Patience is a virtue

Work on the extension continues. After final adjustments and much huffing and puffing the roof trusses are finally ready to erect on the farmhouse, and the extension will have a roof at last.

The trusses arrived a few weeks back causing a major traffic jam into the bargain. The lorry delivering them had to reverse all the way up the single track road to the farm in the late afternoon, holding up the school bus and a land rover. It was the closest we get to traffic jams and road rage on the island. The bus driver didn’t mind at all, neither did the landrover driver, but the landrover passenger…well he was getting a bit hot under the collar, being new to the island and not completely in tune with the West Highland rhythms of life. The happy farmer couldn’t resist going over, tongue in cheek, to apologise and enquire if the passenger would like to assist with unloading the trusses. He was highly entertained at the gruff response of

‘If there’s a traffic jam here I’ll soon sort it out’,

Said passenger sat firmly on his bottom, stress levels rising, only adding to the happy farmer’s huge grin. Patience is a virtue.

A wee while later and those trusses had all been unloaded, as in true island style everyone around suddenly appeared from nowhere and mucked in together to unload the lorry, drivers from waiting cars included, which only seemed to add to a certain passenger’s frustrations. The happy farmer did give him a hearty wave, as road cleared again, he proceeded on his way.

The plan was that the trusses would be on the roof within the week but as is often the case in life, all does not go completely according to plan. The trusses were ever so slightly angled too high; due to our island location transporting them away back to the mainland for resizing was out of the question. Each individual truss had to therefore be adjusted by hand, a time consuming process for the frustrated happy farmer, luckily he is a skilled, patient character.

Having spent a time consuming and frustrating week readjusting each truss by hand, finally he is ready to tackle the roof, a project he wants finished before the winter storms come lashing down.