Jeff started the week by turning sixty and hiking up the Gros Piton to celebrate. He made it to the top in 1hour and 36 minutes and did the downward hike in 1 hour. The usual time it takes is about three hours or more, so he is a fit pensioner and didn’t even have aches and pains the next day.
He had a guide ,called Sophia, who was hand picked by a Lucian friend of ours who said it was easier to follow a nice bottom up the hill. I was excused the hike as I had things to prepare at home and anyway I don’t do mountains.

We had a very nice dinner in the evening at a lovely restaurant in the bay , just the two of us. The noisy celebration took place on Saturday where we hosted a house warming/sixtieth birthday party. It was great fun and most people seemed to enjoy it and stayed long after the time on the invitation. We are feeling the effects this morning and Jeff says his legs are aching more than they did on the hike!

Also at the beginning of the week we had arranged for the sanding and varnishing floor team to come in a give the whole house a light sand followed by a coat of varnish just to remove some of the scratches that the floors got during the final stages of the house build. This should have been a four day job, little disruption and hardly any dust. Wrong! They didn’t arrive on Monday and pitched up late on Tuesday morning. There were two of the dopiest looking lads ,armed with their cell phones, which needed to be played with every few minutes. They moved some furniture but not all. Preferring to work around stools and tables. We left them to it as we both had other jobs to do downstairs. On our return we were dismayed to see that they had used a pink filler for the cracks in the wood. They said this would dull once it was washed off. Not so, if anything it was even brighter. When the boss man returned he agreed that it would have to be removed and another sort used. Apparently they didn’t have the right colour filler in stock and thought it would do. The next day they arrived and started to fill with glue and sawdust, a good colour match but first they had to dig out the old stuff which was a slow job. The glue was much more difficult to use and needed 24 hours drying time. We were now getting critical on time and there were doubts as to when the job could be completed before our party. It was also apparent that a light sanding was out of the questions and they needed to bring in the big machines. We lost our cool, it was turning into a disaster, so the boss man brought in extra guys on Thursday evening and they worked until 8pm sanding and grinding. This was only the downstairs area now as it was never going to happen upstairs. On Friday the team arrived, lots more sanding and also some cleaning ladies in tow to clean up the mess as the house was now laying under a thick coat of sawdust. They spent a lot of time chatting on their phones and having numerous breaks on the verandas. Eventually the floors were coated and as the stuff dried we realised they had used high gloss outdoor varnish, rather than the indoor semi gloss that we had used before. We are now in the position of having very shiny floors which are a different colour to the stairs and top floor. It was all completed though before 40 people traipsed through the house on Saturday afternoon! And for that we are eternally grateful..next week we shall start the arguments for re-varnishing at no cost or inconvenience to us but it is almost too painful to think about the whole thing happening again. I am beginning to like high gloss and the subtle differences in the finish!

We got our friendly Rasta, Innocence, to come and do a couple of days gardening. He cleared away all the dead branches(with lots of help from Foxy) that had been cut down when the electricity was put in then he planted the first of the flowering shrubs, heliconias and gingers and the bougainvilleas that will eventually cover the fence. We need some rain now!

It is so great living in a house! The loos flush without pumping, cookers can be used without getting someone to turn the gas on at source and I can wash clothes to my heart’s content. All these things will become less exciting as the weeks go by but for the time being small things are filling our lives with a lot of joy. Foxy is having a ball. She has learnt new things this week; how to dig, how to bury special things and how to get muddy by rolling in freshly dug earth. It was cute watching her the first time but now nothing is sacred as she has turned her attention to our newly tilled and seeded salad garden. There’s going to be trouble ahead. The stray cat who visits for food and water each day at 4.30pm has begun to spend a little more time with us, albeit at a distance. She now suns herself on the decking and drinks from the pool when she needs to.

Jeff has spent the week having the most enormous bonfire on the road outside our land where the hut used to be. He has slowly burnt all the builders rubbish getting the area ready for the excavator which will arrive on Tuesday to clear and flatten the road and dig a trench on the other side as drainage, which will be concreted and hopefully that will take most of the water away when the rains come in a few months time. He has also made time to go up to our friends building site, where our team have now moved onto, and cast his eye over everything. We will be overseeing the finances and material invoices for them as they live off Island.

The next big project will be the garden. I have just been out and bought a selection of bougainvilleas to put along the fence by the drive. That will be it for now until the rainy season starts as it would be too costly on our precious water reserves. We are down to 5000 gallons so may even need a top up from a tanker if we get critical. We are investigating the possibility of running a pipe to the village supply but need permission first. The salad garden has been started and after two days seeds had germinated and could be clearly seen in neat rows.
Tomorrows a sailing day and next week is most likely going to be spent between the boat and the house as well as celebrating Jeff’s 60th birthday.

Well that’s the first week in the house. We set about putting everything in its place and all pictures are hung, pool furniture assembled, bunks erected, smoke alarms installed, rubbish burnt, computer up and running ( a new one as ours failed to come to life after 18 months in a container, even with change of batteries and an expert IT guy on hand),TV bought and working

The builders did their final clear up on Wednesday and left the site looking tidy and the house looking finished. We all went down to the local bar to have beers and hand out final pay packets. The next day the place really felt like ours as we pottered around making a home, relaxed and happy, taking a dip in the pool in between tasks. In slow time the windows will be cleaned up (they have varnish on them) and the balcony tiles need some cleaning up of paint and concrete and then the big task of getting the garden started will begin. The weather is lovely, dry and breezy, so there will be no planting until the rainy weather comes again in about two months time.

Foxy has settled very well and loves the space and freedom to roam. Deano the Rottweiler is not to be ours. Doreen changed her mind at the last moment, just as their kennels were being made. We have made enquiries and a breeders dog is about to produce puppies, a 90% mix of Doberman and Rottie. A friend of ours has one from a previous litter and they seem good dogs; healthy, handsome, good with friends but not keen on intruders. So in eight weeks time one should be ready for us.

Lots of pictures this week to give you a look at the finished product..I’m off for a swim!