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The house project:
It was the winter of 2000/2001 when I first took a look at the site where the house I later lived in was to be built. Getting planning permission took quite some time - there were complications, of course, but at the end of the day it went through smoothly enough. The plans were for a square " single storey house with a developed loft". I tried to stick some photos together to give a panorama of the site taken in November 2001, just a few days before work started. (You will probably have to scroll across to see it all. The pictures are taken from the top of the rock behind the bare hawthorn tree in the middle of the "site" picture above.)
I never thought this or this would look beautiful, but within a week of starting it had done this to the site! Here is a view of the front and the in June 2002!
At the end of August, the roof was defined - here is a second shot; but things are moving fast. Shortly before these two shots were taken (in the middle of September - great weather for the time of year!), the blue felt was making people start telling me "Oh, I've seen your house"!
The front, rear and inside in late November /early December 2002. Completion was still some way off, and it was not until the 1st Feb 2003 that I was able to move in. Here are pictures of the outside and inside the conservatory.

Before that:
From June 2002 I had been living in a house near Church Cross (between Skibbereen and Ballydehob),before which I was renting a house at Tragumna, at the seaside south of Skibbereen. Before that there were a few months in a rented farmhouse at Cousane, six miles east of Kealkill, a spot that was perhaps just too remote. And before that, there was another few months in a rented house at Ahiohill, not far from Clonakilty. Confused? Never mind, it's all in the past.

My friends:
I still live with Tashi who looks after me. In the days mentioned here we had our friend, the abandoned (how could anybody do that to such a nice dog?) Harry, seen here helping at the site by digging a hole and eating the root he found. He liked to play in the hole that will be a pond, and it does this to him. Tashi prefers other games. The two of them did get on. In January of 2003 we picked up from the gutter in Skibbereen. She badly needed flea treatment, a nice place to sleep, and was happy to have found a big kind friend. With the benefit of a soft life she has been grew into a fine brown dog. Unfortunately I had to find a new home for these two when I came to Australia, but happily I did - you can see some pictures of them in their new home (where their new names are Carrig and Razzle).

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