Chapter 11

There was a deal of difference when I pulled up outside the Dower House. First all the brambles and gorse had gone, second Aleksy had somehow got hold of a load of gravel which was spread over the approaches to the house, thirdly the balustrade along the veranda had been repaired and primed for painting and last I noticed a huge pile of granite setts. Even as I stood there one of his crew drew up in a thirty-hundredweight truck with another load of setts, recovered from the drive up to the old house. Aleksy seemed to have been expecting us as he briskly exited the house and came over to the car. "Mr. Chandler, Boss. Is good to see you, come inside there is much for you to see and I need some decisions from you." He quickly shook my hand and moved on to Tina who held her face up for a kiss.

I had seen the inside before Aleksy and his crew started work, so I was surprised at the change. All the walls had been cleaned and the channelling where pipes and electrics had been robbed away forcefully from the walls had been filled and plastered. New wiring poked out regularly from socket boxes just above the skirting and also where light switches would affixed. The Victorian tiles in the hall had gone, instead a rough concrete base had been laid. The rotten stairs had been cut away and temporary access to the upper floor was by way of a ladder. Aleksy was about to start on his explanation when a voice came from the front door.

"Hello! Can I come in?" Annabel was hovering hesitantly.

"Come in Annabel." I took a step towards her and held out my hand in welcome. I was surprised when she took my hand and didn't let go.

"I am sorry for interrupting you, but my curiosity overcame me. When I saw you drive in I thought it would be the perfect time to come and gawk."

"I am glad you did." I made the introductions "Annabel, this is Tina my secretary and bane of my life."

The two had met before although they had never been introduced. Tina welcomed Annabel with a smile. "He's a terrible boss, but can be quite docile if you put him in his place from time to time." They both smiled. Tina noticed Annabel's hand in mine and winked at me. "This is Aleksy. He is a very good builder and also my fiancé."

Aleksy took a pace forward and clicked his heels and bowed. "Is good to meet you, Miss Annabel."

"It's very good to meet you. I have seen you here with Daniel and wondered who you were." Her eyes were darting everywhere. "This is going to be fantastic when it's done, can I have a look around?"

"Of course." I told her. "Can I leave you with Tina? Aleksy has many decisions for me to make."

Aleksy had something to say first. "Please do not go up ladder. I would not like you have a fall." Tina and Annabel looked at each other. I could sense their obdurate mindset. A man tells them not to do something and they will ignore him anyway and damn well do it.

I got involved with Aleksy and his brother Stanislaw. They had spent time together and with their building experience had many suggestions. I could not fault their ideas so told them to do it as they thought best. We walked around and I selected the room on the south-west corner to be my office. Stanislaw agreed that we would need quite a few power sockets to power computers, fax machine and lights. I hated overhead lighting and preferred desk top lights. With my agreement that central heating would be a hot water system Stanislaw went off to decide the best positions of the radiators. Just before he went he suggested that skirting radiators would be best. He spoke in Polish and Aleksy translated. "He say less intrusive, boss."

"Good idea. I know the system is in good hands." Aleksy translated and Stanislaw beamed.

We were going to go up the ladder when Aleksy stopped and told me an idea for the stairs. "Old stairs came straight down. I could do that, but may I suggest something?"

"Go ahead, Aleksy."

"I would like to bring stairs down to a half landing, then turn at right angle with three more wider steps to the floor. Bottom steps to flare gradually with a bullnose either end."

He showed me a sketch he had done and I was immediately struck by the thought he had put into this. I clapped his shoulder. "That's brilliant, Aleksy. Do it just like that." I had thoughts about the house and posed a question to Aleksy. "Do you think it possible to build in toilets downstairs. One for men and the other for ladies? As it is going to be an office here as well, I could have visitors."

Aleksy thought for a moment. "Yes, Boss it's possible." He walked towards where the corridor from the kitchen to the foyer was. "I could block this off from the kitchen and make that into one." The corridor was about six feet wide. "For the other, I can use part of the back room. Put up a wall and put another door into the foyer."

"Good. Would you do that please, Aleksy."

Aleksy made me climb the ladder first and he followed closely so that I didn't put a foot wrong. He showed me what he thought would be right for turning seven bedrooms and two bathrooms into three suites. "We can do it anyway you want. The load bearing walls correspond with walls downstairs, so the other walls could be taken down but I think better this way." He produced another sketch. "Suites would be same size as rooms downstairs with two rooms each, one a bedroom with bathroom the other a sitting room. Bathroom can be accessed from both rooms or bedroom only. You will get two big suites on the back of the house and a smaller suite on the side. Here." He then pointed to the room over the servant's hall. "We can't do much with that unless you use it for another bathroom."

"That looks good." A feminine voice remarked. "What do you think Annabel?"

"I like it." Was Annabel's reply.

Aleksy and I turned to see the ladies who had crept up on us. Aleksy was a little bit angry. "I ask not to come up ladder. It could be dangerous."

"And how are we to see the house completely if we didn't come up the ladder. It's a simple procedure or didn't you think that women could master that?" I knew that Tina was feigning anger, but Aleksy didn't. Nor did Annabel. She looked at me and I shook my head with a little smile. She relaxed.

"I'm sorry, Tina." Aleksy started. "Of course you know how to use ladder, I was just worried for you."

"Ah, he's so sweet." She turned to Annabel. "Isn't he nice. He's so worried about us." She moved to him. "Come here my Polish bear. I'll give you a hug." Aleksy blushed very red.

I walked away and Annabel followed me. "So, what do you think?" I asked her.

"I find it difficult to see it in a finished state. However I liked Aleksy's ideas for up here and Tina explained what he wanted to do with the stairs. I thought that was very elegant."

"I did too. I have told him to go ahead with that, and I shall say the same to him about up here. Aleksy is good so why would I second guess the man who knows what he is doing. Tina knows what he is doing, in fact she wouldn't allow him to do anything if she thought I wouldn't like it. So really I am here to agree to ideas that he and Tina have already discussed."