The Pitter Patter of Big Feet

Funny how you miss the sound of construction work after a weekend. At first, it's a welcome relief to have your home to yourself and a bit of peace and quiet. But when the workers return and are busily tap-tapping here and there, it is somehow comforting...and it isn't just because it's evidence that they're back at work. I think it's possible to get used to a certain amount of external stimulation, even if it usually sinks into the background of your consciousness.

This morning when Don went out to move the car out onto the street at just before 8, he met Bill the contractor and George the roofer, who were conferring on the immediate work to be done and the schedule in which to accomplish it. Bill said the joiners would be back at about mid-day to finish up the little bit of work they needed to do. It is time to put up the supporting fascia for the roof in the areas where they erected the trusses last week, but they need the fascia materials first, which are due today. Also on order are roof tiles so the roofer can come on Friday and get the roof on the studio, utility room, and kitchen. George thinks the job can be done in 2 or 3 days. Meanwhile, we're also waiting for Stirling Roofing to come back and finish putting the flashing on the valleys where rooflines join up. (We're still relying on good weather and a tarp!)

The joiners also are waiting for John Jack and his brickies (or builders) to come back and build the chimney before they can erect the sitting room roof trusses. But the brickies are still over at Dr Tipping's house on the Langside (one of the doctors in the local medical center is building a house on the Comrie side of the 10-mile curving road that connects Comrie with the A822 near Braco).

When I got back from Pilates at 11:45, I found Bill wandering around the garden looking for the fascia materials. They were allegedly delivered this morning, but are nowhere to be found. Bill contacted the company who said they have a substitute driver on the route today. When they checked with him, he reported that he had delivered the materials and had a signed receipt from the homeowners. Neither Don nor I have seen them, the driver, or signed any receipt. So Bill is trying to chase them down. Meanwhile, Crawford and his boss Barclay are here now, tacking a Tyvek-type sheeting on top of the studio roof trusses, hence the tap-tapping.

Today began cold but bright. Now, however, the wind is picking up and it is feeling much colder. The 5-day forecast has that sleet prediction back on again for Thursday. Today and Saturday are to be the warmest days, at 44; the rest of the days the highs will be in the 30s. Overnight tonight it's to get down to about 26 with a warming trend to around freezing for the other overnights this week. These kinds of temperatures are tough for folks who work with their hands out of doors. I figure the least I can do is provide them with hot tea or coffee and some biscuits a couple of times a day.

Don is away at the St Fillans Music Circle, having played 18 holes with the Comrie Seniors this morning. Tonight I will be going to the first of 6 art class based on Betty Edward's book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Classes are offered through Strathlearning, the adult education programme supported by the local newspaper and the Perth and Kinross Council and staffed by volunteers. So now I must go look out my drawing pad and pencils.