Is it THAT time again?

Oh dear, according to some I am guilty of dereliction of duty to keep everyone appraised of the latest happenings at Hazels Barn and the ‘New Build’ project.

Whilst I only ever intended to post messages when there was something interesting to report – and indeed the site looks very much today as it did when the demolition team departed some weeks ago – in fact, there has been some significant progress behind the scenes in the Edge household.  

So, the various ‘gentle reminders’ and some far less subtle encouragement from other quarters have spurred me on to draft a further ‘Another Brick’ update.

High Speed Internet 

One of Rod’s greatest frustrations since we moved to Hambledon has been the very S……………L………..…O………..….W………….. internet speed (a paltry 600 kB per second).  The regular menacing presence of the ‘buffering’ symbol made it difficult for him to work at home or even to watch his favourite movies when anyone else in household had the temerity to send an email. A fast broadband service had been provided to Hambledon a few years ago, but the nearest ‘box’ to us was beyond the village shop (over a mile away). The group of 30 plus houses in Vann Lane (the far end towards Chiddingfold), Upper Vann Lane and Roundals decided to form a community project to enable us to get connected. Ably co-ordinated by John Stoneham and Peter Howell-Davies, and with helpful advice from the nearby village of Chiddingfold (whose own community connection project had already ‘gone live’) the nearly 20 months of effort have at last reaped success.

On Friday 8 June the most friendly and helpful BT engineer you could imagine (the lovely Matt from Midhurst) arrived bright and early to complete the final steps to connect us, the culmination of much anticipation and planning.

This has really made Rod’s year as we have now advanced second to 72 MB per second and no longer does he need to drive to the office in Godalming when he wants to download more than the smallest file.

Invisible Electricity Cables 

The electricity cables hanging between the telegraph poles up the driveway were a further source of irritation to Rod since the day we moved in because they were an unattractive blot on the landscape.

Once we decided to turn the position of the new house further towards the south-west, he was even-more determined to bury the cables underground. Little did he realise that the negotiations to put this into effect would try even his patience. Some observers have wryly commented that the Brexit deliberations looked easy compared with this.

There were broadly two main tasks, the first to lay the cables and the second to make the connections. These jobs are managed by two very separate departments of SSE, each of whom appear unable to communicate with the other.  Having secured a date (with great difficulty) for the first department to lay the cables, it seemed logical (at least to us) that the second task would need to be completed after that and therefore the date for the second task would need to be subsequent to the first date. But, no matter how many people Rod spoke to and how many times he explained the problem, they were only prepared to commit to a date for connection that preceded the cable laying. Apparently, that was the one and only date available to us in 2018, take it or leave it! When Rod (somewhat facetiously) enquired about any available dates in 2019, he was told that the diary was not yet open. 

Just when it seemed there was an impasse, the umpteenth person spoken with eventually said, “Do you wish to make a complaint?” Although he was concerned that this might provide SSE with even more reason to procrastinate, Rod agreed that indeed he did wish to do this. It must also be said that Rod was most relieved that his wife was not having this conversation as he knew that (with more than a passing nod to Monty Python), she would have been completely unable to resist referring to “Norwegian Blue” and declaring “he’s pining for the fjords”.

Fortunately, this story does have a happy ending – much to our utter amazement, within 24 hours the complaints department contacted us again and offered the very date for connection we had proposed from the start.

Some may think this is the new toilet facility for the site, but Rod proudly shows off his temporary meter hut to anyone who will listen.

So, blue sky thinking unimpeded by electricity cables.

STOP PRESS! 

Exciting news! On Wednesday 11 July we have been invited to the Oakwrights headquarters in Herefordshire for the ‘3D walk-through’ of our new house before we give the final go-ahead for the frames to be cut.

More on this in the next posting.