Day 43: Introducing Bob the Builder

Nothing further happening until tomorrow, so I thought I'd introduce Bob the Builder, pictured above with his trusty nail gun. I have known Bob since I was 13 years old. I met him at the same time as I met his sister, S, who is my closest friend, through hockey. Their mother was also involved as were their younger sisters, and over time got to know the whole family. I always got along well with Bob - he played Under 16 boys at when we played Under 16 girls competition and we all trained at the same time. I was a goalkeeper and later, Bob would stand behind the goals and chat to me when things were quiet down in defence. They were great days as S played right back and another good friend L played left back and we had a lot of fun. And we played on grass; none of that synthetic stuff! I have kept in contact with Bob over the years, mainly through catch ups with the family when S is visiting from Sydney. The family has always made me feel very welcome and Stos and I are without fail invited to a gathering at these times,. Strangely, when we first bought this house (now block), I asked Bob to drop by with S and her partner D (also a builder) to see if he had any suggestions. While D had some good ideas, for rennovation Bob just said "Pull it down" and wasn't interested. Prophetic as it turns out, but far from not being of interest, it is now as much his project as ours and he is passionate about it to the point that we are going to have some healthy debates about look and finish. But that's fine - I would rather that than have someone just building a mass market design, with no stake or interest in the outcome other than completing the requirements of the contract. I must get around to putting up a link to Bob's website so that people can see some of the wonderful properties that he has built, and having been to all that he has lived in himself, I can say that they are as impressive as they look. But our house will be a different shape given that we have a rectangular block as opposed to the irregular land that Bob normally builds on, so it will be quite unique. Just the way we want it. Photo courtesy of Bob's youngest sister Y, who turned up for a visit when I didn't have my camera - great work!