Hey its only gardening – Part One

I like to update the blog when we make substantial changes to the pub, to keep you all informed. This years project has been so significant that we are still a way off finishing but I don’t want you thinking that project Plough has ground to a halt so I thought I would pen an update on the project that we innocently refer to as ‘the garden’.

We started project garden on the 19th of February and it has had a minimum of two people full-time since then, and still going!

I am remiss in not having a good ‘before’ picture but I do have an excuse…. When we renovated the ladies toilets we dumped a lot of rubbish in the garden knowing that it was the next job. We also had a few exploratory forays with the digger in advance of works so what you see below is what we started with and almost what I took over.

Remember that a huge part of this project was dropping levels to remove the soil banked against the various parts of the building so excavation was the first order of the day. During this process we learned that the 1800 ish extension was in fact built using a well-known (and completely wrong) technique whereby a trench is dug and the wall built from the inside.

Whilst this history lesson is interesting we also learnt that outside walls had collapsed, breached the cavity and were part of the cause of the damp issues that the building suffers. To give it some perspective, in the far Southerly end of the site the soil level varied between just below picture rail height and windowsill.

Some basic ground clearance left us with a work site that would be a wet and unpleasant home for a while to come.

And also revealed that the horrible discovery of an ex wife’s maiden name looming over me, oh how I wish she still had that name!

The tight spot of the dig involved excavating between the pub and the adjacent street with an access point that, at its largest, was around 800 mm. This was always going to be the hardest part and my limited photography skills have done nothing to show the sheer enormity of the task at hand.

A ‘reach around’ dig:

Nature had been claiming the building:

We did manage to get a mini digger in and combined with a larger digger to drag it out we managed to make some progress:

Another bit of history in the original flint wall that bounded the pub:

And to add a sense of scale:

Piles of spoil became a very big part of life for a long time:

By the end of the excavation some 640 tonnes will have been removed from site! The outer skin brickwork was removed and section by section more soil was taken out to be replaced by hand poured reinforced concrete (as specified by my structural Engineer):

Slowly creeping into the corner, Engineers love a corner and hate removing them:

Leaving that small space at the end of May gave a sense of achievement, relief and also concern at the sheer scale of the remaining task:

The additional space soon found its own constraints in that there is only so much material that can be moved at a time. To clear spoil from site was a minimum of a three day operation for three men and a dump truck driver as everything had to taken to the front of site for removal.

Progress along the rear boundary was slow and involved numerous temporary fences for neighbours as we pushed further in with retaining walls. As the levels dropped we moved to block and fill rather than cast on site. By the end of June we were making some progress:

The decision was taken to remove a further outer wall rather than hack off and replace old render. All of the public facing walls have been replaced with manufactured stone because it looks good and (a critical point) its maintenance free:

With the rear boundary fenced we moved on to the extension, a minor project within a project that I had been trying to forget. The old lean to was removed and new drains put in. Oh yes and we moved the commercial gas main, well we were there anyway weren’t we and by now its really a case of  ‘go hard or go home’:

Since this is a very picture heavy post I will stop there for today. Obviously the project has moved on considerably since those last pictures and I will share more with you soon. To give some more sense of scale let me assure you that nobody who has seen the garden hasn’t used both an expletive and the phrase ‘you’re not going anywhere are you’.

But as the enormity of the change emerges let me share some of my recent favourite comments:

“Wow it’s the biggest pub garden in Shanklin perfect for when people start using pubs again” – Thank you Simon you know how to cheer a pal up!

“Bloody hell, when I looked last time I couldn’t even imagine what you were seeing” – Cheers for humoring me the first time Crossy

And perhaps my favourite, a simple one:

“Thank you” – Mel, it makes a difference when you realise that some people acknowledge that what you are doing is motivated by something other than profit.

The coastal view

Christmas day at the seaside gives the opportunity to spot some of the less noticeable traditions at this time of year. This morning started with the finger drumming drivers parked along the front and waiting. This is the young, and not so young, couples who have not yet reached the stage of sharing elderly relatives. The driver waits in the car dispatching his partner off to deliver the box of chocolates and then assumes the pose, fingers drumming on the steering wheel whilst wondering “does it really take this long?”.

Next up we have the beach strangers, the annual visitors. Small groups who seem overly formally dressed can be seen walking along the beach with the occasional confused looking dog. Well it’s Christmas and they are visiting the coast so you have to go on the beach don’t you.

I won’t discuss the once a year pub visitors as they are a subject worthy of their own post, so next up we have the wonderful game of “who are you going home with”. As the pubs close and people wander home so increasingly odd couples can be seen departing together. A routine that normally happens in the dark, after a night in the pub, moves to daylight hours on Christmas and can be quite enlightening.

