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January 4th, 2009
02:33 pm - Review of 2008
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Me - kayaked the English Channel, ran a race.
J - kayaked the English Channel, ran five marathons, whitewater roll
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Can't remember and yes, mainly to do with fitness
2b. What are your New Year's Resolutions for 2009?
J - Do more outside of work and running
C - Run 10k race in the summer, beat time in 2008's Christmas Pudding Race.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No
5. What countries did you visit?
Me - Ireland, Poland, France, Spain
J- Ireland, France, US
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Me - the ability to get up before 5 in the morning effortlessly!
J - kitchen! A challenge other than running
7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
13th July - see below.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Me - kayaking across the Channel
J - 4 marathons and a cross channel kayak
9. What was your biggest failure?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Colds.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Sea kayak paddles
New boiler
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
All those friends who got married.... Si&ali, Nige & Abby, Lynn & Chris
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
George Bush. Again. Hopefully for the last time
14. Where did most of your money go?
House. New boiler
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Me - kayaking across the Channel, getting a medal after my first race
J - whitewater roll
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Polyphonic Spree - Lithium (with sock puppets on You Tube)
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier (J), Same (me)
ii. thinner or fatter? Same (J), thinner (me)
iii. richer or poorer? Same
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
J - Being more productive outside of work, domestic chores
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Me - getting annoyed at J's inability to do domestic chores
20. How will/did you spend New Year?
In the pub
21. What LJ users did you meet for the first time?
none.
22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
No
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
C - Earth Pilgrim
J - Olympics
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.
26. What was the best book you read?
J - Feet in the Clouds.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
28. What did you want and get?
Boiler, planning permission
29. What did you want and not get?
J - kitchen
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
J - Keeping Mum.
C - Don't think I watched any films
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
C - work
J - sold cakes
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
J - kitchen
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Howies.
34. What kept you sane?
C - Reading, gym, sleeping
J - running
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
none
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Climate Change Bill
37. Who did you miss?
seeing friends - not often enough
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Steve Gough.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
C - you're never the wrong shape to achieve your ambitions
J - you can't run a great marathon every time you turn up to the start line
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
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May 5th, 2008
04:58 pm - Training in the sun!
For the first time this year, we've been out training in bright sunshine. Long sleeves and sun cream needed. My usual summer hand tan has started to show. Did 20 miles today. The last one before we had a break at 10 miles seemed long and miles 17 to 20 were hard. Parts of my palms are now a nice shade of red - not due to the sun.
Splits:
Y to CS: 30.5
CS to OW: 22
OW to EL: 11.5
EL to PL: 17
PL to EL2: 13
EL2 to TL: 21
TL to LS: 33.5 (this is supposed to be a 1.75m stretch, but it felt much longer...)
Return
LS to TL: 31.5
TL to EL2: 20.5
EL2 to PL: 12
PL to EL: 17.5
EL to OW: 11
OW to CS: 20
CS to Y: 26 We were exactly 10 minutes quicker on the return leg and paddled for a total of nearly 5 hours.
Met a couple of Environment Agency guys at one of the locks. For the first time ever, we were asked for our licences. They also said that the canoe shoot should be fixed next winter. Excellent.
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04:57 pm - Asparagus
Had my first taste of asparagus this year yesterday. Will be sick of it by the end of May, of course, but at the moment it's fantastic.
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May 4th, 2008
02:52 pm - Paddling in the sun
A milestone this year - yesterday I went paddling in warm sunshine! No need for gloves or hat or thermal base layer. I have, in fact, taken the plunge and assumed I won't need said baselayer again until next winter so it's had a wash ready for storing away.
Took Warren from work for an introductory paddle. 4 miles on a small, flat, with very gentle flow, river near home. Extremely picturesque and definitely one to repeat. It was interesting going out with a beginner, because it showed that no matter how crap I think my kayaking is, it looks quite competent next to a beginner! By the end of the four miles Warren was tired, but was managing to go in a straight line, especially if he was talking to me and so not thinking about his paddling.
