We are up at 6.00am, builders arrive at 7.00am. The morning routine is a bit ramshackle as we try and work out the best way to feed and medicate cats and Dahlia, get ready for work, and sort ourselves out with a cup of tea. Countless trips from the back of the house to the makeshift kitchen, back in and then to the front of the house where our office is. We have no access through the house anymore, so everything is across and through the courtyard. We planned for an spring renovation knowing the level of disruption, but it is still cold in the mornings!
And why do builders start so bloody early? At 7.00am they are here, large four wheel drives and trailers adorn our driveway and street.
Today they remove the old gyprock from the walks which are coming down and
“drop the ceiling”. The ceiling comes down in a cloud of 50 year old insulation. Crumbled insulation covers everything, about three inches thick. A haze of dust hovers in the morning light as it streams in through the front windows. Light rays dance through the leaves of the trees outside creating an internal ambience much like an underwater scene. Dust floats slowly through the air and its very quiet as everyone takes in the scene.
A few minutes later the blast of an industrial vacuum cleaner breaks the silence as 50 years of dirt, dust, insulation and who knows what else is sucked up. Thirty minutes later our floors reappear, a littler worse for wear, but devoid of half a century of scum.
The teams spend a couple of hours finishing off little jobs here and there before calling it a day.
When they’re gone Mardi and I walk through the desolate space. We try and imagine our new space. We look in the ceiling where the electrical spaghetti monster’s tentacles finger their way in every direction.
After finishing work in our office we move into our apartment, our living room. We grab one of our prepared meals and watch some TV for a while.
We have sorted out our temporary kitchen and the builders have re-connected a dishwasher for us in our laundry. It’s a bit crammed, but its functional and will certainly do us for the 12 week build.