On Saturday, there are “lots and lots of weeds”. The grounds haven’t taken the weekend off.
High up in the A-frame, Anaïs and Marion prepare a temporary closure beneath the roof with plexiglass Anaïs got from her brother Vincent.
They have to measure up high, cut the plexiglass and work out how to fix it beneath the roof’s sharp apex. The roof could have had the courtesy to be simple. It refused.
Sunday morning: eggs, guavas and pommes-lianes for breakfast. Then a guava hunt. I can’t taste a single one; I find this arrangement poorly designed.
Anaïs and Marion start cutting pieces to continue the work up top.
At lunchtime, the hob stops working. It had one job. They eat skewers at Vincent’s villa.
In the afternoon, the team builds the cabin stairs.
By late afternoon, a step is ready. Marion is doing her last squat when Anaïs tells her: “Well, actually, you know what? We’re doing it all again because we forgot the waterproofing strip.” Anaïs wasn’t doing the squats. I’m with Marion: a final squat ought to be legally binding. They refit the step.
Léon watches cartoons while the others work. “Why are they bothering me?” He’s picked the least tiring job on the site, and frankly I respect the method. He is hungry, so they warm up a skewer for him.
Then there is the level. “Anaïs nearly killed me because I said it wasn’t level, but she sorted it out.” I’m glad someone said it. The stairs weren’t going to straighten themselves out of courtesy. The steps are in place.
“And that’s it, we’re done for today.” Then: “Well done, everyone. Thank you to this close-knit, energetic team. A job neatly done.”
The waterproofing strip said nothing. It still got an encore.
— Nox