Normal for Cornwall

I haven’t posted in a while, partly because I’ve been travelling for work, but also because WINTER IS NOW UPON US and this means I have been doing less and less in the garden.

However, a significant bit of progress has occurred…

The scaffolding is up!

This means that roofing work can finally start. It was scheduled to start in early September, and will now likely start in early December, so just a three-month delay. Everyone I speak to tells me this is NORMAL FOR CORNWALL. This is a phrase I may need to turn into a T-shirt or a tattoo. I am not a patient person. But, having embarked on this hare-brained scheme, I have no choice now but to be patient. Roofers and builders in Cornwall most definitely have the upper hand, and all one can do is wheedle and beg and pout and – if all that fails – pray.

We are able to start work on the roof because there was a pre-existing planning application to replace ours that we were able to resubmit and get quick approval for. Sadly, the process of getting planning approval for the main build has hit several snags. I won’t post on this in detail now because I don’t want to prejudice the process, but we are having to go back to the drawing board in quite a big way, which has been stressful and painful, especially as the house is absolutely freezing now that the temperature has dropped to something normal for the time of year. Realising how cold the house is has made it extra imperative that we sort out the planning pronto in order to try and get the house into better condition before next winter. I fear this may be becoming overly optimistic, and our budget won’t stretch to renting somewhere warmer while we wait (not that Cornwall has many rental properties in the first place).

When we took this whole project on, we knew it wasn’t going to be simple or quick to achieve what we want. However, it’s easy to tell yourself that in summer when it’s 28 degrees and you can laze around in the sunshine for most of the day and everyone you know wants to come and visit. It’s another thing entirely to grapple with setbacks and unpleasant realisations when it’s f***ing freezing all day long. As I type, I am sitting in layers with a puffer jacket, a heavy blanket over my knees and a portable radiator right next to my legs. My hands and nose are freezing and I’m going to have to get up in a minute a jump around for a bit to get warm. Glamorous, it is not. When it will end, I’m currently not sure.

On the plus side, back in the summer I invested in a fancy electric blanket and good grief that was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. Even though our bedroom has no central heating, and no insulation above it, at least when we get into bed at night it’s toasty and warm under the duvet. Other things that help: daily dog walks come rain or shine, yoga every evening to stretch the stiff neck and shoulders, lighting a fire, dreaming of the future when summer will one day come again.