I’ve been taking a short blogging sabbatical for the past two weeks and now it’s time to tickle those old keyboard keys and bring you up to date on the happenings around the ODEC construction site, so let’s take a blogging stroll around part of the campus!
Stand with me at the corner of our Old Church and look across at the building that is the new Great Hall and Narthex. Just 9 months have past since the Scott Crumley building machine broke ground on what was our old car park. For much of that time ground between the edge of the graveyard and Witchduck Road has been a no man’s land mired in mud, dust, building material, and general construction debris accessible only to those wearing wellie boots* or sensible constructers’ footwear (unlike your blogger who will never see that missing slip-on shoe again) and constantly crisscrossed by mud-churning heavy plant of the yellow variety. Larry Higgerson and his site team have transformed the area and the no-man’s land is gone! Now we are looking at neat landscaping that abuts the new exposed agate pathways (there I go again, sounding like I know concrete), which is, as some may recall, the same finish as the pre-construction paths. One walkway closely follows the route of the old path that used to run from the Church to the Tucker Hall entrance now with a slight detour to connect with the new porch and entrance at the west end of the Great Hall and then on to connect to the main Narthex doors. Beyond that the new path sweeps along the front of the building past the Day School offices to the Day School entrance where it links with the old path running along the cemetery side of the Church. As we walk this path towards the Day School entrance we pass, on our left, a new concrete patio where folks will be able to sit, contemplate, chat to friends or even use the new outside WiFi to catch up on the goings on at ODEC. Back to our vantage point by the Old Church, looking towards Witchduck Rd we can see order appearing out of construction mayhem. The curbs that delineate the carpark and vehicle entrance are all in place and the surface is all prepared for laying the tarmac. Once again, the landscaping is complete and in many places sporting a straw-net “wig” laced with contractor’s grade grass seed – staying with the straw-net the one laid at the rear is now covered with a fledgling grass lawn that will soon need cutting! Enough of the outside, let's walk the new path once more but this time turn off at the west end entrance to the Great Hall. Inside the Hall the sheet rock is brandishing a new coat of “balanced beige” paint nicely set off by a white ceiling reaching to apex of the roof. To either side of the apex ceiling the suspended ceiling matrix has been installed and as I type “It’s Electric” are busily installing the lighting system. Crossing the Great Hall into the Narthex another ceiling matrix is in place and in the Narthex restrooms floor tiles are laid. From the Narthex we can walk through the double doors and into the Angel’s office (still where it always was) now, like the rest of the corridor and its offices, fitted out with new carpet, freshly painted walls and new lighting. Moseying from the Angel’s office into the corridor to the left we find the first incumbent to reoccupy their refurbished office. Father Bob is back from his various “roaming locations” and now when he says “I’ll be in my office” you’ll know where to find him! Enjoy your weekend, stay safe and stay healthy, David Beach “Rubber Wellies” English vernacular for rubber boots that are known in the UK as wellington boots after the Duke of Wellington of the Battle of Waterloo (18 Jun 1815) fame who is reputed to have developed the knee length leather boot that evolved into the rubber wellington boot (the wellie).
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The chap in a yellow safety jacket wielding a rake said, “There’s nothing like topsoil to finish it off,” and I cannot disagree with that assessment from a man who knows how to shift earth!
Larry Higgerson and his team have put the finishing touches to our storm water system and as the redoubtable Larry said, “It’s great to be above ground at last” and that means final grading, spreading topsoil and laying grass matting. In past blogs I have waxed lyrical about the big, powerful, yellow machines that have roamed our grounds with brutal efficiency as they excavate, fill, and pound the earth and once again a big yellow machine has held center stage this week. This time it has been a master class in precise “excavator bucket” handling to spread topsoil into the tightest corners of the site and operated by a fellow with such a deft hand that I believe he could use the excavator bucket to pull the skin off a rice pudding* without spilling a drop much less breaking the bowl! I have tried to capture his dexterity in the pictures above, alas they do no justice to skill of the man at the controls. Staying outside there’s been a lot of work on installing trim and finishing the entrance porches around the building and whilst this is in itself a sight to behold the real eye catcher has to be the head of the crew and, I think, owner of the business. He is clearly a rather tenacious and hardy chap who whilst working on another site took a tumble off a ladder and in doing so managed to damage the tendons in this right elbow. He is waiting to get scheduled for surgery but in the meantime, he is working a full day albeit with his right arm in plaster from armpit to wrist!! Inside the ladies of the sheet rock finishing team have been continuing their “altitude” act with alacrity as they stretch a scissor lift, quite literally, to its limits whilst their boss keeps a critical eye on their work from the safety of terra firma (a man after my own heart when it comes to heights). Some may recall from the dim and distant past that our Rector’s office used to have windows that looked out onto a shady and sun dappled entrance to the old building. That “shady and sun dappled entrance” was, of course, an early casualty of the new building and that space is now occupied by the Narthex and in particular the two new restrooms that now back on to the Rector’s office – please rest assured the windows are no more. This week the sheet rock team has been doing their thing in restrooms as a prelude to the finishing ladies working their magic then it will be the turn of the plumbers. And it’s not all been contractor action for our own Shirley the weekday sexton and Mathew the weekend sexton have been doing their bit for the project. In the past I’ve blogged about, and posted pictures of, the furniture, box and sundry item “mountain” in Tucker Hall. Well, that mountain is no more. Furniture and boxes have either been returned to the rightful owners’ offices or placed in a handy spot for future distribution in the new spaces and soon it will be time for Father Bob, Mother Ashley and Gretchen to move back into their rightful workspaces!! I’ll be taking a blogging-break for a couple of weeks but in the meantime stay safe and stay healthy, David Beach "Rice pudding" I'm not sure rice pudding is a familiar dish in the States but it was one of my Mum's go to deserts. Her recipe created a hot, rather "sloppy," but rather tasty concoction with a crispy topping (the skin) considered by my brother and I to be the choice part of the serving! |
AuthorDavid Beach is our Building Project Manager, and has been an active part of our parish family for more than a decade. He is retired from NATO and the British Army and is a joy and blessing to all of us. Archives
July 2021
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