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I thought I'd give you an update on progress with the building, which is going well.
When the starting point is just a hilly farm paddock, there is certainly a lot of extra work to do compared to renovating an established house or buying a vacant block on a new housing estate. In my case there was the small matter of taking the top off a hill to start with!! Then there was the access road to put in etc., etc. - but all that is now in the past and the "real" building is well under way. The electrician connected the underground power line recently and that has made a big difference compared to having to start the generator each time I needed power. Now I have music (of my choice - not the radio station's) on all day and hot tea or soup whenever the need arises. I also now have the drains connected to the septic system which has brought a lot of relief!! (The garage has its own toilet and hand basin.)
I hope to have the garage walls finished by Christmas and then I can look forward to putting the roof on. It is quite large, at ten by eight metres, so has required a lot more work than in building the average garage, but it has also given me the opportunity to improve my block-laying skills. This will make a difference when it comes to building the main structure. I like working with this material and built the upper storey walls of the Prudhoe house with blocks, way back in 1965. Working on my own, my speed is still slow, but at least my walls are straight and plumb and will be more than able to cope with Oberon's notoriously strong winds!
When visitors ask the inevitable question - "How long do you think it will take you to finish it, Alan?", I usually trot out a quotation, attributed to Abraham Lincoln, "I may walk slowly, but I never walk backwards!" Quite what Abraham Lincoln was doing at the time, I don't know - but I don't think he was building a house.
Once the garage is at lock-up stage and reasonably secure, I can look forward to taking some time off. I am sure I will be able to come over to the UK next year. In previous years I have come in late May/early June. This is usually an "allowed" period which means I can probably get a staff travel ticket without any problems, so I'm thinking of that time of year again for 2004.