Day 63 - Foxie's First Power Cut! (or when everyone moved outside)

Another first for us today at Foxlease Park with Foxie's First Power Cut! The day started well with the team on site based up at The Lodge and working hard to finish any remaining snagging on the ground floor and to complete finishing works on the first floor and good progress was made.  We had sewing machines at work downstairs in the Main Hall, cutting and preparing patterns for our donated foxie toys to wear when they are added to the Foxie's Shop.  We had deep cleaning of the cupboards in the upstairs kitchen, silicone sealant being applied in all kitchen rooms, window catches were fixed, holes were filled and skirting boards were scrubbed clean; radiators were dismantled and cleaned (before and afters coming tomorrow).  We also had a great number of lists being made to make sure we know what needs to be stocked into The Lodge from elsewhere.  Volunteer Plumber Pete was back hard at work completing repairs to the leak in one of the downstairs toilet (day 2...).  We had Volunteers Mary and Gwen moving kitchen items identified as needed yesterday up to The Lodge.

We also had the contracted plumbers back on site working on the hot water fittings in The Barn.  All was going well and most of the team stopped for a lunch break when Volunteer Pete (today known as Pete Pete, rather than Plumber Pete, due to the number on site) came down to check whether we had power in Foxlease House...yes, we said...ah, he said...and then explained that The Lodge was without.  We initially assumed something had tripped it, found the right keys, got up to The Lodge and checked it out and all was in the right place but...no power....we checked the other buildings...all fine...we dialed our magician electrician remotely to ask if there was something we were missing and he gave us some suggestions to check...all was fine.  We concluded we were out of things to check and then Deborah in the office announced that she had had some success as Emery Down had reported an unexpected power outage....which was only affecting The Lodge!  All of which happened in the space of 20 minutes or so. 

With no immediate crisis and nothing to be done to change things until things came back online our volunteers pivoted in their tasks for the day and the majority relocated outside, with Foxie necker production moving to the Site Office where we had both lighting and power.  Plumber Pete managed to finish day 2 of fixing the troublesome toilet regardless of the power failure (which lasted several hours).  Meanwhile, we had volunteers clearing more of the weeds and overgrowth from the Rose Garden, the Sundial Garden and also what we think (due to the abundance of sage) may once have been the herb garden at the back of Foxlease House and all of those areas look so much more loved due to their few hours of unexpected attention this afternoon and they did a wonderful job.  The also re-discovered the beautifully messaged stone bird bath and we think the inscription is lovely: "Bird song at morning, star shine at night".

Day 2 of the pergola/wooden structure levelling also proceeded and Volunteers Pete and Gordon had great success (see photo) with the added benefit that it also gives us some wood to reuse on some fencing repairs elsewhere on site - we just have a pile of it to clear over the next couple of days.

Once power was back, Volunteers Steph and Karen ventured back up to The Lodge to finish painting (in Steph's case - she was also responsible for repainting the white post in the Sundial Garden, which looks great) and deep cleaning the Main Hall radiators (in Karen's case).  More to do in The Lodge tomorrow than expected due to the unexpected lost time today but at least we know our emergency lighting in The Lodge works in a real life scenario and not just when we're testing it!

Cleaning up the big piles of wooden things on site tomorrow and getting things tidy again, Love Foxie x