We were excited about the wood from Guyana arriving. Little did we know what palaver this would be. Firstly, the container had to be bought to Marigot Bay but the truck was unable to make it up the steep winding hills so it was decided that it should be unpacked in the car park at the bottom of the hill. A customs chap has to be in attendance and the seal cannot be broken until he arrives. Customs men will only do this after 5pm when their overtime starts and then they like to stretch out the process to make it more profitable .It is now dusk before the doors are opened and a truck full of men arrive to unload it and it is put on the back of another two smaller trucks and taken up to our lot. Sounds simple? Do not be fooled, this took hours. Two of the truck loads were scattered over the road because the truck was overloaded and that put the whole operation back as it was reloaded, in the meantime the other truck couldn’t get back down the hill to get the next load. The contract we had was to have everything delivered to site, so we were not responsible for the extra workers or their pay, that was the business of our wood agent, who was off Island but his wife was there to organise everything. She had to leave after a few hours and paid her men before she left. Unfortunately once she left they decided they wanted to be paid more as the work was harder than anticipated. Jeff eventually offered more to their leader, which he agreed to, but the guys stacking it on the lot pushed for even more and eventually Jeff put his foot down and they left. The next day our own team set about getting the stuff stacked and in the afternoon Mr Brown, the guy with the truck, got hold of five more labourers to unload the last third of the container. Unbelievably these guys also demanded more money as they neared the end of the job and once again Jeff told them where to go. It was all very stressful and cost more than it should have. The wood is good though, lovely colour and quality. We now have to deliver some of the wood to the guy who will make the doors and windows. He is on site tomorrow to do a final count and then he will make an example of each window and door before we pay him the full amount.
This is a two-part blog as it is now a few days later. The window man has been and prices agreed. A time scale has been put in place, so it will be interesting to see how that holds up. We are getting near the time to cast the next level, so Jeff and I spent a few hours yesterday sweeping out the building and clearing away all the off cuts of wood. It all looks very neat and tidy.
In the afternoon I went of with Doreen to the south west of the Island to pick up some bar stools and chairs for the restaurant. They had been hand made by a local joiner in a lovely red cedar wood. The joiner’s wife had a great garden and she was most generous with giving me cuttings and small plantlets. So today’s job is to get them into the ground in a quiet corner of the lot. Jeff had a pleasant afternoon waiting for us at the Chateau Mygo bar in the company of the barman and a couple of the water taxi guys. The world had definitely been put to rights by the time we returned.