September 14th - yet more slating & sheeting

A replay of yesterday, with me trotting up and down the ladder all day with arm-loads of slates, gradually working my way past the rooflights and ever-ridgeward, and the lads sheeting the open-plan area downstairs. They stoically tackled the nasty plumbing that I'd been so petulant about a couple of days ago before they closed the ceiling up. They work really well as a unit and seemed to get heaps done. I think Mal has the bit between his teeth even more than he did beofore, now that he has a date for returning to Oz. Starting at 07:30 helps, and Melvin is coping surprisingly well with the early mornings!
I finally had to assemble the roof-hooks I bought for my ladder, as all my roof-brackets were still on the south pitch and I had no way to retrieve them without a roof-ladder. Made a heck of a difference. Dunno why I've kept putting it off so long!
The morning was slow going, with lots of customising of the slates to fit around the rooflights, but once I'd cleared the top of them it was plain sailing. It had rained in the night, and the half-flashed state I'd left the windows in meant that a fair bit of water came in, but it just pooled on the floor and didn't cause any damage. At least now they're all weather-tight, although the big one at the west end of the north pitch is still temporarily flashed with strips of membrane.
Last night's wind had dislodged some of the polythene sheeting protecting the straw. It's really pretty flimsy, and I need to get more Roofshield and finish the job. It'll not be possible to stuff the east gable with straw by myself, so I'm on the lookout for a volunteer for a day...?
Neil gave me a number for the chappie at Scottish Power responsible for supplying power to the site, but both his mobile and his landline went unanswered.
Towards the end of the day, when Mal and Melvin had left, the sky darkened and for a while it looked as if I was in for a real soaking. It was blue to the north and south, and I watched as the brooding clouds passed overhead and dumped their soggy load on the hills just a mile away.

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