I am not a fan of the festive season myself but this year I am finding the enforced shut down particularly annoying. I am waiting on estimates for works to the current prospect and find the two-week loss of activity quite frustrating. Whilst it is likely that the commercial reality will be too harsh to consider it is tough having nothing to do and getting no closer to the answer.

Tuppence, dreams and shoves

Since it’s Monday let’s start the week with some musings from the coast.

I should start with one of those moments that makes you realise that there is always somebody worse off than you. Arriving at the ATM I found one person in front of me using the machine, after some key presses the young lady withdrew her card and cursed the device. As I stepped up I checked the machine was in service and then tried to enter my card to no avail; the machine, it would seem, was still processing the last transaction.

Just before accepting my card the printer whirred and a slip of paper slid from the machine, landing on the key pad. As I collected the receipt to dispose of I noted the line “available to withdraw £4.98”. The machine then accepted my card and proudly declared that I could select any multiple of £5. To somebody this morning started badly all for the sake of tuppence.

Arriving at the station I again had cause to question the necessity of an announcement that “this train terminates here”. My local station is the end of the line and, with one notable exception, all trains terminate here and always have. Since it is blindingly obvious to all that this is a terminus station would it not be better to announce by exception? Rather than “this train terminates here” for every train they could just announce “oh god this train isn’t stopping get out of the way!”. History tells us that announcement is only needed every 30 years or so.

I will stick with the railway for the next story. A couple of elderly women found themselves waiting slightly behind where the doors ended up. Chatting to each other they noted that the train stopped further into the platform than usual (it didn’t) and was that a “woman driver”. As they sat down the female guard left the train to walk to what was now the rear of the train. The two women tutted at the confirmation that it was indeed a woman driver. Far be it for them to let logic interfere with a good story, clearly women drivers drive from the rear!

I was surprised, yet again, by some of the people who shared a facebook post over the weekend. The simple post stated “Dreams don’t work unless you do” the surprise was that it was shared without understanding. This was shared by people who don’t work, by people that are state sponsored and by people that are waiting on the Lotto to achieve their dreams.

So many people have lost the drive to achieve their ambitions and I find that really sad. We now see members of the younger generation as shining examples if they look for work and sympathise with them if they can’t find any. Why do we not encourage people to move outside of their comfort zone, to change roles, move away or take two jobs? There seems to be a growing comfort in complacency and that is a silent curse.

I would encourage all parents, when faced with a child who is struggling to find work, to remind them that if they keep doing the same thing they will keep getting the same result. Don’t sponsor their board, their car and their cell phone buy them a train/ plane ticket and give them a gentle shove into the world. If you do this then one day they will tell their children ‘dreams don’t work unless you do’ and they will speak from experience.

Well if it is that complicated…

                How can anyone live life without the special blend of humour that is hotel living. I don’t know if it is the early morning tiredness or the breadth of life that makes the entertainment. This morning I was treated to a little old fellow with a people carrier who was clearly transport for someone. The night porter asked the driver if he could help:

D – “Oh I am here to pick up Steve and take him to the airport. Well not actually Steve because he has his car in the car park here of course. Actually he asked me to take his wife and two children to the airport; I think he is driving there later”

NP – “OK sir would you like me to telephone the guest?”

D – “Oh no that will be OK. I had a panicked call this morning when he asked me to come at 05:45 not 06:45 because the plane was an hour earlier than he thought. They are going to Spain you know”

At this point the night porter was struggling to maintain an air of professionalism. This is a real skill at the end of a long night shift so he has my respect for succeeding.

D – “Actually, yes if you could call them please. I mean I have all day but I would hate for them to be late”

NP – “No problem sir what is the guest’s name?”

D – “Steve”

NP – “Do you have a surname sir?” Remember this is a hotel with around 130 rooms

D – “No”

NP – (after consulting the PC) “We have 7 Steves in-house are you sure that you don’t know a second name?”

D – “No but he is staying with his wife and two children”

NP – (after more PC consultation) “Well three of the Steves are in double occupancy but I won’t see any children”

D – “A boy and girl, about so tall, the lad always wears a baseball hat”

NP – “I am afraid that I wouldn’t have checked them in sir”

D –“Oh I thought that you were looking in the rooms”

NP – “I am looking at the reservation sir”

D -“Oh you can’t actually see them?” this said in a rather incredulous tone

NP – “No Sir”

                Now this exchange has taken a good 15 minutes, the frustration is showing on the face of the night porter. It is 6 am and the night porter is on the last hour of his shift, never an easy time to maintain interest or lucidity. And so it was at this time that the driver produced a cell phone with a little flourish and announced “Oh I could call them”

                Now the night porter may be the epitome of professionalism but I am afraid I am not. I fell about, the driver honestly believed that it was more efficient to use spy cameras to look through the rooms for his guests than to just call them.  What a way to start the day, faced with impenetrable yet insane logic.