On Fridays I try and write but the drilling is insane

Some words on drilling

On Tuesday I was planning a letter to write to the owner of the building next door with the title “I hate you so much right now”. I feel that before we become neighbours they need to know the enormous negative effects the creation of their dream two million euro house has had on our lives for 9 months now. As the builders are getting to the end the intensity has increased. Gone are the dreamy days of “only drilling for 3 hours a day” with just hammering in between. And the messages saying “Let us know when you have an important meeting and we will be quiet those times”.

The response to my request, a week in advance, for quiet on Thursday was – “We’ve got 12 people employed these days so no.” Now they are behind schedule, as building works always are, it’s just drill and keep drilling. I honestly don’t want to reflect too much on how this work has affected my health, the health of little Joanna who has been sick with something or other 5 weeks out of the last 7, my professional activities, and the general stress levels of the family. They start with setting up noises at around 7:30, then 8:00 on the dot the real noise starts, just for our peak family chaos as everyone is trying to have breakfast and get ready for school, work, nursery. Oh, I should go back and check that facebook post I left on Tuesday for advice about the legality of all this.

Tuesday Joanna was off nursery with a cough I didn’t like the sound of at all, she did not need to go out in the cold, so we were trapped at home with the noise. Compensation. That’s what I want. But what will actually happen is that the noise will finish, the neighbours will arrive with their millionaire furniture and vehicles, and we will just be so ecstatically happy that the noise has finished we’ll forget to be horrible to them. 

Like when you have a painful bureaucratic task, that takes 10 hours of your time and an appointment at offices that don’t have any appointments available. You get the piece of paper you need in the end, and instead of being annoyed at how long and complicated it was you just feel insanely happy that you finished the process. 

children are amazing

I am blown away by how much my children seem to know what they need, and the planet! 14 month old Joanna started with pro-biotics and now sticks her tongue out as soon as I pick up the drops. There’s no sugar in them, she just somehow seems to want what her body needs. I don’t know if it’s the only, or the most important, factor, but she has been eating really well, and therefore sleeping better, since she started on them.

We managed our mission to buy 150 or so seedlings last Friday and then between myself, Kira and the other family involved, we planted them in the community garden on Monday. The first section me and Kira did together, then she had her own idea and insisted on doing it her way. I showed her an area that was for her design and said go for it. Completely by herself she did with love, a beautiful square pattern – with text book plant associations and spacing. I am overjoyed to have these experiences with her and that planting gardens is such a normal part of her life. She is eight.

boodaville caseres

Our countryside trip at the weekend was very much a work trip, and it was a huge effort to move the whole family there for just two nights. I had ideas and objectives, and prepared cards and even an envelope with “Meeting 19 November” written on it. So it wasn’t ideal that out of three potential site managers for 2023 that initially confirmed, only one spent the day with me on Saturday. One of them was a very late cancellation. 

It was, however, a chance to spend some time creating a structure including “Team Boodaville” as well as a site-manager. A resilient design with a group of people that know how everything should work, and a less intense role for the site manager. There’s still a way to go to finish the budget though.. the tricky reality of inspiring people to see why being involved makes you rich in more ways than money. 

Elisa and Fran planted some chard and onions in the food forest. Jessica planted garlic. Some love and attention there was overdue, and it’s beautiful to see life coming back after the rain.

I’m in touch with the Life Terra project to get as many free trees as we want before 20 December! There’s a form to fill in. I’ve asked two other people to do it.. I hope someone steps up. Let’s see where the energy comes from for the next tree planting session at Boodaville. Maybe you would like to help make that happen? Let me know!

Doughnuts

And yes, I did meet some of the wonderful team at DEAL this week – Carlota, Rob and Kate. The selection process for the Schools and Education Lead is ongoing so I’ll share more on this next week.