Sunday 8 July 2012

Tile tales II

Thunder bolts and lightning and torrential rain! The noise of the rain hammering down woke us in the middle of the night. This morning we had further rain. Shadow came in soaked and leapt on the bed, which is less than pleasant when you are trying to have a lie-in!
our new extension
Such is the nature of our summer this year that the house has now sprouted a most fetching extension to protect Ken's hard work tiling our terrace. He has created a lean to with 6m scaffolding poles and an enormous heavy duty tarpaulin. It keeps him, the newly laid tiles and the tools nice and dry when the heavens open. It seems that the weather is unable to give us a consistent dry spell of more than a day or two. All down to the jet stream flowing further south than normal apparently.
Gloomy place, Eeyore not shown
Having 'the extension' means that Antoinette's study has turned into Eeyore's 'Gloomy Place'; though thankfully not 'rather boggy and sad', but it is a small price to pay to ensure we end up with a lovely terrace.
work surface nice and dry
Friends Tim & Pauline dropped by on Friday and were able to have a look at those sections which are now finished - the path and kitchen area. The main body of the terrace is also coming along nicely, huddled as it is under the 'lean-to'. About half the surface area has been laid to tile so there's half the surface left and the grouting. Fingers crossed that it will be finished this coming week and then we can show you the end result.

20 comments:

Leon Sims said...

Lookin' good so far.

Susan said...

Might as well be in Scotland, eh? :-))

the fly in the web said...

And i thought we were the ones having a rainy season...good luck!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Leon & Sue - the finished sections look great and we're very pleased with the way the tiles echo the colours of the chaux and stone.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Susan - sigh!! yes...
You could almost be tempted to have the logburner on and then it would really feel like being there!!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Fly - no, sadly not! And the downpours do a great impersonation of a monsoon!

GaynorB said...

My first resonse before I read the whole post was to be "very, very frightening", but then I read to the end.

I'm sure the weather will pick up and then your terace will be revealed in its full glory. A table, some chairs, a couple of glasses and an chilled bottle of your favourite bubbles...

For a sip I'll even come to take the photograph!

BTW weather sunny at the mo in my little bit of Staffordshire. Big black clouds all around ...

Diane said...

We had no thunder or lightening and only 1mm last night. The garden could have done with more! Hope the tiles stay dry and you can soon get rid of the bache. It will be a fantastic area to sit and have aperitifs. Diane

MorningAJ said...

It'll be great when it's finished and worth all the hassle.

Now can you tell me how to get Freddie Mercury's voice out of my head after reading your first sentence?

Very very frightening indeed. Galileo!
;)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Gaynor - The cats would have agreed with the 'very very frightening'. They weren't keen.
You're hired, we'll even be generous and make it a glass or 2! ;-)

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Diane - our garden's getting plenty! we were hoping to get the mower out today but our claggy clay needs to dry out a bit more.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@AJ - you can't! Just add the air guitar and give in ;-)

Pollygarter said...

The tiles are looking good already! At least the rain is bringing up the colours nicely.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Pauline - just as well with all the rain we're having ! ;-)

LindyLouMac said...

Such a shame the weather is holding up the completion of your terrace.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@LindyLou - thankfully tenting it has meant that work can continue even if we do have rain [although a little more slowly].

Perpetua said...

Glad you're managing to make progress despite the awful weather. It's going to look great. We gave in today and lit our woodburner. It's SO cold for July!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Perpetua - progress is painfully slow. It is foul at the moment isn't it? We nearly lit ours but opted for winter thick fleece instead. this weather will hit the 'quatorze' celebrations hard; thankfully sunshine is forecast from Monday along with higher temps. It can't come too soon!

Perpetua said...

I'm already wearing that. Sigh.... This evening should be the fireworks for the Fete Nationale in a nearby small town and instead it's raining as though it doesn't know how to stop. :-(

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Perpetua - Very :-(. Charnizay fireworks may well be damp squibs tonight.