The flying week

And where did that week go then???? Two minutes ago I was telling you about the Podchef's gastrocasts and twittering about vegetables and now it's Sunday again, a whole seven days since the last time I posted.

What an earth happened??

Well, I managed to find an American site which had nine episodes of The Tudors on it (I think we're up to number 5 here), so of course I was forced to watch all nine hours of it in between working my proverbial socks off for a new client. As the cast of Tudors rightly point out in various interviews, there was little else to do in the court of Henry VIII after it got dark but talk, plot, eat and have sex, which is why all four are shown frequently and with considerable relish. I'm waiting for episode 10 to be uploaded and then I'm on tenderhooks like everyone else waiting for the second series. The history isn't strictly accurate of course - I don't remember the King's sister Margaret ever killing her elderly husband the King of Portugal, although he did die within three months of their marriage, apparently from his exertions in the bedroom. Anyway, history be damned. It's a great romp.

One of the more fun things was of course Halloween and we surpassed ourselves this year with our pumpkin carving:

I wish I could take credit for the idea of Puking Pumpkin but it was in fact the brainchild of the guys over at Extreme Pumpkins. Our postie told us it was the best one he's seen in the village by miles so thank you guys for helping us win that coveted accolade - we're very chuffed.

But the Tudors and Halloween aside, I guess the biggest thing that has happened is: we're having a conservatory fitted. Or rather we're building a conservatory ourselves and this week the footings went down.

It's a rather large project to start in the scheme of things and we know we're not the greatest at finishing things, but there are a few other people helping us to keep it on track (thank you next door neighbour John) and the biggest thing I have to do is say yes or no when a heap of dirty, concrete covered men ask me what I want. I'm the one who will bitch if it's not done right so they defer all questions to me, which is quite sweet. And they're absolutely right, I will bitch if it's not done right. There may even be the odd foot stamp or mug hurled across a room (Pip - I'll make sure it's not one of the Denby ones you bought us for a wedding present)

I had a few issue before we decided to go with it, environmental ones really. It's a large amount of PVC to be using for a start and it's not the most environmentally friendly substance in the world. However, most of the issues about PVC relate to the phthalate plasticisers it contains and these are only used when making the soft stuff. Conservatories are rigid uPVC so the plasticisers are not present. So I'm cautiously optimistic a conservatory is ok (but - get this - your average children's PVC toy may not be), however, when you buy a conservatory you're using a lot of nasty raw materials to produce the stuff to your order in the first place so we haven't cleared ourselves on that score.

Then there's the concrete footings - a metre wide by a metre for a conservatory 13ft by 12ft. The cement used for concrete is very environmentally unfriendly and for footings that deep we'd have to use around 2.5 - 3 tonnes of the stuff. It is very energy intensive to make, requires vast quantities of raw aggregates and for every ton produced emits approximately one tonne of CO2 created by fuel combustion and the calcination of raw materials. Not easy to get round this one, as the amount of concrete and therefore cement you use is dictated by soil type and movement. And of course sod's law says we have the worse soil imaginable out there - solid potable clay with puddles of water that sit on top.

I was also bothered that we want essentially another room on the house when there really is enough room for two of us already. For us to have a conservatory is probably a bit of vanity - it would be very nice to have somewhere off the kitchen to eat in. It would also be nice to work in a room that gets a fair amount of daylight during the winter so my body doesn't feel like it's on the cusp of hibernation for five months of the year. And (a bit of a long shot here) I want somewhere to keep my lemon tree where it won't lose it's leaves from a lack of daylight or die from frostbite. All interesting, but absolutely non-essentials reasons for wanting a conservatory if indeed there is an essential reason for wanting one anyway?? 

So with vanity snapping at our heals and after tooing and froing, we decided the best thing we could do if we were adamant we were going to have one is buy a second-hand conservatory from a local showroom which was selling off show buildings with guarantees. So we take it down, transport it and recreate it back home.

No uPVC will be manufactured on our behalf which makes me feel a bit better. And last weekend the footings were put in and we filled up half of them with hardcore and then the remaining half with concrete, rather than the whole thing concrete. So we only used half of the cement we could have done - 50x25kg bags of cement or 1.25 tonnes.

The clay is out.

Neighbour John ripping up concrete paths that are in the way

An appreciative crowd gathers to watch the steel saw in action and choke on the dust

Brute force on the end of shovel prevails

We still have to get a brickie to come in and do a double wall for us, which will use more cement, but I'm investigating the possibility of planting some more trees in the garden and the village to try and offset some of the carbon emissions we'll produce during the whole project. One tree will absorb about 1 tonne of CO2 over 40 years, and it's estimated you should plant three to be sure that one survives. I think we'll probably produce around 2 tonnes of CO2 for this project so I'll need to plant 6 trees.

I'm off now to hunt for suitable saplings to buy over the Internet and I'll keep you updated as I the project ticks along.

   

Comments

[donna]

Oh my god that pumkin is so gross. I'll show Joe tomorrow- he's a 7 year old boy- he'll love it!!!! :)