Sorry I haven’t been keeping this up to date. I was busying sawing, welding, painting and slicing my thumb wide open. It has been an adventure with a few unpleasant surprises, but all in all a great experience.

The house is now finished, and the apartments are in working order. We have had a few guests but it’s still early days.

Alsberg, Alsberg.........yes I like the sound of that.....

Amazing what a little cement and a few bodies in the keller can do for you…

This is just a warning to those who would disrespect me

Men in Cement, you disrespect me i cement you

….

We thought we could dig down half a meter and insulate the cellar against a little moisture, the problem was the more we dug the more water we found ( I did look for oil ). Eventually we gave up and installed a well in the ground, with an exit pipe. It is all insulated now and next monday comes the cement truck. The plumber has laid down the pipes and we seem to be making progress. I did have to go to the bank and take out a chunk of money….but i guess that is part of the fun.

While taking a break, Sara and I decided to go and feed some sneezing, farting goats. They are always good for lifting the spirit.

One of the main jobs to be accomplished at the house was the drying and insulating of the cellar. The idea was to dig  about 50 cms, place some gravel and cement mixture down, then tar paper and finally water proof cement…..well…………a well….thats exactly what we had to install because the more we dug the more water would fill the hole. there was a small stream flowing under the house. (of holy water no less). Now we have an ever filling fresh water well about a meter deep with an over flow pipe, and a small pump…just in case.

Anti mountain stream mechanism

Well...Well...Well...what have we got here a holy water Well..

On the positive side I now have a letter box so the bank can send me the personal bankruptcy letters.

One of the workers pulling her weight and….the other slacking off..

Employee pushing her weight

wash up time at the pfarrhaus...employee slacking off

Well…..I finally got the quotes to fix up the house and the VAT tax alone was too much for me. I have decided to do it on my own with a couple of friends, asking for help from friendly neighbours as I need it. The Government help is fine but you have to hop through so many hoops you get sore ankles…

Sara and I borrowed a sythe (of MR. DEATH fame ) and a rake and did a pretty good imitation of farm types, please don’t ask about me cutting my finger.

On a happier note, the guys digging up the kitchen and basement decided to throw out some old furniture, they also threw out some really nice old cutlery  and glasses left there by the previous owner…the priest…sometimes it makes you wonder. I also found some really old Reich Mark notes, luckily I removed them before these guys got to them…

We are moving up to the village until the house is inhabitable, into a really woodsy type half timbered house with a breathtaking view….nice if you like this kind of thing.

 

Smarter than they look...Heinrich's pigmy goats learning how to ride my bike. No success so far!

So finally  Handwerk  showed up with my long delayed plan, the Baumeister (builder), and Sparky (electrician). We talked about what I needed and they went away to plan my downfall….  : ) The rumour persists that I will get all the quotes I need in the next TWO WEEKS, where did I hear that rumour before…oh yeah…

there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, only time will tell if it’s the 5 o’clock express to Venice…

It was a nice day for a bicycle ride and so I went exploring up the valley. When I got to a dirt track, my bike refused to go any further, so i went on foot for about 40 minutes up the track. Along the way I met these two blondes, and we immediately hit it off.

Back in Altersberg I came across two little pigmy goats who would rather I handed them grass to eat than having to bend over to pick it up…rest of the day was spent painting the kids murals…

walk in the woods video

While waiting for the professionals to drop by and give me some kind of an idea of how poor I will be after they are finished, I have decided to finish the paintings for the Wandermeile. These are a group of little cartoon characters designed to stop children ever going into the woods alone again…

These paintings are at the ugly stage, they will look better with tones and thick and thin lines…..TRUST ME….. (I hope)

Then there is always the bike ride…..and did I mention the scenery.

Well what a surprise ! It takes a lot less time to sign a contract than to fulfill it. I have made an agreement with “Hand in Hand werk” group, a kind of middleman for freelance building contractors. This company would send over all the people i need they would give me quotes, then we would send these quotes to the government and start work….and pigs might fly.

The architecturin did show up within a day or two and took the measurements I had already made, took some extra and off she went to draw the architects plan. She must be carving it on stone tablets because it has been three weeks and I have not seen any sign of it. Well I’m not an architect, but i can animate a 20 second commercial made up of hundreds of drawings in three weeks and not use a ruler.

If this is the kind of time scale I can expect from these “experts”, I should be moving in at the start of the next ice age.

It appears funny to me that while the rest of the world is desperately trying to hold on to their jobs, in Carinthia the pace goes on as before….maybe this firm should change its name to “Tortoise in Hand Werk”

“Outer wall insulation is the only way”….I have been told. Have you seen what these houses look like? something between Ikea and Disneyland…

If I was to insulate the house from the outside I would lose all of the character, I’ve seen examples and don’t think much of them. If I go with my gut feeling and keep the look of the house, I will lose the insulation grant money from the Government, freeze my butt in winter and all sorts of catastrophes will come my way…..so they say…

On another note, I handed the organization of the work to a firm called “Hand in Hand” a sort of middle man for freelance workers. They will provide me with an architects plan, an Energy Certificate quotes for all the work needed, and fill in the grant application…(If I get any grant). This little middlemanship will cost me 1500 Euros, refunded if I use them for any work. Part of the deal is that I can use cheaper workers if I can find them. The Energy Certificate will cost 400 Euros, but it is refundable…..so I wait….

I’m still not sold on the styrofoam look….

I now have more appointments with various professionals which might come off…or not. Heinrich (Preis Guesthouse) and the guy most responsible for my present situation has set me up with a building company that can give me quotes for most of the work. Although the quotes will allow me to apply for the renovation grants and are not binding, I think they will keep me awake at nights. I have to keep telling myself that I can do most of the easier jobs myself and save a lot of dosh…yeah ….right…

Here is a photo of my next door neighbours, luckily they only party once a month but then ….the bells …the bells…. ( a lot like the bag pipes back in Edinburgh )

And the Sunday afternoon traffic jam. Notice the lack of bums selling the “Big Issue”