From little acorns ……………….

‘Oak’ – what’s in a word?

An oak is a large tree or shrub (belonging to the genus Quercus, of the beech family), which  bears acorns and typically has lobed deciduous leaves.

January Progress 

The bare bones ‘skeleton’ observed at the start of the month has been nurtured and coaxed to become more than just a shell of a house. The various teams have worked tirelessly to crane in the beams; put in place the insulation and roof panels; fit the wooden ‘feather edge’ cladding; position and adjust the internal partitions; insert the face glazing (fixed windows); and lay the batons for the roof tiling.

The Oakwrights teams drive up from Herefordshire every Monday and work long days until about 20:00 (under arc lights when it gets dark), returning home late on Thursday evening.

The photos below show that January building days were cold but (generally) sunny.

External Views:

The Interior:

The Roof:

Will, Barry and Golf made a start on the roof in w/b 28 January, using bright blue battens.

The Long View:

Dramatis Personae

CATS’ CORNER

Somehow we seem to have become a regular fixture in the monthly Hazels blog. SWhoMBO really doesn’t have a say anymore and, in fact, we overheard a friend of hers saying that she would no longer read the blog if we did not feature.

There is no stopping anything now here at Hazels. If we thought the autumn was hectic with the various building personnel coming and going, then the winter months are proving to be absolutely crazy.  The house has been going up (and up) and the bank balance has been going down (and down) so we have to assume Mr Rod and SWhoMBO must be reasonably content.

Recently Freddie was shown an example of what will be holding our new house together. Fascinating that our comfort and safety will be entirely dependent on wooden dowels rather than nails and screws.

We are all becoming very proficient at climbing the stepladders in order to inspect progress within the house. We rather like the beautiful exposed oak timbers and the smell of new wood is very pleasant.

We are sure you were hoping for a sneak preview of the proposed location of the bathtub, especially after all our combined efforts before Christmas to source an appropriate receptacle!

Well, this is the site of the north/south bathroom and the bath will feature in the window. We have to confess to being somewhat exercised about what they plan to do about blinds or shutters, as it would not do to frighten the wildlife.

It’s a mystery!

In the past, whenever close friends have asked Mr Rod about putting their ‘precious’ belongings into one of his storage centres, his first question has always been “Do you think you will ever use these items again?”

“If not, it is a waste of your money to pay to store things that will probably be thrown away. Much of our income is derived from people who say they will only be storing for three months and then three years later they empty their unit straight into the skip.”

So, when the Edge family moved from the Water Tower to Hazels, the items that were to go into the new house (when it was eventually built) were placed into two blue sea containers in the grounds. How Mr Rod and SWhoMBO scoffed when the Young Master dared to suggest that, rather than use everything, they would probably give or throw away most of the contents. He has resisted the temptation to express more than a small smirk when recently his parents announced they were ‘rationalising’ the containers (after three years) and had ‘grown out’ of much they had stored. This all proves that you should practice what you preach – and it is just as well they were not paying rent for all those months…………………………….

Bonners Barn

We mentioned last month that the lucky young people ‘over the road’ will soon have their own ‘party barn’. We have been intrigued to observe the recent progress and are filled with admiration for the fearless builders who seem to leap like gazelles over the roof whilst laying all the tiles.

We cannot wait for our ‘opening night’ invitations to arrive.

Twelve Layla Days of Christmas

We (Freddie and Moses) have to report that our sister Layla went missing during the Christmas period. She was seen at suppertime on 25th December and when she had not returned by the evening of Boxing Day, considerable consternation (only on the part of the humans) was evident. A great deal of hysteria about nothing as far as we were concerned.

When there was still no appearance on the following day, the staff consulted with neighbours to check she had not been locked in an outbuilding and they also started to search the surrounding fields, ditches and roads, fearing she may have lost out against an animal, automobile or bicycle. Kind friends posted messages on local facebook pages.

After twelve days with neither sight nor sound of her, we top cats were becoming accustomed to this being just a two cat household (although we were just a little disappointed that there was no longer food served for three). Mr Rod and SWhoMBO finally admitted that it was unlikely unlikely we would see her again.

When the Young Master came over for tea that day, it was decided to beak the bad news to him. He was quite upset as it transpires that she is his favourite. However, only ten minutes later Layla appeared at the cat door, extremely thin and very disoriented. Clearly she was locked in some place (we know not where) for all that time, but with access to water. She smelt very strange and so we pretended not to know her, producing our best lines in hissing and spitting.

Talk about the return of the prodigal cat – we could not believe the fuss that was made of her. Things have settled down a bit now and secretly we are quite pleased she is back.

Profile of Robert (Rob) Lovegrove 

Rob has worked for Mr Rod for more than fifteen years (at KeepSafe Self Storage, CityStore, and also at The Water Tower/Hazels/Great George Street) and you would have to go a long way to find a more loyal member of staff. He will always turn out at any hour of the day or night, and prides himself on being early.

As far as Rob is concerned, the dirtier the job the better! What he does not know about the workings of drains, toilets, and sewage pipes is definitely not worth knowing.

We understand that Rob did much sterling work at Mr Rod’s house in Finland. On one occasion, the two of them were engaged in some excavation work. He tells us that the look on SWhoMBO’s face when she returned to find a large trench stretching across the garden was to be seen to be believed!

When the Young Master’s house in Godalming was being renovated, it was not possible to place a skip outside. All the rooms in the property were stripped of their old plaster boards and each and every one of the multitude of rubbish bags were brought over to Hazels in Robert’s van, requiring many return journeys.

Rob’s main fault is his taste in jokes – we have never been very impressed with most of these, but then not everyone is perfect and he is always very kind to us.

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