#1097 Friday 13 February

The 2 days that I've been back from the villa seem to have rushed by ...... Kaylia has been quite demanding .... she's not that hard to manage but she needs us to be 'on the ball' or she will go down hill quickly.
I get a rest from it when I go to the villa to do the work .... but Naomi is in the firing line constantly and it wears her down. 

Evening. Teddy had a car ride this evening ..... and he has a new trick!

You know how dogs love to put their head out the car window? Well Teddy has learned to open the window!  He puts his paw on the window button ..... and .... Hey Presto!

#1096 Tuesday 10 February

Breakfast at Gardenia. 
 The guys are working on the roof .... mixing and pouring the sloped layer of cement that should prevent water from pooling and leaking .... touch wood!   They should finish today.

This is our new "watcher on the wall" .... if he sees anything bad he will sound the kulkul.

Evening
The roof is complete bar the final waterproofing coat ..... which must be applied when the cement is fully dry.  Given the clouds building tonight, this may be a few days!

The new airconditioner in the living area has been installed.  The room should be comfortable now.

I walked home from Hardys tonight ... a good walk.  It will be good to be home tomorrow.

#1095 Monday 9 February

Today the men will add a layer of concrete on the roof.  The surface has been prepared and sealed ..... now the cement.  The new layer will be sloped so water runs off quickly into the drains. Once the cement has cured, the surface will be sealed.
I had thought to spy on the process .... and then get Ketut to do it in future ..... but Nara was quite open about the work ..... and the formulation of the cement hardener and the sealer is sufficiently complex that I wouldn't want to have an inexperienced person doing it.  It's clear that the water proportion in the mix must be right or the cement will not be waterproof.

Also the cost of the materials is much higher than I expected .... so the 7mil Rp per roof is quite reasonable value.  His workers do a very thorough job.




Last night I caught a taxi to Hardys for tea .... the driver had no English ..... we still had a good talk and he said I had a good accent in Bahasa.  With the removal of subsidies on fuel, the taxi price has gone up .... it used to be about 12,000 Rp for a ride to Hardys from the villa .... now it's about 15,000Rp  .... still amazingly cheap.

1pm I've been to Lottemart and restocked the crockery and the cutlery.... now we're on the way to Batubulan to look at a "kulkul" to see if it's feasible to have a villa one.

Yes ..... we now have a villa kulkul! It has a lovely sound .... it's a wooden drum .... sort of.  They are used for music or to call people to meetings ..... or warnings.

I'll work how to put the sound here ......

#1094 Sunday 8 February

8:30 at breakfast 

It was a beautiful flight ..... I made a point of walking down the aisle to relieve the leg pain and I got talking to the hosties at the rear ..... we got along well and I stayed there for about and hour.  They plan to visit me at the villa.

I've found that the villa ADSL has not automatically been paid again so this morning I'm trying to fix it at the bank.

I was up early and as usual, most shops are not!  But the eateries are open.