Whats The Point

As you have probably read from Freds Posting (Fred Blogs) we have arrived and the huge task of renovating our house is under way. Upstairs isnt too bad we have carpet and sky has arrived ( priorities!!!!) you would think the children had never seen television before, but im sure 24/7 cartoons will soon lose their attraction ! I have set up my office on the landing at the top of the stairs,as you can see from the photo the view is beautiful and a definate improvement on the back of someone elses house! (I might even get something done when i stop gawking at the boats going by) Next week we are getting some new windows for me to take in the view from!
After a 3 weeks we have now got hot running water,flushing Loo and a Shower installed upstairs,theres been a lot of strops i can tell you and its been wetter inside the house than out!! but its now nearly complete with tiling almost finished and vinyl on order.Very nice too and very civilised of us!!!
The Kitchen is stil a mess but at least it no longer has a bath and toilet included.We still have lots of boxes stacked in the kitchen and lounge, no idea whats in them, Yes,I know, numbering boxes and listing contents is a good idea but a bit too organised for me, more a Fred thing (surprised he didnt really ;-),organised chaos is more my style ! .Which makes me think if we dont know whats in them do we really need the stuff? we are managing quite well without whatever treasures they hold, although I wouldnt mind a finding the Wine glasses (its not the same out of a tumbler) and a few other bits and bobs.Anyway I cant be bothered to look as you can be sure whatever you are looking for is in the last box.
Anyway i'm off to shut the door as the Dog has taken to sitting outside all day and it getting a wee bit chilly!!

We thought we would be organised and get the phone line early as I need the internet to work and its as well we did , it only took about 8 months and several trips to the island to get it installed! It was an interesting experience to say the least.We thought it would be easy, Oh how naieve of us! Of course the idea of simply attaching the line to the pole that just happens to be in out back garden would be out of the question! On the first trip they cancelled the appointment and forgot to tell us!! On the second trip we had been told the outside work had been done and they just needed access to fit the line in the house.When we arrived we found no such work had been done the engineer told us the pole was unstable and they need to put up new one,which could take some time to organise,but before he disappeared again we did manage to convince him that it made sense to fit the internal cables through to the outside,so in theory they could come back any time and attach them to the new pole when we were not there.! So we returned home hopeful of a new Pole and Line soon, But NO!, B.T couldnt make up their mind if the new pole should be at the back or the front of the house! So we left it with them, A few months later, B.T have phoned to say we have a telephone line and could we please test it to see if it works ?, We explained as politely as possible that we had already made two 700 miles journeys at their whim and now they would just have to wait until we moved in! So to date we only have B.T's word for it and no idea if the pole is in the Back garden ,Front Garden or even there at all! The next hurdle is getting a Broadband connection......... .All This of course,is 'island time' and i am resigned to it, Although if Mr B goes on island time I may never get my house finished....

view from the front window minus a pole!

Hello and Welcome to my blog, this is intended to be a day to day/ week to week journal of our move from Margate on the southeast coast of England to the far flung Island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides ( well it certainly feels it when we arrive 700 miles,15 hours,3 squabbling kids and a ferry ride later)

Above is a picture of our new house,in Upper Aird, Point, well 'new' is not really right ,' quite old and in need of love' would be more accurate, so old no one knew it existed at least not as far as the Electric,Water and phone companies were concerned! Before our visit we had the electricity turned on, or so we thought. A pity the house, although wired had never actually been connected to the mains electricity! So our first visit was spent by candle light, with a camping stove for cooking,bottled water,sleeping bags, no heating and lots of layers!! .The electricity supply had to be arranged for the next visit ,as we needed a new meter because the one installed was a virtual antique according to the Electric man, who confessed he hadn't seen one like it for about 25 years!. We had better luck with the water supply, after much furtive searching and metal detecting by the water board we finally found where it needed to be switched on, and 'Hey Presto' we had fresh water for Tea and even a flushing loo!! such luxury after a few days without! No more trips to the garage to fill water containers and buy bottled water.Of course where its all going could be another story.....