Gulp...!

We're in the Ullapool News! We think this means we've been granted a building warrant. Does it include stage one? Can we have the roof tiles we want? The building warrant officer wasn't happy to learn that our chosen roof tiles need no underlay and are held together by what appears to be velcro. Will we be the couple running around lochside picking up roof tiles every time there is a bit of a breeze?
The foundations are finished. What if they're crooked? The Trelleborg team were emphatic about the accuracy needed when constructing a timber framed building. They arrive on Wednesday evening (4 of them) They are driving up from Devon. The house is coming over by boat from Denmark to arrive on Thursday. As yet no one is sure whether it will come to Harwich or Newcastle. What if it's the wrong house? What if we made some terrible mistake? What if the Trelleborg team don't like the shepherds pie I'll make for their tea? I'm worried for the first time. There still seems such an enormous amount to do. The man along the road has said we can borrow his scaffolding. We are still trying to find a joiner to help with the completion of the inside.

This isn't the house! It's a box that Niels has built to hold the consumer unit so that the electricity can be connected. We thought that would be this week, but despite various phone calls and emails the electricity board hasn't heard of us! They will come a week on Wednesday, almost a week after we need electricity. Fortunately our neighbours have an outside connection in their garage they have said we can use. I'm happy we have neighbours.

Our other neighbour dear Annie sits next to the electricity pole in her garden. If you click on the picture you can just see the black cable that has to cross the few feet to be connected. When I asked her if this would be ok, she said of course but pointed out she had no idea where the electricity pole was in her garden!

Meanwhile our very own sceptic tank sits quietly waiting at the top of the drive for the start of the action. Some days I feel exhausted!

Well just look at this!

You turn your back for a minute and the next thing you know, your house is being built! The work on the foundations has started!
The ingenious method the builders have come up with for filling their kettle. The stream has been diverted, via a plastic pipe, to flow into a wheelie bin. It comes in handy for mixing cement as well, which I suspect is its main purpose!

No 'faffing' about with hard hats here!

And today, even more house has appeared! Will it be big enough? We have five and a half containers of 'stuff' to fit in it

But it is exciting and it will be a brilliant site

The land behind the house (overlooking the loch) has to be landscaped. We need to lop down some more trees otherwise the view will be blocked, and we need to do it before the birds start laying their own foundations. How awful to build a house only to have someone come and knock it down

The weather has been beautiful. There is a real softness in the air. The birds are singing their socks off and the bulbs begining to appear. Can it last! It's now I realise what a long dark month January has been. January would be the month to go on holiday I think

I drove into Ullapool (to post Jo's parcel!) and everything was just so.....blue. I still can't quite believe that I live here! How on earth have we managed to find such an amazingly beautiful place?

Blue Ullapool! The two orange blobs are fishing trawlers (I think). There were certainly a number of refrigerated lorries about on the quayside and driving to and from Ullapool.