Possibly an age old question, which is more rewarding? - and I think we have the answer, DESTRUCTION!
Once brooding and sinister parts of Hitler's Atlantic wall, these gun implacements now look slightly comedic in their destroyed state.
- That's about what's happened since they were built but what about comparing the processes of making and un-making manmade objects, as we have been doing for the past few weeks in Bouchet. Here's our comparison:
To cut a long story shorter - we bought a second hand inflatable spa from Angloinfo which we hope to get some fun out of in the summer, then worked out we needed to construct a concrete base for it to sit on. Cheap spa 85 Euros, somewhere to put it; 130 and counting..
Digging, laying out, steel reinforcements, shuttering, ingredients bought, moved, mixed and bunged in then messed about with to create 'a slab'. Much time, work, cost and brainwork for something that should become invisible.
Rewarding in some ways - frustrating in others because it never seems to be perfect, only 'good enough' but maybe that's the OCD kicking in.
On the other side of the wall we started knocking things down. The ceiling was uncomfortably low, we thought there could be a leak causing some mould, the kitchen area was poky and the stove's flue went up the middle of the room so out came the lump hammers and with Jim on the end of one and a few hours later:
Our domestic building archeology revealed some hard to respect bodges, long neglect and a serious structural failure.
This is the 8" centre ceiling joist, rotten and cracked through after how many years of unfixed leak? EEK! But rewarding to understand what's going on with the structure and make some big steps towards improving the layout.
Plenty more fun to follow in 2020.