Sunday 18 September 2011

Typical Scottish Weather - We had a Mini Heatwave Today!

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."
John F. Kennedy


This evening, I noticed the above great quote flagged up by Wiegert, a Dutch guy in San Fransisco, who goes by the name 'MarketYrSuccess' on Twitter. It was so apt that it prompted me to post this short update with some wonderful news from Frugaldom...

The weather forecast in southwest Scotland is for sunshine with only the occasional showers over the next few days! Isn't that brilliant? Yeah!

No, no, no... I don't simply mean that it's brilliant for Scotland to be expecting some dry weather, I mean that it's the window of opportunity we have been waiting for, the dry spell  needed for work to begin on our flat roof! The telephone call this afternoon confirmed that work has been scheduled, at short notice, to begin at 8am tomorrow morning.

Frugaldom is a 'fixy-up' project. When we bought the place a few months ago, we bought an overgrown garden with a small house attached! Working in the garden takes very little money, but turning this house into a frugal home could take a while on such a frugal budget.

We reckon the bathroom used to be either a stable or a pig sty, with a larger lean-to built on at some later date to represent a kitchen. If we added a stable door, the tin roofed, concrete floored kitchen would make a great home for a couple of goats! But I digress... this 200-year-old terraced cottage will become a proper home one day. It is, afterall, the 'forever' house.

So, as tomorrow dawns, we'll be up bright and early, preparing for the next stage of our renovation journey - to remove the old leaky flat roof, which will then be replaced with a nice, new, non-leaking one. It's a job that simply has to be done, otherwise the main fabric of this old cottage would be under further attack from who knows what in the future.

It is taking us months to dry the place out and I'm forever tripping over the assortment of ice cream tubs and margarine cartons that litter the concrete kitchen floor every time it rains. Scruffy cat will miss the leaks, as she likes to drink the drips as they fall., but I know she'll forgive us once she's snuggled up in a warm corner indoors when outdoor temperatures have fallen below zero.

Never let it be said that frugality left our thoughts while spending thousands of pounds on making the Frugaldom household wind and watertight. The old roof that's being removed tomorrow will, hopefully, be fully recycled to make a new roof for the outbuilding.

JFK said,"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."

NYK said "Hope the sun keeps shining so we can fix our roof."

5 comments:

  1. Hope the roof work goes well.

    Sft x

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  2. Fingers crossed for fine weather so that you can have a brand new sparkling roof:) It's just so exciting reading your blog, the progress you and your family have made. I am in awe of your achievements:) Linda xx

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  3. I'm keeping my eye on the weather, hoping it keeps fine for you. Good luck with your new roof!

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  4. I have my fingers firmly crossed for your few dry days.

    How brilliant that you can re-use the roof for the outbuilding, as long as you don't have to continue using all the icecream tubs to catch the rain!! :-)

    Sue xx

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  5. Thanks, guys. It was beautiful at dawn here this morning. The workmen arrived at about 8.30am and the rain arrived about 8.45am! It's a fine, constant drizzle, so they are working on regardless, awaiting the sunshine that the Met Office forecast. Ho hum... guess they got it wrong again.

    For now, I'm steering clear of the back of the house. Kitchen, rear hallway and bathroom all off limits owing to being roofless and drizzly, so I'm sitting here cross-legged. LOL

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