Getting back on the job, so to speak, feels such a relief, it’s difficult to explain. I hadn’t given up. I really did believe that we were going to get the roxa. But I knew I was getting fatigue.

I needed to get started again and my main concern was that whilst working on the land was needed, it was eating in to finances and materials that were meant for the main build.

At the same time, this isn’t the only ball in the air;

Holidays/time with Finn, Dar Finn, the new car, etc, with the needs to earn more

money to get a mortgage in UK. Unpack a few of those and watch those balls multiply.All compete with the need to oversee the build here.

As time ticked on and the roxa failed to arrive, I could see myself looking for achieving in some other area….i.e. making money….which would have compromised the build.

Then suddenly we’re on, and it’s all systems go and I feel great about that. I’ve given myself this year, I suppose until Aug 2018, to have a variety of things in place.

That includes completing Farm Finn and opening with new management, getting a place in the UK, settling Dar Finn and opening the resto there too. All these things would be enough  by themselves,

but that’s as it is…needs must.

Now we’re on the build, I’m finally able to consider what the project will actually cost and of course money’s going to be tight. I’m pleased that we’ve managed to do all the work on the land, the terraces, steps, walls, grey water systems etc. I doubt I’d have focussed upon these without the pause in work on the main house. Same must be said for the gardens, which are coming in to their own…but more of that later.

But what this has meant is that there’s a much smaller budget than I might have otherwise had for the build so I’ll have to cut my cloth accordingly, acknowledging that there’s plenty of work I simply don’t know the price of yet; the roof over the terraces both wood and masonry; zelig

and safya. Not to mention the cost of glass, doors, wood, tiles, and windows……. Breath in deeply… hold….. and exhale!

After so many years of just not feeling that I know what I am doing, finally I feel that I am in control, that I feel the build, feel my design, something is flowing and it feels comfortable. For so many years this was as much an escape as a building project.

I don’t know if it’s a time factor,  or the water shed that is Finn’s move to UK and the more concrete vision of how things will pan out.

But I now feel that I’m able to get on with my life. I feel stronger. More confident….which isn’t to say there aren’t any panic attacks…..but….

That’s reinforced by seeing our previous work and the evolving build

coming together. I’ve mentioned the gardens and the walls, but also the rainwater tank and grey water system, both clearly fit in to the project in a way that I didn’t “know” before.

The tank is now used every day and will be essential over the course of both build and finished project. And the GWS too, is now obviously key to the projects success in the gardens.

Water. Water. Water.

Of course now that money is tight, I’m much more a tune to my mwalems work rate. I’m simply useless at asserting that they should work harder and I’ve not set any daily limits. I’ve no real idea of the quality of their work… apparently any concern I might have will be assuaged come “the finishing”.

All I can say is that this all needs perspective and I need to learn some basic building skills. At the same time I’ve realised how fixated I’ve become with glass. In the showers, in windows, in walls, on front and kitchen doors …. And I love the idea of a huge glass door giving on to the garden terrace.

But all that shit costs!!!

The work on the garden has also meant that we are now bringing in materials with donkey. So far this has been limited to rocks but could have included gravel and sand.

However a recent conversation with Mohammed identified that putting on the roof would need huge amounts of water, which we don’t have and thus would be best left till winter…after the end of the kif harvest, when the piste might be open again….great…lets work with the seasons and bring up any other materials by piste…avoiding the cost of donkeys!

And then there’s that I suddenly get to see whole new aspects of the build. This is true particularly of the “front door

area” where suddenly there appears a place, with design and options and beauty. I’m glad we’ve got the doors for these parts. I’m glad this is working.

“Don’t let the Great be the enemy of the Good” Thanks sam Joseph.

So now we are moving on to the next phases of the build, though I do tend to project a bit, when time and completion is concerned.

The interior is almost completed, I hope fully by the first week of September. Then we’ll move on to the stairs, patios, front aspect windows and at some point, the roof. I’ve decided that I need to get another one or two masons up to work.

The current three will, I think, all be consumed on the main house this month and I want to get the second house rebuilt during September also.

Then there’s also the completion of the GWS and the natural pool, all  before mid October….that’s my objective, so that we can be working indoors from then till Xmas……when, my fingers well and truly scrunched up, I’m hoping to be finished……

Yeah right!!!