Hi Everyone
A popular programme on our TV that we enjoy is Grand Designs where people plan and build usually modern and unusual homes. I know that it makes good TV but the common theme is that almost everyone has a time scale and a financial budget that prove in many cases to be hopelessly inadequate. The other thing that they have in common, however, is the highs and lows of the project and the satisfaction of finally achieving their goal. It is fifteen years ago this week that we started to convert an old stable block into our present home. We had actually started almost three months earlier filling skips with rubbish and removing the one hundred years old roof tiles before stacking them in the garden to be reused in our new home. Even before then, we had spent many hours sketching out layouts, changing our ideas on an almost weekly basis with the many planning restrictions in mind. When we had finalised our ideas we then had what can only be described as a six month battle with the Planning Officer who went out of her way to make life as difficult as possible. I prepared a financial budget to make sure that we did not overspend and set a sensible completion date as we had our present home to sell to finance part of the build. We did not employ a building company but with me as the Project Manager and Dot as the Main Contractor what could possibly go wrong? It all started so well with two great bricklayers and myself and my newly retired friend as labourers. We had the driest winter and early spring for years and it rained twice before we got the building weather sealed. Then came the first major problem, the 2008 financial crash. It did not cause much inflation or supply problems but it did seriously affect the value of our present house and the buying market. Way got well past half way when we had to stop as we had to sell our present home to finance the finishing for our new building. We always said that if we could get one potential buyer through our front door, the house would be sold. We had one viewing in the autumn and our house was sold. What set us apart from nearly all the people building their homes on Grand Designs was that we built it on budget to almost the nearest £1000. What brings us all together is starting with a drawing and a dream, the great satisfaction of building your own home knowing almost every brick, tile, timber, and steel girder and its story. That is what sets this house apart from every other house that we have lived in. If you ever get the chance, try it.
A few years ago we went on holiday to Slovenia. While there we spent a day in the beautiful capital city of Lubliana. In the centre is a fruit and vegetable market where the locals sell their produce fresh from their farms. Naturally, you buy the items by weight and trust that, as a tourist, you are not overcharged or given short weight. There is however a communal weighing machine where you can then check that at least, as a minimum, you have got the weight that you asked for. Can you imagine the Senior Partner, famous in her own lifetime, for never giving anyone an overweight item having to cope with a public weighing machine just down the road from the Fruit, Vegetable ...........shop. The mind boggles.
Talking of building for the future, this week the HS2 project, you know that high speed train which promises to connect London with Birmingham and Manchester is in the news again. Apparently, somebody has spilled the beans this week by suggesting that due to escalating costs the train with not finish its journey near the centre of London but somewhere nearer the edge of the city. Obviously, our political masters have rubbished this idea but at the same time have admitted that the whole project will probably cost three times the original £65 billion estimate. They also now say that the trains estimated to start running in 2028 will not now run until 2038. By that time I will have definitely reached middle age as I will have had my congratulations card from our present King, assuming of course that he is still around in 2038. If you are a long time Rubbish reader you will know that I am not convinced that HS2 will be relevant in twenty years time especially as I believe that the enormous sums of money involved could be spent in so many better ways. Anyway as I will not be around when this railway opens i will be relying on my grandchildren beaming up (or down) a message telling me if I was right or wrong. Bearing in mind that this HS2 project was started 20 years ago and that it is likely to be another 20 years before the trains start running the high speed rail builders in France, Germany, Spain, China and Japan and many other countries must be laughing their heads off.
Just a Thought:
What is a favourite destination for a Hamster on a train? Hamsterdam.
A friend of mine walked into a timber yard and asked for some 2" X 4"s. The manager asked him how long he needed them. "A long time" he replied, "I am building a house".
Have a great week, January is nearly over.
Brian
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