20 miles training tomorrow. Gulp!
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May 1st, 2008
06:24 pm - Gdansk
Just back from a trip to Gdansk for a conference. Am enjoying eating fruit and vegetables and being antisocial. I won't need to be antisocial for long, but constant company of business acquaintances from breakfast til the end of the evening gets a bit trying after a while. I did find a little fruit: 2 dried apricots in the breakfast muesli one day, an apple slice and some berries on a tart.
Flew out ridiculously early on Sunday. Met up with another delegate and, joy of joys, got a lift from someone she knew from Gdansk airport to the hotel. The hotel was very nice, only later did I discover the consequences of it having a nightclub (populated by what looked like underage teenagers) in the basement. JW took us and P (French delegate) out to Sopot - tourist resort popular with weekending Warsaw-people.
Monday started with a walking tour of the old town of Gdansk, which was excellent. If I could bring myself to fly for pleasure then it would definitely be a long weekend destination. The old town is very reminiscent of Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Of course, it was helped by being sunny and warm. The guide kept giving out sweets to people who answered questions. I won two - one of which was for knowing the Polish for 'beer'. Priorities!
Managed to avoid the pepper vodka, potatoes mixed with lard and being thrown up and down in the middle of the restaurant on Monday night. What a change statisticians and related individuals undergo when released from their be-suited discussions of stats. Did my presentation on Tuesday. Had positive feedback, but impossible to know how it went really.
Spoke loads of French with P. Fantastic to talk to a different person than my teacher, especially one closer to my own age. Learnt some new slang - not possible from a dictionary because it's impossible to know when it's appropriate to use it. He offered to give me translations for any other words I wanted to know, but my mind went blank. Aaarrgghh. I'm sure there are loads of words I'd like to know. Learnt the phrase "se bourrer la gueule", which means to get pissed (I didn't!). I think you can also say 'j'etais bourre' - I was pissed. Also learnt 'c'est marron', which came in handy last night when my kayak trip came up for discussion and some of the other were discussing the possible ways a ship could run me down or my boat could fold in two (not sure what type of boat they think I have). The main discussers didn't look very sporty - when P was talking with one about running the Paris marathon earlier this year, one came out with the line 'why run, when you can drive it?"
Ended up last night in a bar playing 80s music (what is it with central European countries and their fondness for the 80s?). It seemed to be a bit of a cult bar, but what was interesting was that there were newspaper cut out pictures of Trotsky, Che and Castro on the walls, and a big screen showing archive video footage from the communist days (parades, esteemed leaders, statues etc). I guess the gap of nearly 20 years since the fall of the communist regime is starting to show. Left at 1 to get some sleep before an early flight - I needn't have bothered. Today is a public holiday in Poland, so the clubs and people milling around outside (under my window) didn't stop until 5am. Not much sleep, but I still seem to be functioning (of course, this whole post could turn into gibberish next time I check my LJ).
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06:15 pm - Kayak training
Time to play catch up. March and April have been incredibly busy. Between work (doing 1.5 jobs!), job applications, training and the very odd pint of beer, I haven't had time for anything; apart from eating and sleeping, of course, though the shortcuts we've taken on the former over the last few weeks show in the onion mountain we currently have.
Went out paddling on the 19th. Second time in new boat and we definitely got a much better rhythm going.
Splits:
Y to CS: 29 mins
CS - OW: 22
Ow - EL: 12
EL - PL: 17
PL - EL: 17
EL - OW: 11
OW - CS: 17
CS - Y: 24
A bit of flow on the river for the last two stretches.
Out again this weekend - twice! Woohoo! Taking a beginner out for a gentle pootle on Saturday afternoon, then another training session on Monday.
