Four months in Poland already. So much time at a stretch. Here in the house of the ancestors. It’s quite something else to encounter the country due this way.
Sometimes the floor has to move.
14.February2021. Sunday. It is ten o’clock in the morning. The alarm clock rings. Another round of dozing. One round later, but now awake. But it’s so cosy in bed. Getting up can wait. This smartphone: a useful invention now and then. So is what’s floating around on the internet: really useful now and then.
Many new ideas come up. Inspiration on how plants can thrive in the flat – even when no one is around. Just for fun. And a good mood.
Today, a neighbouring couple who are friends is invited for coffee and cake. Well, now it’s time to start baking. But before it’s possible to start baking, it’s time to tidy up a bit.
This building site. Dust, sand and building materials are everywhere. The project “Getting-a-flat-ready-for-rent” quickly turned at the beginning into “Converting-and-renovating-the-whole-second-floor”. And that is done by two people on site. And another person who coordinates and helps from Germany.
A major project that is more time-consuming than expected. If it were just your own four walls, everything would be much quicker. But with such a large project, other people (unfortunately) have to be involved. For example, a chimney sweeper who approves that the planned heating systems on the respective chimneys are correct. At the end of the day, he has little to no overview of where anything is and approves our planning. Maybe he was just there to give us a gift of good luck. That’s what a chimney sweeper is supposed to bring from time to time – according to German superstition, anyway. Would be nice.
However, no one can be blamed for losing track of things in this house. All these rooms, all connected to each other – or no longer. The shape of the house. And these dimensions. Old building. With ceilings so high that a person can get lost in a single room.
Also, a project manager has to be called in. You should see his face when he tried to assign his documents to the rooms. That was a comedy in itself. And then there were other people, standing around him, just waiting for him to give his permission so they can do their work. Yes, these permits. Poland hasn’t copied the best from Germany: Paperwork. All those papers and official documents. It’s also a pure comedy, if you feel like laughing: whoever came up with this seems to be far away from any practical experience.
Finally time for some colors.
Look at that, I wanted to invite you into my life for a sunny Sunday so that you could accompany me, and I ramble on and talk only about building.
But that’s just what my life is: a construction site – in the truest sense of the word. But fortunately it’s a construction site that also brings a lot of joy. Joy about beautiful realisations and successful building. Joy that is a wonderful variety from the efforts.
Four months already. And so much that has changed. And if it weren’t for the waiting for the permits, there would be even more changes..
It may be that the world seems to stand still, but here in Poland there must be a gap in time. Here, at any rate, great steps of change are visible and can be experienced. So, here on the second floor in an old building in Upper Silesia.
At this moment it seems unbelievable, but Poland is “only” a stopover. Albeit a somewhat longer one and one that is linked to an extraordinary amount of construction work. A stopover on the journey we are on. What? Already forgotten?! Yes, we are on a journey. Even if it looks as if travelling is no longer possible: it goes on.
It is slowly becoming homely.
