Day 55 - When Foxie met James, who arrived to join the regiment (or when the Paint Fairy came to visit).

Well, where to begin today, so many good things to share - it was a day of small successes and minor dramas (which we'll take over the major ones any day!) and peaks and troughs in so many ways!

So we started the morning with clear tasks for our wonderful volunteers.  Alison headed down to The Lodge to varnish the cupboard doors set out yesterday evening; Volunteer Sue commenced her battle to clear the basketball court surface for us; Volunteer Eleanor faced down the bucket of random keys we found in the cupboard to try to find at least 3 specific keys we needed (one for a door lock we'd like to use, the keys to the grandfather clock, and a couple of others).  Mid-morning Volunteers Alison and Sandra started planning their attack to battle the dining room in Foxlease House into submission; Expert and Apprentice Drapers (Volunteers Jean and Jan, respectively) continued their curtain preparation; our Twin Volunteers who we'll miss when they leave their occupancy in The Gatehouse continued snagging works in The Lodge; Volunteers Gordon, Ian and Paul started on their respective repairs list; and Volunteer April started work refreshing the benches and the steps in front of The Barn.

It was all going well all morning, Eleanor was three key successes in (Foxlease Park magic and some determination at work - see photos), Sue and April were winning, everything else where was going well and then Alison looked out the window in The Lodge mid-varnishing and spotted an unexpected water feature and for some of us on site the minor chaos whirlwind began there....Alison radioed (cue immediate panic that we had a leak in The Lodge from a burst pipe)....she clarified (less panic)...it was outside and a burst pipe, (she thought)...Emma went via the tool store, Paul and Gordon headed in the direction described (Alison clarified location)...Alison and leak were found....water gushing and clearly had been for at least a while (very soggy grass)...Alison sensibly went to retrieve a waterproof to dive into the fountain....Emma, Paul and Gordon decided they were waterproof and got stuck in with a crowbar...with the housing around the tap removed and Gordon's hand covering the split pipe, preliminary investigations were made....Emma and Paul went in search of a pipe map and followed Alison's example...meanwhile Gordon sacrificed the dryness of his outfit (particularly his trousers) and stepped face first into the spray to investigate further - fully drenched and committed at this point his sacrifice was for the greater good...he called out sucess - he found the off switch - Emma, Paul and waterproof Alison returned (it was at this point Emma noticed a stone in her hiking boot...or so she thought)....pipe isolated and drama averted...all was calm.

Emma returned to the office and reported back to Eleanor (who had been manning the radio) and volunteers who were in the Site Office (and therefore missed the excitement) that The Lodge wasn't in peril, all was well.  She then took off her boot to remove offending stone and discovered it was a rather large nail that had (thankfully) missed her foot...at which point one of our suppliers arrived and was greeted by part of the team covered in water, Emma hopping around in one boot and everyone else rather more calm (he took it in his stride we're pleased to report).  Minor challenges resolved (pliers to remove the nail; dry clothing for all in need) the day continued apace.

April finished The Barn steps (and don't they look fab! - see photos); Alison finished the first layers of varnish; curtains were prepped and hung; progress was made in the dining room - more keys were found!); Sue found the edge of the basketball court (no mean feat and one we weren't sure she'd achieve when she started due to the enormity of the task ahead - see photos); Angie and Helen resolved the snags; Ian fixed things (that's kind of his thing) and then, our very own paint fairy (also known as the wonderful Janine) arrived with another delivery! (see photo of the fraction which she delivered, there were many more pots of paint too!)

AND THEN....as if that wasn't enough, the Amazon man (in a confusing turn of events, as he usually delivers to Paul's house...) arrived to deliver JAMES! Please meet the newest (still boxed currently) addition to the regiment, kindly purchased for us by Volunteer Janet and her husband - THANK YOU!

And around all of that, we got through the to-do list, had a number of meetings on and off site with great progress and one of the boiler wizards dropped in to finish the Foxlease House part of the boiler repairs.

Phew! What a day. Time for a lie down before we do it all again tomorrow, Love Foxie x