It has been raining and freezing and although we said we would go no matter the weather, we could definitely not go out so whether we were sitting in the marina or sitting at home made no difference. We picked home so we could watch movies and read books and snuggle under our blankets.
A high of 12°C (a cold 12) for an African summer. Global Warming seems more like global cooling to me!
For my birthday we went to Standard bank and paid off an account. Seems like a sad birthday “gift” but it means we are a step closer to going on the boat so it is perfect for me! Beside I already got the dinghy as my real present!
We have been feeling really despondent for the last 2 weeks, a combination of the bad weather, problems at work and not going to the boat…. We are still on track for our leaving date but it seems as if we will never get there.
I was speaking to Barry about this and said that I remember when we were building our house. It took 10 years to build and we had many times where we thought it would just never happen. Where we thought we would never actually move into it and that we would never really finish it. But look at us now. Living in our house.
We moved in on Christmas Eve 2006 so it has been 3 years already. So much for never getting it done.
In 1996 we bought an empty stand from Barry’s brother and stepfather and decided we would build a house. We were both unable to get financing so our choices were renting or building for cash. We did not want to make someone else rich so we decided to build.
In order to stop paying rent immediately we built a 27 square meter thatched lapa (outside room) in the back left hand corner of the property and bricked it closed. Added the basic necessities, bath, toilet, basin and single sink and moved in.
We lived with 4 kids in that cottage for the entire time it took to build the house (10 long years). 2 Sets of bunk beds were placed along the walls and Barry and I slept on the floor in the middle. There was a curtain for the door of the bathroom and we ate sitting on the floor between the beds where Barry and I slept. At first there was no stove only an electric frying pan given as a present from Barry’s mom. After 4 years we bought an electric stove and it felt like heaven! We built a garage next (2 years later) because they kept breaking into our car. We lost the radio, wheels and tyres and replaced the locks about 10 times before we managed to get the garage up with no roof. Once we finally got the roof we started the “house in kit form” purchases.
Most of our family and friends didn’t think we would finish it either, we did not have very much money and in order to start building we needed building materials. So our basic plan for 4 years was to buy each other house parts for presents. Barry got sliding doors 1 year and I got the front door, window frames the next and door frames for me and so it went on until we “had a house in kit form” in our garage.
There were stages with “mountains” when we dug the foundations. The kids played “war games” in the holes hiding among the mounds. There was great bicycle riding once the floor was thrown and tennis and ball games against the walls as they started to go up.
The 3 boys have great memories of building a clubhouse inside one of the bedrooms using bricks. They had armchairs and tables and it was their duelling den.
Our friends thought we were slightly balmy. I remember our visitors sitting under a shade cloth in the “garden” watching as Barry and I flatted and stamped the mounds before throwing the floor or watching us cart wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of tiles around the house and pass them up onto the roof before placing them.
It became the norm that if you visited Barry and Lola you were bound to be roped into something, whether helping with the plumbing or holding up ceiling boards. I became an expert cement mixer, Barry the brick layer and upon near completion we held a painting party for my birthday.
Anyway we basically built our house with our own hands over a 10 year period and now live in this amazing 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom palace. Well it seems that way after the years in the cottage. Along the way we also made a beautiful garden with loads of trees and colourful flowers.
I’ll tell you more about our house building experiences as we go along. But yes after that, I believe we can do this easily!
