(Simon & Garfunkle, 1970)
How many men does it take to hammer a nail into a wall?
Actually, what is happening here is the marking out of the kitchen partitions. It's a precision task, which has to be done right. Since the kitchen units, ceiling and floor all having to fit snugly together, there is no margin for error.
Hopefully, with this now done, there will be no more delaying with putting up the walls, which has to be done before the floor can be laid.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the house, the first fix is progressing, but at at a snails pace. The pipes (finally done) are being boxed in and the surrounds of the windows tidied up.
One of the reasons this is moving so slowly is that the contractor has a few men ill, and can only put a few men on site. Their team manager has recognised that they are "dans la merde" (sic.), and is now considering our suggestion than he subcontract some of the remaining tasks to our original wonder crew, who did the first part of the works so well and so efficiently (and who are also at the ready to step in to do the final finish). Of course we cannot impose this solution - it's a deal the contractors have to work out between them - but we are hopeful that they see the sense of it. We shall see...
* I think only Liz will get this...