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April 15th, 2008
01:02 pm - Paddling
J has bought a double sit on top for training. We tried it out for the first time on Saturday. It made me realise that the doubles teams doing the DW who had not managed to synchronise their paddle strokes were a lot less efficient than those who had. Over 126 miles I imagine that would have quite an impact (especially in the hail, snow, gale force winds etc that they had to contend with this year). We did find that our speeds were faster, though J said that to match my stroke he had to paddle more. I attribute this to my having to paddle more when paddling my normal boat, which really is not designed to go in a straight line over any distance. Manoeuvrable it may be, but it takes a lot of correction strokes to keep in a straight line, especially upstream. Paddling a double was luxurious by comparison. As J was in charge of the steering, I could concentrate on forward paddling. Splits: Y to CS 33mins CS to OW 22mins OW to CS 16mins CS to Y 23.5mins The 10% rule seems to be holding true. That and the fact that paddling downstream is a lot easier than paddling upstream when there is some flow.
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March 31st, 2008
08:47 pm - Easter Monday
Splits for Monday's very cold and snowy paddle:
Y to CS (2m) - 39
CS to OW (1.25m) - 28
OW to EL (0.75) - 16
EL to Bridge - 20
Bridge to EL - 15
EL to OW (0.75) - 11
OW to CS (1.25m) - 20
CS to Y (2m) - 27.5
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March 16th, 2008
03:01 pm - Paddling
Nice calm, sunny day for paddling yesterday. Such a contrast to two weeks ago. We did 13 miles yesterday. There was definite flow on the river - we even found an eddy line on a bend in the river. That was a first!
Y - CS - 39 mins
CS - Y - 29 mins
Y - CS - 38 mins
CS - Y - 29 mins
Y - CS - 37.5 mins
CS - Y - 29 mins
CS to bridge and back - 17 mins.
15 miles next time.
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March 2nd, 2008
07:38 am - Gardening
Found ourselves watching Gardeners' World on Friday night. Wondered whether middle-age has struck prematurely. We were both rather tired from the week (speaking French solidly for 4 days left me quite brain dead) and GW was talking about fruit. We (eventually) want to put some fruit in the garden. We're currently mulling apples (2) and apricot. The apricot would be trained up the south facing wall. We'll work on garden design while the building work is being done this year. 2009 should be the year of the garden.
I spent yesterday afternoon in the garden, trimming the jungle back from the pavement so that at least we start the summer with people able to walk down the road. I moved the potatoes into the light. On GW, he put the potatoes for chitting straight into a light place, whereas the instructions from Garden Organic said to put them in the dark for 10 days and then move to the light. We've followed the latter instructions, but aren't sure if one is more right than the other. Today I'm going to do more trimming and planting up some seeds inside.
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07:29 am - Paddling
Paddling yesterday morning. A bright sunny day, but very windy with sudden gusts. Probably replicated being on the sea quite well - we were even surfing small waves at times. Met two sea paddlers who had decided the sea was too treacherous and so had taken to the river instead. I found the paddling hard, especially the last 4 miles or so back upstream. Can feel my shoulder and back muscles today after 3 and a half hours constant paddling.
Y to shoot (2.25m) upstream - 40mins
Shoot to Y (2.25m) downstream - 33 mins.
Y to T (3.5m) downstream - 1h02
T to Y (3.5m) upstream - 1h15
12.5 miles in a fortnight's time. Think I'd better up my gym work in the meantime. It's a shame we can't get out next weekend, but time will not allow. A's coming with us on our next jaunt.
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February 18th, 2008
12:40 pm - Weekend
Paddled about 7 to 8 miles on Saturday morning. This was a more leisurely paddle as A came with us and I kept having to stop to warm up my right hand. We started early so, although it was going to be a sunny day, the air temperature was still in minus figures when we got on the water. Roll on spring!
We paddled upstream from Y just under a mile, then back, down the weir and 4 or so miles down to T and back. As we were helmeting up to go down the weir two EA guys were watching us from the bridge above. As J manouevred his kayak behind the barrier they put up in front of the weir a few years ago, one of them said to A and I, 'we put that there to stop you!'. I had always wondered whether the EA would try to stop kayakers going down the weir; now I've found out. I commented that it was a shame there wasn't a canoe shoot there as there is further upstream and said that this slope used to be our canoe shoot. 'Oh yes,' said one of the EA guys, 'I've done it lots of times'. With a final comment of 'very wise' in response to A and I helmeting up, we went down the slope and waved goodbye! No telling off at all.
