Neighbourliness

We live on a crowded island. We don't have a big landmass like France (126% more landmass) or Germany (47% more landmass). That means that although we value home ownership, again in contrast to our European neighbours, we don't generally end up with a big plot of land all round. 51% of Germans owned their homes, 65% of the French did & 63% -73% Brits did in the same period.

This space poverty is particularly true in Urban areas. So it is important that we "live & let live". That we are generous spirited. Covid has shown that we can keep an eye out for our neighbours & often help where we can.

I have only once had a problem with neighbours in the whole 55 years that I have lived in my own home. That was 3 houses ago. The man was very wealthy & very obnoxious. I was actually afraid of him & that is not something that usually affects me. He was simply a bully. However Karma worked against him & he lost a lot of money & had to sell up.

Renovating my house has been a revelation. Most of my neighbours to be have been extremely welcoming, friendly & tolerant of the noise, disruption, dust & mess created by the work - I am so grateful. I am just surprised at the occasional level of intrusiveness & unnecessary difficulty that can be caused. 

The neighbour who stopped work on the felling of my lime tree because she erroneously said there was a  TPO on the tree, caused the whole team of tree surgeons to stop work. There was a lengthy delay while we tried to confirm that we were right & she was wrong. I was extremely worried. Frankly it was self interested & malicious. She just didn't want to be able to see my house from the back of her house.

Then a neighbour informed my builder that she had checked our planning permission & wanted him to know that she knew that the depth of the extension had been reduced by the planners. She would be checking to see that he complied. The reduction is 15cms - 6" in old money! Of course we will comply. Why would we want the hassle of having to remove anything wrongly constructed? What I really object to is the implication that I and my builder are dishonest & untrustworthy. 

 

 

It isn't the first time that we have been made to feel that we would not comply with "building regulations" or any relevant legislation. It isn't pleasant. To be honest it leaves a bad taste. 

I just need to focus on the much bigger proportion of really nice neighbours.

Land Ownership

In theory I own a house & the land it stands on. I've been an unmortgaged home owner for decades. That same plot of land will have been owned by a succession of people way back. If you go back far enough I imagine it was countryside. After I've gone it will belong to someone else.

I don't feel I actually own it. I'm just the temporary guardian of the land & the house that sits on it. I should maintain it in the best possible state.

I watched a really good documentary about the climate emergency showing communities in the Southern Hemisphere who had actually had their islands swallowed up by rising sea levels. They had thought their homes were permanent. They discovered that they are not, because of our lack of stewardship of the planet we live on.

People all over the world are losing their homes for all sorts of reasons. Some are climate related, some are because of man's misconceived belief that we own the countries we live in. That belief starts wars. Population migrations have already reached pandemic proportions. Countries are becoming protectionist. They fail to see that every human being has the right to a home, safety, food & the necessities of life.

People will flee from flood, fire, rising seas, war, famine, poverty & all the terrors which beset the world today. We have to recognise that we cannot be protectionist. We cannot sit in our homes in a relatively secure country & pull up the drawbridge to keep refugees out. It matters little whether they are fleeing persecution, devastation or poverty. They have the same rights that we do. 

The simple fact is that all human beings everywhere have the right to expect other human beings to help them in any way they can. I'm not a Christian, but the "Good Samaritan" story epitomises all religious & moral belief.

I recognise that this will play havoc with our own little lives. It will devastate the world economy & big business. But if we don't truly understand this there will not just be civil unrest. The world will suffer a huge upheaval. Again I'm not a Christian. But maybe that's what Armageddon was warning us about.

We have heard he message. We have to come together to find solutions.

Vaccines & Vaccine Refusers

I've got an arm full of Covid & an arm full of Flu. The whole thing went like clockwork. So easy & efficient thanks to the NHS & a lot of volunteers. Doubt the Government had much to do with the organisation given their track record.

As a child I was vaccinated against Diphtheria, Smallpox, TB, Polio. Not sure if I had the Measles, Mumps & Rubella. As an adult I have been vaccinated every time I have travelled abroad to places like Africa & the Middle East. I've regularly had Tetanus injections. As a medically vulnerable pensioner I have been vaccinated against Pneumonia & Influenza. When I've had hospital procedures I have been injected with anesthetics & been on drips. Here I am at 76 & I've never had any of those diseases. The vaccines worked! I have not had any ill effects at all. I am extremely fortunate that vaccines were available.

 

All through my life I have had health problems which needed medication. I have taken everything from Morphine to Paracetamol to control symptoms.

I do not know what was in any vaccines or medications. I never asked. I was just grateful that they were available.

