South African Builders’ annual holidays start tomorrow and with the persistent heavy rain we’re experiencing in Johannesburg, it’s really not a bad thing. This has been an unsettled week all round. We’ve all felt the impact of Mandela’s death and even though there have been no official holidays, there’s been a kind of ‘slowing down’ all over the country as we all pause to consider our loss.
So it feels like a good time to stop and I thought I’d pop down to the site this morning to wish the workmen Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays. I took several litres of coca cola and an enormous box of biscuits for them to have with their tea and having felt that my welcome on arrival was slightly circumspect, I left with Xmas greetings ringing in my ears. Perhaps they thought I was going to bemoan the slower-than-expected progress and ask why they couldn’t work in the holidays…
I was surprised at how much more brickwork there was since my last visit, given the uncooperative weather….
Back (south) wall of the library.
East wall of kitchen and living room going up. The bin is standing in the entrance hall.
And was also surprised to see that a board detailing the contractor, architect and engineer had finally gone up.
An official board at last.
Hopefully mid-January will see us getting off to a positive start under sunnier skies.
home-in-the-making 
The whole world has been thinking of Mandela this week. We are lucky to have had him.
I’m glad to hear that coco cola and biscuits are a worldwide gesture of appreciation for tradesmen, although I think beer works quite well also. You must be excited to see those brick walls rise.
I thought of beer but wasn’t too sure how the contractor would feel about that! I wonder if you’re used to seeing quite as many workmen on one site? We have no shortage of labourers in this country. If you’re interested, you can find my response to Mandela’s death on my other blog, under a post titled ‘Mandela’s Gift’ at http://www.africadayz.worpress.com
Has the actual building of your house started yet? I don’t think I’ve seen a picture of the outside of the house yet.
There is no sign of any build on our land yet. We are timing it for our return to Australia in 2015. I will visit Australia next month to make all the selections for tiles, fixtures, colours, etc. Despite this, there has been a year of planning already and I’m enjoying (almost) every minute of it.
Looking good 🙂