The walls are rising

So we have Jan (pronounced Yan) doing the groundworks for the new house and Jan (also pronounced Yan) doing the blockwork for the rising wall. Jan is also known as Jano. Jan has a Dutch/Irish accent. Jano's is pure Dub even though he was raised in Clare - Dublin Dad and uncles.

Another hole, only this time even bigger - house size, not shed size. Another enormous pile of topsoil (yes!). Another mound of slig. Here's Jan1 marking out the shape of the house.

And here's the yellow outline of it, as though its just been murdered.

Then they started digging trenches and it all got confusing.

These were filled with concrete, and then Jan2 got to work building the rising walls. The house is going to be timber framed, but needs to sit on several courses of blocks, some of which are called quinlight. Thermally efficient don't you know. Everything in this house has to be thermally efficient.

All ready to go.

And here it is. The size of the rooms comes into being.

This is where you try not to panic. That downstairs bathroom is tiny. How can you fit anything in there? And how will we put everything we want to into the utility room? And surely those two walls aren't parallel when they're meant to be. Joe's the project manager, so we're going to head up there with the measuring tape.

I reassure myself regarding size by thinking of the house my parents have moved into in a retirement village - a two up two down that you'd never think you could get anything in, but it's astonishing what will fit. Clever storage, that's the trick. The kitchen and sitting room are fine anyway.  

Here's Joe on the kitchen wall.

The view's going to be great.

In the meantime I've been planting shrubs I bought in England.

 Photographing them.

 And loving our trees.