What is so different about the Covid vaccines? What on earth justifies all of the "conspiracy theorists", the "Covid deniers", the "vaccine refusers". Have all of them never had any vaccine or taken any drug? Have they chosen to suffer all through their lives when they have been ill? If they have had vaccines or taken drugs, have they known exactly what was in them? No - of course not. 

The whole thing is so difficult to understand, because it seems so irrational. Why has it happened? Is it the prevalence of Social Media & Fake News? Idiot politicians like Trump who suggested drinking Bleach. 

I accept that there are a small percentage of people who have a good reason for not having the vaccine. But the majority are simply misguided & frankly gullible.

The problem is that their refusal affects everyone else.

Keeping my Head above Water

Swimming helps me on so many levels - fitness, range of movement, distraction from problems, calm meditation. I love it & do it 3 times a week. I would do more if I had the time. I'm happy to have my head in or under water.

It's so different to life at the moment. Sometimes I do just about feel that I am keeping my head above water. Sometimes, although I'm not drowning, I need a lot of advice & information. Normally, I know stuff. I'm within my comfort zone. Not so renovating my house & building an extension.

I just don't know the answers to questions & I'm beginning to feel that I must be a pain as a client. It's all quite technical & there are so many areas to research. What do I know about groundworks, underpinning, modern building techniques, wiring...? I can do the selection of fixtures & fittings. I know what I like. But the more complex things mean I don't actually know the right questions to ask, never mind the answers.

Getting 3 quotes for everything has been a revelation. Each person you talk to gives you different information, so by the time you see the final one you do, just possibly, know what to ask.  Take the driveway. I want it to be permeable & as eco as possible. One company say I need to have all the concrete dug up & removed & then start laying the resin based gravel. Another company says no, not all the concrete needs to go, only the poor stuff in the front garden. The side drive can just have 3 drainage channels. Well, how do I know which is right? I just want the rainwater to get into the soil.

I don't think I have ever had to make so many choices in such a relatively short period of time. It is daunting. Thank goodness for the internet. Thank goodness I don't have a "proper job".

Planning Consent & Tree Preservation Orders.

I have never liked Rollercoasters. But that is what I am on, holding tight, closing my eyes & trusting that the whole structure won't collapse & send me flying into the abyss.

Dealing with the City Planning Department during Covid isn't easy. They have problems, mainly staffing issues I think. So yesterday afternoon I was on a high. An email from my lovely Architect finally came several weeks & several supposed dates late. I have got full planning consent. Huge relief. The groundwork for the extension can begin. Hopefully it will be quick to build. But that depends on whether we can get the contractors who do the specialist standing seam cladding in before Christmas.

Today my tree surgeon team arrived with 4 vehicles & a mass of kit to take down the huge Lime tree in the middle of the garden plus 3 smaller trees. I've waited for months, because they are really busy over the summer period & there are rules whilst birds are nesting. A neighbour apparently came round & told them there was a Tree Preservation Order on the Lime. She said she liked watching the birds, (there aren't any to see in the Lime it's too dense), & she didn't want to see my house. She lives at the back I think. Frantic phone calls to City Planning Tree Department by the main tree surgeon & me. Also a call to my solicitor, because I don't have any of the paperwork for my house because Land Registry have a backlog. The 2 planners dealing with TPO's are not in the office, they are out in the field so a really helpful lady left them both voicemails. 

Both the tree surgeon & I were fairly sure there was no P O on the lime, but we couldn't take the risk. A long stressfull delay until we finally got the go ahead. Huge relief, again. When they started work they discovered, as we expected that the whole of the middle of the tree was rotten. Lime's are very prone to that. So it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Meanwhile I feel shredded. This is a big undertaking, requiring a lot of time & effort. Nothing is going smoothly. 

By the time I move in I think everyone involved will feel a huge sense of relief & achievement.

Eco Warrior Failure - A tale of Woe

That's how I feel. I set out with high aspirations to refurbish my 1930's semi in as Green a way as possible. I'm a complete failure. 

Windows - What I wanted was sliding sash replacement windows in a modified softwood called Accoya. It's sustainable & really good. But it's also a lot more expensive that what I have bought, which is really good quality UPVc sashes. From the kerbside you won't be able to tell that they aren't wood, but that isn't the point.

Wall Insulation - What I was going to use was Pavatex wood fibre. But again the price has shot up because there is "A Severe timber shortage as ‘a perfect storm’ brings price hikes and delays" because of a surge in demand due to Brexit & Covid. It's now more than double the alternative. The underfloor insulation also looks as if it is coming in very expensive too. I haven't got round to the loft insulation yet.

