Taming the Wild West

In my worst moments, I have been compared with Basil Fawlty. I'd like to think that the only reason for this is that I'm tall and my wife isn't, but I suspect there may be other reasons for it. You may recall that in one episode of Fawlty Towers, Basil employed a builder called O'Reilly who put a door in a weight-bearing wall and used an ordinary piece of timber as a lintel. That is something that could all too easily happen to me, because I am putty in the hands of plausible builders.

It is for that reason that we have surrounded ourselves with a good posse led by a marshal who knows how to tame the cowboys. Martyn Bennett is acting as our clerk of works, ably assisted by James Quick as site foreman, and together they have ensured that I am not landed with any cowboys. Highshore Construction are doing the bulk of the building work, and so far it's all going very well.

I'll mention everyone sooner or later, but for the moment let me pay tribute to two other key advisers. Richard Faux of Crescent Retail Installations is providing the shopfitting and design service, and has been slogging up and down the motorway at unearthly hours to do it. Stephen Tucker of SMT Associates is liaising with the various planning and building control departments, and the two of them are producing ever more complex drawings which I barely understand, though I disguise this well by at least knowing which way up they go. Their ability to have a conversation they both appear to understand while imagining the three-dimensional layout of the interior and marking in the air where a particular electrical socket or air vent will be is quite spectacular.

Just to prove something is happening inside now, here's a sneaky peek at the ceiling frame that James and his team have fashioned over the new dispensary and medicines counter. They've gained a few inches of precious height and smoothed out a lot of the ups and downs in the ceiling heights.

It may not look much, but it's the start of something big.