When we embarked upon this project, we would never have envisaged we’d have ended up here. My last blog was on 16th March when Italy was in full lockdown and the UK a week away. We would have wished that people like yourselves would now be enjoying well-earned holidays at Genista and enjoying all that Puglia has to offer.
But its not all bad news. As I write this, the builders have been back on site for two weeks. Most of our issues currently are overcoming small hurdles such as availability of tiles and wall toppings. It could be a lot worse.
You’ll see from the image at the top of this post that the new roof is now complete on both the new extension and the old part of the house which we’d had to get re-done as a result of some clear evidence of water leakage inside the hall.
Here you can also see that the new doorway has been cut to the right size and the plastering is finished. The issue with the tiles in the shower is not fully resolved yet. We have found someone who will cut the bigger tiles down to a smaller size so we can bend them round corners but they are still looking to charge us more than we would wish to pay given this is an oversight on the part of the builder who designed the shower curved. That was not our choice so we don’t believe we should have to pay. But we’ll see.
One huge improvement just now is the paving across the whole property has been cleaned up and repaired where necessary. This has included the digging of a channel from the front gate of the house to the cisterna enabling us to make use of the agricultural water supply which comes at a much cheaper price than the regular water suppliers. We’re a tad concerned that they seem to have used slightly smaller stones to over pave the channel which makes it stand out more than it should. It’s clearly visible on this photograph. However, we are hoping that it will bed in with age. All in all though it’s looking a lot tidier and a lot more finished. We are definitely getting there and all things considered we should at least be finished in time for next summer.
Just one major issue still now remains. The ongoing saga of the permit for our swimming pool. Back in December (I think it was) we were told it would be issued in January. Then, in an effort to curb corruption, the entire Communé was subject to a total overhaul and all departments were switched around. We were still hopeful that by February we should have it in our hands despite the change of offices. Then of course lockdown happened and, well, who knows?! It could be anywhere. We remain hopeful. Our next trip, Covid and airlines permitting, is on 28th July. We pray that our arrival fosters good news.