation equivalent of being served a dozen Chesapeake Bay oysters, followed by a whole Maine lobster with drawn butter, then Vermont apple pie with Wisconsin cream. All of it with a couple of glasses of Oregon Pinot Noir.

The bamboo floor is being delivered tomorrow afternoon, the spackling was finished, the internal doors were hung today and, give me strength, the parking area will be graded next week.

I think I fainted for a moment.

Some miscellany.

Landscaping is all important.

So are numbers.

And a rather friendly, chest puffingly proud duck in Huntington Beach, Orange County.

Day Two Hundred and Forty One

If I wore a hat I would take it off and chew a small piece of the woolen edge in admiration.

These are the CAD plans for the railing. The company making this for us are on Bainbridge Island in Washington - they speak English and I speak English, but our accents are so different it takes a minute or two on a project of this complexity for us to be sure we agree. We have agreed. It's good to go.

And this is finally about to be delivered.

The first thing ordered, the last thing needed.
A lesson in learning on the job.