The house extension is almost complete now. The contractors seem on schedule for the 10th May completion date. In the past 2 months, they’ve picked up quite a bit of steam, making up for the lost time caused by the messed up windows. The extension should be completed only 40 days late, which to be fair, isn’t that bad considering we’ve had the coldest winter for god knows how many years, and the number of screw ups with the windows, and poor project management.

The film crew have visited us on two seperate occasions this month, and filmed the last of the footage just in time for delivery to Discovery Real Time. The programme is now complete and due to be aired on DRT a week today. The filming has been followed by a number of interviews and photo shoots with The Sunday Mirror and the Western Mail, with the possibility of more from the Environment Agency and some others.

I’ve been back at university for just over a week, and to be honest, i feel like i need a holiday already. I had one piece of coursework due in last Friday, another 2 (one of which is a group project) due in on Tuesday, and another 3 due in on Friday. None of them are easy and all require quite a bit of time and thought. I have a feeling i may have to sacrifice one of them to make way for the rest, can’t be helped unfortunately.

Quite a few people have been asking me how exam revision is going, and i have to keep telling them its not. There is just so much work going on, i don’t have time to get on with revision in any shape or form. I havn’t even mentioned the fact that our exams might not happen. Basically, the AUT (Association of University Teachers) are on an “Assessment Boycott”, which in its simplest terms mean that they are refusing to do anything like setting/marking coursework and setting/marking exams. Theres 3 weeks till the exam session starts, and not a single exam has yet been written. The Universities are refusing to give the lecturers the pay rise they want, and are refusing to meet with the lecturers and refusing to acknowledge that there is a problem. So May could turn out to be just as interesting and eventful as April. Keep your eyes open for updates.

On another note, I finally asked Kate out. I finally got up the nerve to do it (ok, alot of alcohol helped). Although i didn’t get the answer i was hoping for, i feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and for some reason feel much happier. Kate and I seem to be getting on a little better as well which is a good thing.

EDIT: following on from my entry a few days ago (Dave the Chameleon), i’d like to point all of you in the direction of the webcam, featuring “Dave” the chameleon live. [Windows Media Player, Real Player]

Right, thats it for now, this is most likely the last post for April 2006, but im sure i’ll be back soon. Hope you all like the new website design.

Designer Homes
Sunday 8th May
20:00 – Discovery Real Time (21:00 DRT+1)

DH Episode 7
Bob and Sue want to extend their three bedroom semi and include environmentally friendly features such as rainwater harvesting and solar panels.

DH Episode 8
Architect Torcail Forsyth continues work on Bob and Sue’s home, incorporating a massive glazed window to exploit their view across the Brecon Beacons

Discovery Real Time
Sky Channel 250
Telewest Broadband 271
ntl:home 304/133
Top Up TV 28

For more information see www.realtimetv.co.uk and www.cheeseandcrackers.co.uk

As always, the film crew spent most of the day taking the piss out of each other and generally having a good time.  Jon and Andy seem to bounce off each other, winding each other up.  Andy is hyperactive anyway, but when paired with Jon, he is like a little kid.  It always makes for a very fun and entertaining day.

Building Update

Well despite the film crew being here causing havoc, quite alot of work was done yesterday.  The new utility room and downstairs toilet has been plastered from top to bottom, and the rain water tank has been successfully installed in the garden (after the 8ft hole was dug yesterday).  The electrician has also been in installing some extra lights and sockets in the extension.  On top of that, we’ve also had visits from the architect  – Jan Milsom (Milsom Architects) and the manager of the building company Bill Owen (Owen Construction).

Today the hallway linking the new bedrooms to the existing house was plasterboarded, the ensuite was partially plastered, the pipework connecting the rainwater tank to the house was put in place and the wall between the house and the new hall way was partially demolished.

The media section of the website has some new photos showing the progress of the extension.

Thats all for now.

• i am currently living on a building site
• the film crew is here today
• the first episode of the series was shown on national tv last night
• me – well, no explanation is needed here

Building Site

For those that don’t know already, we are having an extension built at home.  The new extension will contain 2 bedrooms, an ensuite bathroom, a new lounge, double garage and a balcony.  The existing house is also being altered to provide a new utility room, downstairs bathroom, refitted kitchen and study.  All of this makes for one fun time here in Govilon.  After over a year of organising, planning disputes and meetings with architects, the work began in late September with the demolition of our existing double Garage.  This was followed in October by several months of chaos while the contractors – Owen Construction – cleared the ground, laid the foundations, built the shell of the extension, fitted the underfloor heating, fitted the electrics and all other things that needed to be done to bring us to the current stage of development.

So what is the current stage of development?  Well, as we speak, Owen Construction is plasterboarding the final stud wall, they are plastering the utility room and digging the humongous hole for the rainwater tank (more about this later).  The upstairs of the house is nearly completed – all that is left to do is plaster the new hall way, have the electricians put the finishes in place, fit the ensuite, paint the bedrooms and put down the carpet.  The new utility room / bathroom is nearly finished as well with the cabinets still to fit, the toilet / sink to be installed and the wall / floor coverings to be done.  I won’t go near the downstairs yet which is nowhere near completion.  While all this may seem alot, it won’t actually take that long, and is about a weeks work at most.

Film Crew

My parents – never being ones to make things simple – have a film crew involved in the build.  Just before work began, our architects were contacted by a production company called “Cheese and Crackers”.  They were looking for projects that were about to commence and where big changes were being made that could be filmed for a new tv series called “Designer Homes”.  Our architects (Milsom Architects) approached my parents and asked if they would like to be film, to which they agreed.  After a number of sessions with the producer Andy and the Assistant Producer Jules, it was agreed that we would be filmed.  Several filming sessions have taken place since then, and the film crew are arriving later to get some new footage.

National TV

The first episode of the TV series aired last night on Discovery Real Time (DRT).  Each project comprises of 2 TV episodes, each half an hour long.  DRT showing both episodes back to back, which means in 4 weeks time, our episodes will be on (scary).  For anyone that wants to watch, tune into Discovery Real Time at 10pm (or DRT+1 at 11) – details on how to get Real Time at http://www.realtimetv.co.uk/getting/index.shtml

Other

I’ll post an update later on once the film crew have finished their manic day of work!