On a Rock or a Soft Place

This is not easy, trying to hurry up and slow down at the same time. I want to move forward on so many things, but every time a problem arises, I want the time to think it through.

This is the sea side view of the proposed house with late afternoon winter lighting, and we're no closer to getting this realized than we were a month ago. We just had another meeting with the contractors, and it was as if we were moving sideways, even backwards. Costs went up, ideas went down, new problems sprang up and my enthusiasm took a bungee jump off a bridge.

The immediate decision was that we're going to have to drill for the jiban chosa, a test of the earth to see if it will hold the proposed structure. I'm not sure why we have to go through this with two structures already on the property. But they say if we don't do it now, we'll have to do it after they've been taken down, and if we find they have to reinforce the earth then it will add more than a million unexpected yen to our budget. So I guess I'd rather know that now.

The contractor said he doesn't expect any problems, but when I brought up the fact that the obaasan, who was the former owner, said that the firm rock underneath was the reason the old house had made it through so many earthquakes and typhoons, he suddenly looked worried. It turns out he's concerned that the rock may be under only a part of the lot, and if the earth foundation is hard in one part and soft in another, the prefecture may demand that we strengthen the soft part by pounding supports into the soil.

So I'll stay down in Akiya over the weekend, and take a day off on Monday as they're coming to do the test at 9am. M's got a massage school end-of-year party on Sunday night, so it will just be m and I. Then Tuesday's a national holiday, so we'll end up with a looooong weekend. I suppose I can use it to start hauling stuff to the local dump. It's much cheaper if you do it yourself than if you hire someone, and I'm sure little m will get a thrill. It doesn't matter if it's a trip to Disneyland or a dump; she thrives on new experiences.