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radegundA Good Thing about the extension works: The builders are lovely. Most of them don't speak much English (they're (all? not sure) from Romania), but they're courteous and helpful, they grin at the children, they show up early and leave late - and they don't try to talk me out of reusing materials (bricks, paving, slate), which alone sets them apart from every other builder I've dealt with. They are generally very can-do, in fact, which is refreshing.
A Bad Thing about the extension works: Fucking convenience food. I mean, M&S ready meals really aren't the worst - even when I'm restricted to what's microwaveable and dairy-free - but MY GOD I'll be glad to see the back of them. In case you overestimate the scale of my ordeal, I should point out that it's only this week that we've had to resort to them (some trifling demolition in the kitchen rendered it too dust-coated to use for a few days). Do you think I might be a bit of a foodie? The major internal demolitions are happening in the coming week; the boys and I will be decamping to a hotel for three nights.
An Amusing Thing* about the extension works: The foreman, who has excellent English, has clearly internalised the Irish Way in some respects. Talking about a section of wall where we might have a recessed shelf, he said, "We'll make it about five hun— about a foot-and-a-half by a foot." (He even dropped the t, just like a working-class Dubliner.) This despite the fact that I've been talking in millimetres all along, as have the Irish project manager, architect, and engineer. I suppose he's reading me as "Dublin housewife" (AHAHAHAHA ... wow - it's kind of true, though, isn't it?), for whom millimetres are clearly right out. Bless.
* Well, OK, amusing to language nerds.
A Bad Thing about the extension works: Fucking convenience food. I mean, M&S ready meals really aren't the worst - even when I'm restricted to what's microwaveable and dairy-free - but MY GOD I'll be glad to see the back of them. In case you overestimate the scale of my ordeal, I should point out that it's only this week that we've had to resort to them (some trifling demolition in the kitchen rendered it too dust-coated to use for a few days). Do you think I might be a bit of a foodie? The major internal demolitions are happening in the coming week; the boys and I will be decamping to a hotel for three nights.
An Amusing Thing* about the extension works: The foreman, who has excellent English, has clearly internalised the Irish Way in some respects. Talking about a section of wall where we might have a recessed shelf, he said, "We'll make it about five hun— about a foot-and-a-half by a foot." (He even dropped the t, just like a working-class Dubliner.) This despite the fact that I've been talking in millimetres all along, as have the Irish project manager, architect, and engineer. I suppose he's reading me as "Dublin housewife" (AHAHAHAHA ... wow - it's kind of true, though, isn't it?), for whom millimetres are clearly right out. Bless.
* Well, OK, amusing to language nerds.