Heating - I was seriously considering a heat pump instead of a combi gas boiler & did my research. I can't have a ground sourced heat pump because I don't have enough land for the collector loop, which is laid horizontally in a trench about a metre or so below ground. Where there isn't room to do this, you can drill vertical boreholes to extract heat from much further down, typically between 90m and 160m deep. It's significant, costly, disruptive work in the garden. A 6-8 kW horizontal ground source heat pump system usually costs around £10,000 to £12,500 to install. A larger 12kW heat pump system would cost around £15,500 to £17,500 to install. I simply can't afford to do it. 

Air source heat pumps are cheaper, but they are noisy & UK houses, not insulated to high enough standards, are not kept wam enough in winter.

It's a no brainer. I am having a gas boiler. I won't live long enough to get the financial benefit from the technology & the government have withdrawn the Green Deal financial support.

I don't expect the Government to foot the bill for my project, but as a member of Greenpeace & several other Eco charities, I know how important this is. We need to be doing this now. But the public won't do it unless they are helped with incentives of some sort. There is a limit to how much extra cost an individual household can absorb, however high their ideals. 

According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development in September 2020, " a majority of people across Britain support an ambitious transformation of the United Kingdom into a greener, fairer, and more equal society. The assessment is based on an extensive inquiries by a cross-party group of MPs, which involved over 55,000 people through representative polls, workshops, and telephone conversations". Covid triggered a widespread desire for change. There is plenty of evidence that a Green economy will benefit the whole country. But it won't happen on it's own. It needs political will & Government commitment.

So I have failed & I'm really dieappointed. I just don't have a bottomless pit of money. The good thing, if I can afford it, is that I might have a resin bound, permeable, gravel driveway that uses recycled plastic drinking straws.

This Government has failed me & everyone else too. To quote Greta Thunberg  “Build back better. Blah, blah, blah. Green economy. Blah blah blah. Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah. This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have not led to action. Our hopes and ambitions drown in their empty promises.”

 https://www.facebook.com/gretathunbergsweden/videos/1033097317441254

We don't have long to sort this out. There have been plenty of warning signs. We are hosting Cop 26 in a month's time. I don't know how our Cabinet have the cheek to do it. 

 

But I am so disappointed with myself personally too. 

 

Communication

We assume that because we can think & speak we have the tools to communicate effectively. Communication skills & understanding are really important in all aspects of our lives. We are lucky that we have communication tools which were not available for the majority of our lives. I must have been in my 20's before my parents even had a landline!

Managing my renovation & extension has made very clear that there is huge variation in how effective communication is. Yesterday was a case in point. Planning consents were expected in late August, early September. It was delayed to Wednesday 22nd this week, because of staffing issues. It didn't come. It is holding up a lot of the work. We can't risk starting before we have it, even if it is permitted development. 

I spent all day yesterday trying to communicate with the city planning department by phone & email. My builder wasn't sure what he can do & thinks he has done everything he can stripping out & first fixing in the actual house. I spoke to 3 different people, all of whom tried to be helpful, but none of whom actually knew anything about the application. The officer who dealt with it is on leave & no one else was appointed to cover this work. I find that amazing & frankly unprofessional. So we are in limbo until the officer returns & gets round to issuing my paperwork.

I have had a team of 4 professional people working on my project plus the 3 people actually doing most of the hard work. That meant that there needed to be effective lines of communication between them & me. It hasn't always worked & I have often felt I was fire fighting & acting as a relay. Sometimes I have been concerned that I don't have the skill set to really understand processes & technicalities. I have to rely on the people I have employed. They are all busy people & have other projects as well as mine. It can be a bit of a quagmire.

I also need to try to keep open good communication with suppliers, which is a real nightmare. There are huge supply & lead time problems. They are all struggling to cope with their supplers - it's a chain which is broken currently, due to Brexit & Covid.

Then there is the importance of keeping neighbours informed & on side, despite not living in the house. I'm not having to live with the noise, dust, traffic & disruption, but I do realise what an impact it must have. I'm a big believer in face to face communication. You can pick up body language & expressions & hopefully respond appropriately. Emails are quick & provide a paper trail, but can be misinterpreted. The receiver doesn't necessarily read what we intend when we write.

It's all hard work & exhausting. But I can go home to my rental, read a book, watch TV & unwind. I have a supportive daughter & family & I have lots of friends who are also interested & supportive. They all know what a huge task this is. They sympathise & encourage when things are not going well.

So, all in all, I am lucky.