(no subject)

[endlessrarities]

It's official.  We're on site until the end of April.  The cakes turned out to be celebratory!

Today, the weather was utterly hellish.  It was what I usually describe as 'milk bottle weather'.  [NB.  I'm sure I've defined 'Milk bottle weather'  in a previous post - it all stemmed from a day of sleet and driving snow on a construction site in Glasgow when only myself and a digger driver were out braving the elements.  I felt like an unhappy cow stuck in a field - with a crust of soggy snow building up on the windward side.  When I came in for teabreak, the builders were very sympathetic.  "I wouldn't put a dog out in this," one remarked, only for another to riposte with "I wouldn't put a milk bottle out in this."   Hence the term...]

We had a milk bottle day today.  I've been out digging in these conditions, running after my hard hat when it blew off, and huddled behind the exhaust of the JCB shivering in an effort to keep warm (to heck with the exhaust fumes!),  After years of this misery, there's something particularly satisfying about being indoors in a doddery old building, hearing the wind howl and batter at the roof, but knowing that you're safe, and dry, if not exactly warm.  An added bonus: our buildings have lightning conductors!!  

Our task today was to finish off the survey of Vatcave No. 3 (there were a few high-spirited renditions of 'Vatman- da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-Vatman!) and moved onto to the smaller cousin of The Building From the Very Depths of Hell (now called The Building From the Higher Levels of Hell),  And as I finished off one of the elevations of Vatcave No. 3, I heard a little rustling noise, and when I locked down, I was delighted to see a weasel frolic across the ground just inches from my feet!  Nice!!

And another nice surprise!  I'll be taking a brief break from the ordnance factory in the near future to do a standing building survey of a local castle.  It's only the vestigial remains of a much larger structure, but it'll be quite fun because I know the site well of old, and it's a media star!  It featured on the Channel 4 series 'Restoration Man' last year,,,  As an added bonus, it features in my historical novel, though it was in slightly better condition in the late 15th century... 

Our weather forecast tonight is diabolical.  Gales, heavy rain, snow, the works.  But everything is relative.  Poor old Queensland is getting hammered again, by a tropical cyclone this time.  My thoughts go out to any Antipodean readers who are either stuck in the path of this meteorological fiend, or whose friends and relatives are stuck there.  When you hear about this, you realise that our good old West of Scotland weather is relatively meek and mild in comparision and therefore not worth complaining about.