Seeing it for Real
The number one son arrived home tonight. The husband went and picked him up and they detoured via the city to Sbriga. After weeks of witnessing it all via photo images and Skype, he was blown away by what he saw and was very excited by the prospect of working with his brother over the next week or so. Before he picked him up, we did a quick visit late on a Friday night.
The husband can look at a plan and visualise exactly what every counter or architectural statement piece will look like so he will walk you through it like a personal Tour Guide you pay squillions for at the Vatican. I look at plans and just see lines and lots of tiny sentences written in that architectural scrawl. He can walk through the entire space at Sbriga and tell me exactly where each piece will be meticulously placed. I simply glaze over (remember, I’m not as creative as my siblings and their partners who are all in the design industry) and look forward to seeing it materialise as I did tonight. Like my brother-in-law, I was blown away by the back wall, and the Bar beginnings.
Bar Beginnings
The amount of people involved in such a tiny project is phenomenal. In addition, the effort that goes into creating our vision (from us and others) is amazing and this is just the beginning. We popped into Sbriga last Sunday afternoon and the electrician was there, beavering away. ‘I like it when there is no one around. I can get things done without any interruptions.’ he said as he pulled at cables and continued to work on the switchboard. ‘You on your own today?’ I asked. ‘Nope. Lucky’s here too.’ he responds. He casually points outside and there is Lucky, cute and placid in his winter coat, slowly walking towards me with those big brown eyes. How could I not respond by giving him a gentle pat. Sadly he wasn’t there during the week when the electrician returned, ‘Too many people, too many cars and he’s too old to be wondering around whilst I’m working. Only bring him down on weekends.’
Lucky the dog, keeping our electrician company – always showered with affection by us and the kids.
Back to the number one son who is safely tucked in bed after a long journey from the far east. Tomorrow will be spent visiting relatives, shopping for way too much food for Sunday lunch and desperately fighting jet lag whilst pre-occupying his mind with Sbriga. Gosh, I hope Nonna allows him to sleep in or will she be ripping the curtains open at 7am and opening the windows – despite the frosty morning – and rattling off all the things she wants him to get through tomorrow… deep breaths bro’, deep breaths.
Good to hear the bro has arrived safely. Good luck with the work, great to read the stories after hearing so much from him everyday. We will take good care of Jo and the boys over here. And by the way: he is there to work so make him get up early!
Thanks Niels. Nonna gave him a pretty good workout yesterday so our theory was pretty much spot on. The husband also worked him pretty hard this afternoon when we dragged him back to the Sbriga site and added significantly to the list of things he has to do.
Now onto my second beer as I leave Melbourne after 10 very hectic but rewarding days helping in some small way deliver the dream. It will obviously be a bumpy ride but I am positive it will bear fruit…
You know that the 10 days worth of craziness was well worth it…..