Week 44 The Hatfields and McCoys

Week 44

Early on Tuesday morning, Janny & I were both awake at around 0600hhrs - listening to the pounding rain! Even though it was my birthday, I had little desire to get out of bed, dreading what I was going to find.

The building company called off the crane that had been booked...and then it stopped raining... of course!

So Bindert (now there's a good Frisian name) went to get his own crane so that they could at least make a start at putting some sheets on. BUT, there was one proviso on his part - the crane had to be locked up at night "so that "X"  (our neighbour) couldn't get to the machine and sabotage it in some way".

What? 

We didn't dare ask any more about what is obviously some deep-seated grievance...

Edit: Janny tells me that he was "a bit funny" at school, as well. At our job, he was about to "walk off the course" (and take his crane and tools with him) but has now agreed to continue as a sub-contractor. (This was a conflict with the company, not us).
We have also agreed on a (more costly) solution for getting the roof closed and finished. We will be putting B-Grade sandwich panels up which have the effect of straightening everything out for the final sheets and providing extra insulation. The panels will be relatively easy to place and will be fairly waterproof (tongue and groove) until the final sheets are on.

At least it made me clean up the garage, which had been used as a workshop for the last 6 months.

Leakage in one of the dormitories...

Luckily, we have the water vacuum cleaner...and concrete floors in some areas.

Almost there, with the apartments, at least...

Cutting out around the flues takes a lot of extra time.

Meanwhile, we have kids this weekend - so we're making it a bit of an adventure. Some of the younger ones are keen to help me "clean-up" and get it all a bit tidy again. I worry that Paul calls it "child labour" (he doesn't really mean it), but it is all part of "being on the farm"...and I get so much out of trying to teach them some basics that they won't be getting at home.

A couple of clients have been helping me with getting the plastic sheets in place - it makes such a difference with a few extra hands.

Siphoning water off the roof, so that we can stretch the sheeting out flat.

The birds are migrating again... (because they can!)

And in other news...(not that I've had much time to read the paper)

A Poor year for onions...(due to the "drought")

Normally, red onions are grown with a yield of 32000kg/hectare (10,000m2).

This year, the yield was 43% less on average and much less in the North (Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe).

(For onions) growers are expecting 30/35 cents per kg., compared with just 10 cents/kg., last year.

The Potato yield was 24% less

Sugar Beets 14% less

Consumers have been warned to expect higher food prices in general - as much as 50%.

Traffic Jams...

On Tuesday the ANWB (RACV, RAC) reported more than 1000kms of "files" (traffic jams) - the worst yet for 2018.

This coincided with price rises for train travel; the point being made that "people should be happy to avoid the traffic jams". (in spite of the relatively high cost of train travel).

On Thursday, the traffic jams totaled 1349kms.