Grand's Cottage Encounters

Here are some photos of what we have encountered working on the Grand's Cottage.

Firstly, I think this is an extremely complex photo, don't you? You really have to focus on it, have a bit of an understanding (??) what is going on to actually know what you are looking at. Let me explain. At the very bottom of the photo, you can see the tip of my workboots (Colorados) as I'm taking the picture. This should give you some perspective (what?). I'm standing on a 20cm thick chunk of hard, 30 year old concrete (the older, the harder). Why this chunk of concrete was laid at the back of the cottage, we will never know. The dirt part of the photo is the 'stormwater' drain. I say 'stormwater drain' very loosely, because it is so shallow and unlevel, that all it does is hold rainwater from 150 years ago and act as a cesspool for the bad-side-of-town-mosquito dropouts. The pale yellow, flakey panels are (were) the exterior fibro walls of the cottage. You can just see the bottom end of a board we used to cover up a window, as most of the window glass had been broken.


Here is a closer look at the stormwater drain. It contains bits of dried grass (from the jungle we mowed and hacked down in the garden), moss, leaves, sludge, paint flakes, and - surprise! - dirty chunks of foam. If you're baffled about the story behind the foam chunks, don't feel alone. The mind boggles.


My strong, hunky men, about to break up the sea of concrete. Note the holes in the exterior fibro walls. Note the stench pipe - going nowhere. Note the boards we used at night to block up the windows and remove the next day, so that we could run electrical cords.

The Machinist and Mr Jack Hammer.
" ....The first cut is the deepest, baby, you know - the first cut is the deepest...." tra la la.....

Like I said - the older the concrete and the longer it has 'matured' - the harder. Mr Jack Hammer didn't want to earn his living at first, but with insistence from the Machinist, we were soon carting wheelbarrow loads of broken down, submissive chunks to the utility, for cartage to our local tip.
This is one of the many encounters we've had, working on the Grand's Cottage. We expect to find more, and experience more "challenges" when we start on the old petrol station section, along with the shop. If you're not completely bored by now, I'll send in a sneak preview of what we have to work on next.
Starting next week!