Paddling felt good the whole way, no aches or pains. We'll see if that holds true for the 11 miles we'll be doing in a fortnight.
Had a v.nice pub lunch afterwards in a brew pub. Unfortunately, not in a position to enjoy the beer as I seem to have come down with a cold. This started before getting freezing fingers while kayaking, but is v.annoying.
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January 27th, 2008
10:23 am - DIY
Got up early this morning to paint the side of the house. This side became prone to graffiti while it was empty before we moved in. Since then it has got worse and as the council (who said they'd clean it off) can't seem to get started we decided to paint it. A first coat took the two of us about 40 minutes. We'll give it another coat later. Then I expect it'll be a war of attrition between us and the graffiti yobs. Later this year the whole house will be covered by scaffolding for several months while the render is taken off and insulation and a new render coat put on.
If only some of the graffiti yobs had the talent of Banksy, rather than just boring tags.
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10:09 am - Crossing the Channel in a Kayak
We have started to think about how we can train adequately for a summer crossing of the channel within the constraint of NOT ENOUGH TIME. We can both go to the gym or pool three times a week by getting up hideously early and going on the way to work for an hour long session. I've been focusing on weights, rower and treadmill. Actual river paddling we can only really do on Saturdays. Can this be enough? Enough to get us across, we're not going for any records.
We've come up with the following schedule:
Date/mileage:
26/01/08 – 7
16/02/08 – 7 + 1.5
01/03/08 – 11 slow
15/03/08 – 11 + 1.5
24/03/08 – 7 + 1.5
05/04/08 – 15
19/04/08
26/04/08
05/05/08
10/05/08 – 17
31/05/08 – 11 + 1.5
J has constructed this based on how he trains for marathons. He'll fill in the gaps before we reach April.
Yesterday's 7 miles went OK, though I found it hard. J said this morning that because my arms ached a bit today, and my stomach muscles didn't, that I'm probably not twisting my torso enough. We might try to get out for an early (due to parents and insulation deliveries) paddle next Saturday to look at technique. Have a small blister on my left thumb - obvious I haven't been in my boat for months.
The splits were:
Y to canoe shoot (2.25m) - 38 mins (upstream)
Canoe shoot to Y (2.25m) - 30 mins (helped by a little river flow I think)
Loop 1 (1.5m) - 25 mins
Loop 2 (1.5m) - 30 mins
Speed probably not helped by paddling whitewater boats! We have been wondering whether to buy a double non-whitewater boat, but are reluctant due to cost; we're not likely to ever paddle double except across the channel (and may be on the DW if we're ever mad enough).
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January 18th, 2008
05:58 pm - House
Our New Year's resolution to do more on the house is already taking effect. We're starting with the dining room since that is the closest to being finished now that the damp work is done (no bare bricks! A nice plastered wall ready for painting!). The first task was to resurrect the poor parquet floor that has suffered so much over the last year. J got some special cleaner and some wood oil from Ecomerchant, who are an excellent green building supplier. He spent a day cleaning the floor, at the end of which it still looked dirty. I spent 5 hours doing a first coat of oil. The pattern is so intricate that the need to oil with the grain means it takes ages. J did a second coat last weekend and it's looking great now.
P the green architect says that the conservation officer is OK with the external insulation and solar panel plans, so we're ready to submit for planning permission. Still keeping fingers crossed that building work can start in a couple of months. Then we can get a new kitchen. Hurrah!
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05:21 pm - Review of 2007
1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Me - Crib Goch without feeling scared, lead novices up a mountain, went to first football game.
J - Snowdonia marathon and a whole year of running
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Can't remember and yes, mainly to do with fitness
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Jen to Eleanor on Feb 1st
Karen to Imogen in November
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No
5. What countries did you visit?
Slovakia, France, Luxembourg, Belgium
J- Slovakia, France, US
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Time.
