For the last couple of days the focus has been upon the foundations for the kitchen. Concrete has been poured around the piles and a mould formed to receive the concrete raft the extension will rest upon. In the foreground of this picture you can also see that they’ve dug trenches which will be used for poured concrete beams which will support the covered drying area next to the kitchen. (For much of the year, when drying clothes I’ve had carefully to watch the skies for signs of imminent precipitation. Far too often I’ve rushed out in torrential rain to retrieve partly dried pants, getting soaked in the process. During the rainy season, the weather can be too stormy for days on end to permit laundry. Once the kitchen extension is complete I’ll be able to bring my washing machine in from outside, which will help a lot, and hang up clothes for drying under cover.)

Kitchen Foundations

There was one hitch today: a water pipe which I’d thought only served the bar (a bar which I’d instructed the original builders not to construct and so was redundant), was cut. Once more the bizarre piping of the property flummoxed me: this was in fact the illogically placed fresh water pipe for the upstairs, and I found myself sans water upstairs. Fortunately the builder was able speedily to rectify things and I can now shower again.

In the background of the photo, to the right of the satellite dish, you can see the black tape used by the neighbour’s builder to fix where their kitchen extension pulled away from the side of the house as I mentioned in my previous Postcard.

Today also included a trip to a builders’ merchant, so I’ve bought such fripperies as ceiling lights and a motion-activated flood light for the drying area. The latter will also provide extra security covering the sliding glass doors from kitchen to the drying area. Hopes of buying electrical switches, sockets, extractor fans and a wall fan, however, remained unfulfilled.

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