Monday 15 August

The cottage has gone completely.  It was all demolished by Friday, 5 August.

Just the chimney and fireplace left of the cottage

Looking at the cottage site from the belltower

Rubble awaiting removal- all that is left of the cottage

I showed Greg Homeming over the site that evening.  He claimed it looked like the Great Wall of China.  I thought this particularly inscrutable.  He also eyed the fig tree and thought it should go. 

Then from Monday 8 August they set to work demolishing the farm yard and buildings.  They were a little too enthusiastic.  I thought we had an agreement that we would keep the last three bays of the barn.  However on Tuesday after lunch I went up and found it all been demolished.  The farmer had moved out his last bails of hay and the tractor was out in the yard.

The barn begins to go

The barn has gone but the farm yard remains

The cleared site- just add one new priory!

So that set me off to find a place for the tractor out of the weather.  I walked around with Andrew Theiring which was helpful.  The west facing covered area of the novitiate seemed best.  By Thursday the tractor and slasher were snug there.  All we need to do now is get a new battery so we can start the tractor without jump leads.

Also on Tuesday I took Des Williamson up to view the site.  He was delighted the farm sheds had gone.  Not too surprisingly he was also keen to see the end of the fig tree.  When the regional chapter is in session next week we may need to discern the fate of the fig tree.  I hope not.

The fig tree

The main work last week was clearing the site and getting the levels set.  Towards the end of the week the surveyors came back and plotted out marks which were recorded in an apparently simple but sophisticated instrument so that the builders could find exactly where everything was to go.  This is actually quite complicated.  There are many levels in the building and few 90 degree angles.  This is what will make the building interesting to walk through.  But it does mean that the builders have to be painstaking, precise and patient.

On Friday I missed seeing Maurie,the foreman.  In the evening as I was approaching Fairy Meadow parish in Wollongong for the disco sponsored by the Bethzatha group for disabled people my phone rang.  It was Gerard.  There was no water in the novitiate.  The novitiate was needed for a big retreat group.  He thought the builders may have turned it off.  I doubted if this was the case.  It seemed more likely that the builders had broken a pipe in the excavations and not known where it was going or if it was still needed.  I gave him Maurie's number.  It was all sorted as best as could be at that hour.

First thing on Saturday morning while we were at mass the plumbers arrived and set to repairing the pipe.  This was not so easy as we do not have a record of where the various pipes are.  Thankfully they found the tap to turn off the water so that they could then fix the problem promptly.

Today, Monday, the excavators are digging down into the rock to excavate the big underground water tank.  There are plumbers all over the site.  They are preparing to dig the trenches for the new water supply which will be needed for the fire hydrants and our new water supply.  This trench will be at least 600 metres long!

Excavating our underground rainwater tank

Much of the cost of the new priory is for things that we will never see as they are underground- such things as the pump for the fire hydrants, the new pipes and the foundations of the priory.

The foundations are complicated.  Basically the building rests on piers which are holes drilled into the ground which then have steel reinforcement placed in them and are filled with concrete.  The concrete slab is floated on these, sometimes with a 'waffle pod' between the concrete and the soil.  All this is necessary because our soil is reactive clay.  It expands when wet and contracts when dry.  So, as we know from the retreat centre building, reactive clay can crack large buildings.

Just how gluggy the wet clay can get was clear when I took Jim Noonan the Irish Provincial over the site on Thursday.  My boots and his sandals doubled in size.  Cleaning them was a chore. 

They start drilling the piers tomorrow.  It will be a busy week on site.

Today is the feast of the Assumption and Indian Independence Day.  Happy celebrations!