Phase two

Its been busy here what a surprise as people come and go at a rate of knots, theres no rest for the wicked. For instance as I dropped Jenny at the airport I hung around to pick up Tony my co conspirator in the Mernissi project. He has a part share but as he is working full time as a chef for Roger Taylor from Queen in Surrey his input at this stage is limited. Tony is an ideas man and walking round the house could visualise the top terraces as a restaurant well we will see on that front but also was trying in his head to maximise the space we have here with an apartment, basement and main salon to be utilised fully.

Its a transitional period at the house as I have very gratefully taken Mouaniss the chantier from Sandys house Riad Zany on board. He has brought with him the the plastering team a zellige expert and a carpenter. Between them while I am away next week for two weeks they can crack on with finishing all the plasterwork in the rooms and stairwell while zellige man repairs throughout the house. The carpenter is making the outside shutters in cedarwood for the octagonal skylight as well as stripping the huge front door and renvating the canopy over it. So little by little we are putting the old girl back together, as the plumber is finishing and the electricians put in junction boxes and actual light fittings we could soon have light and a working toilet!!

Also this week with Driss and Ben took some of the old tiles from a bedroom and apartment and went to a ceramics factory to get the requisite amount made up so Driss can start repairing and replacing all damaged tiles or laying new ones. Hopefully i have left a busy work list for Mouaniss to oversee and i must admit it will be good to take a little break from proceedings, step back from it and then come back recharged for the next phase.

The other good news this week is my house in Spain has sold with a handsome profit so I now have the funds or will have soon to inject some capital into the house, it was getting tight at one phase so my creative accounting skills had to come into play.

At the rented house its like the Three Stooges as Dominic and Tony are there at the moment sprawled out wherever and the conversation as ever with Dom is the various projects he has his eyes on, at least four at the last count. Hes a lively character as are most of the people I have met here and if we all put our brains and knowledge into a big melting pot we would be truly dangerous in a good way regarding getting things on the move.

I can feel myself getting excited and frustrated at the same time as we come into the finishing phase as in my head I can see the finished house, but realistically it could take 3 months to gently and accurately finish it so i must remember patience is a virtue.