Up early as Steve arrived and we set off for Norfolk with him regaling me with his story of maritime disaster aboard. The fine weather had broken, and the boathouse and timber had got quite wet overnight. The roofers were there as well with samples of the clay pantiles, and I agreed to go ahead with them.
Then running around changing the order and getting more lead, bolts, fixings and other items to keep all five men working efficiently on site. News from home was that Marshalls are fixing the Range Rover and Mum seems to be improving all of the time
I was up with the alarm soon after 5.00am and had time for breakfast before Steve arrived at 5.45am. A bit of a job loading all of my things in his car (with his taking up most of the room to start with, particularly as he had decided to bring a large microwave!) but we were soon away. I chatted to him on the journey about the building work and his experiences at sea last week. It had been a bit of a disaster with the main itinerary abandoned and a crew member jumping ship but good experience for Steven. We had to wait a few minutes for the roadside kiosk to open for our tea and bacon rolls and this made us a little late arriving at Heronshaw where we found the fine weather had broken and the boathouse and timber had got quite wet overnight after escaping the rain for the weekend.
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The roofers were there as well with samples of the clay pantiles and, after getting quantities for the clay tiles that we would need from them and hearing of their revised and higher labour quote, I decided that I had best go with these. Whilst I could have possibly resisted their views, this would have left things up in the air at an important time and I hoped that, by making a nice roof of Old English Pantiles for Harnser, that I could persuade them to let me use the same for Heronshaw when we come to renovate it. There then followed a hectic morning on the telephone cancelling my previous tile order and getting the new ones on order before running around to get more lead, bolts, fixings and other items to keep all five men working efficiently on site.
By the end of the day, they had felted in most of the roof, clad the outside of the boat-house on three sides with Masterboard, lined the lower floor with Masterboard and insulation, and started on the two tasks of fixing the king-post truss ties and soffit under the eaves. This evening, I took Steven off on The Jolly to take a look at other riverside properties using pantiles and then, whilst he prepared a meal in the microwave, I finished putting everything under cover for the overnight showers that were expected. News from home was that Marshalls are fixing the Range Rover having agreed that the problem was a broken water pump and Mum seems to be improving all of the time. To bed on time for once, tired after a long, active and tense day.