A week in the life of Brookwood

Everything will be ok - Jo and Em are here to carry on work on the house. First the early...ish morning jog

this will limber them up and help them to work more efficiently - after breakfast, and changing into their work clothes of course

A short..ish time later they're ready with their workers apparel (sun glasses, sun tan lotion, fruit and i-pods)

Then it's down to the serious business of erecting the scaffolding. They really did work very hard on this and didn't appear put off by the enormity of the task.

I'll hold this and you bash that

and eventually after a very welcome helping hand from Dodo whom they flagged down driving by on his tractor the scaffolding is erected and in place and the arduous task begins of brushing the house (that's what it says to do on the tin) before applying the primer

It's been a long afternoon and they lower their bucket of 'tools!'

Then the ladder

Whoops, watch out Dad

Later in the week reinforcements arrive in the form of Dan, Em's boyfriend

and Robin our son

The painting is put aside to help lift the stairs into the house and set them in place

They're incredibly heavy

Do you think we should straighten our hair and put some make up on this evening?

but eventually they fit into place, with a bit of a struggle!

and a welcome break is had

Sometimes I manage to get lunch to them on the site, and on time.

None of this instant coffee rubbish for Dan - he makes his own pot of proper coffee

Back to the painting

Dan is a rock climber and can't resist scrambling up the roof and sitting astride the top

Eventually he comes back down and carries on working

Jo and Em still hard at it. It's been very warm and the fumes from the primer made their eyes sting, and wearing goggles made them hot and sticky

but by yesterday the 4 of them have completed, amongst otherthings, the brushing down and priming of the whole house

They've even found time to clear some branches and have a bonfire. They have been the best help ever and worked very hard.
I took some empty bottles to the bottle bank yesterday, I did think I might need the trailer on the car but I managed - just! I shall really miss them and I think they would say they've had a good time. Jo, Em and Dan travel home tomorrow while Robin stays on until Tuesday. He and Niels have started fixing the plastic sheeting on the inside of the house. This acts as a vapour barrier which makes the house air tight (a bit like living in a polythene bag!) which is necessary apparently for the heat exchange system to work.