The cottage renovations!

Friday, July 17, 2009

We have FINISHED and performed a miracle

After my parents left the island I started the renovations on the cottages.  They badly needed painting!  We were getting up at 6am and painting by 7am, working in searing heat all day with hardly a lunch break and finally collapsing around 7pm, we have finished performing the miracle of renovating the cottages in such a short time. I have to say I have never met a tradesman with such a fabulous work ethic and professional standards.

This young man and I worked 9 days straight for very long hours. Without him I would have been totally stranded. I will be recommending him to everyone I know here on the island. For me it has been almost a month from the start of the whole idea. I have crawled under, over and into spaces I thought I could never fit in. I have scraped, brushed and stretched until I thought I would burst. It has been like working in a sauna for 12 hours a day! I have given up saving my tea shirt and favourite sarong; the paint won't come off so they have been sacrificed as my "island painting clothes!" What a surprise my Papa will get when he comes back to the island. Brand new bright and happy cottages!!

(At the time of originally writing this post, I never knew that my Dad would never be able to return to the island to see what was done.  Since then I visit him twice a year for long periods and show him lots of photos.............but somehow it's just not the same!  Now in 2015 he is still happy and has a great attitude but at 88 years of age with kidney dialysis and various other ailments, his health is failing him.  It's really sad to see someone dynamic slowing down to such a degree!  I so miss him when I am on island!!)

I need to take more photos of the finished cottages so you can see our handy work but for today I am going to the beach and just resting! My body feels pretty exhausted but what joy there is to complete such a project and doing it as a labour of love makes it even more special.