J - kitchen!
7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
10th anniversary.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
18m walk up to 2300m in Slovakia, speaking fluent French during the whole of a 2 day conference in Luxembourg
J - above and Snowdonia marathon
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not doing enough on the house
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Colds. Hip is nearly sorted, back is fully sorted. Result!
11. What was the best thing you bought?
The Pauls' reports on our house - one Paul did a damp report, the other Paul is the green architect who has guided us on renovating 'greenly' an old house.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
All those friends who got engaged.... Si&ali, Nige & Abby, Lynn & Chris
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Tony Blair & George Bush. Again.
14. Where did most of your money go?
buying and renovating house.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The groans' veg plot, going to Kendal for the film fest
J - Marathon, finding a tatonka flask
16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier
ii. thinner or fatter? thinner
iii. richer or poorer? poorer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Kayaking.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
commuting.
J - watch TV
20. How will/did you spend New Year?
At Snowden Ranger Hostel with friends.
21. What LJ users did you meet for the first time?
none.
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
only more so.
23. How many one-night stands?
None.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
er, didn't really watch much TV
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. Previous owner of our house comes close for doing such stupid things to it and ignoring/neglecting it so completely.
26. What was the best book you read?
Deathly hallows was the most anticipated.
Barbara Kingsolver's 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' was the most enjoyable read.
Mark Lynas' 'Six Degrees' the most eye-opening and alarming.
I don't think J read anything other than DH
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The rediscovery of 'Gin Soaked Boy' by the Divine Comedy
28. What did you want and get?
a house and the new HP book!
J - marathon result and an FLM place
29. What did you want and not get?
J - kitchen
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Only saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Camping in Sussex and buying new walking boots
32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
J - kitchen
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Howies.
34. What kept you sane?
Reading
J - running
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
none
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I'll just copy and paste Deb's answer here as it's the same as what I came up with when doing this questionnaire in the pub: climate change, ID cards, access to rivers in England (currenly only about 2%)
37. Who did you miss?
friends
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Zannah and Gary.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
You can't do everything - do what you can and accept what you can't
J - be strict wth your training programme
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
J - keep on running
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November 28th, 2007
07:57 am - Marathons....
J found out yesterday he has a place in next year's London marathon. That'll give a focus to his training for the next few months.
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November 14th, 2007
09:25 pm - Sunday
I spent Sunday hacking the last of the plaster off in the dining room before the damp people came on Monday. T spent the day sorting wiring, rerouting the water pipe and dealing with old gas pipes. So many stupid things - the water pipe was leaking in the corner of the kitchen behind the units, so when T pulled that set of cupboards out they fell apart. There was also a random gas pipe in the same corner and one under the floor that moved rather too much for T's liking. Fortunately, the gas to the kitchen will be rerouted and all the old ones cut off.
We lost use of the cooker on Sunday too. Having lost the will to find the camping stove (in the garage in the dark) we went for Chinese. We ended up getting takeaway on Monday when we couldn't get the camping stove working. J got the camping stove working tonight.
The damp membrane is now up on the relevant walls and we're just waiting for the plasterers to come and finish. Once this is done we'll be able to decorate and use a room (dining room). Hurrah!
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November 8th, 2007
11:43 am - Kitchen
The damp people are coming on Monday, so we’ve been busy trying to get the kitchen ready. J and Dan spent Tuesday putting up a new plasterboard ceiling. Not the greenest material, but offers some fire resistance unlike the wooden slatted ceiling that was there before, which would have burst into flames nicely.
T and J have been taking out the old kitchen units. J has removed the remains of the old damp membrane and discovered a nice wet corner of the room where the water pipe comes in from outside. In another feat of DIY excellence, a valve on the water pipe has obviously been leaking for years. The membrane was put around this so the water was able to seep both sides of the membrane – onto the wall and into the backs of the units (which were rotten). T is going to fix the leak and try to reroute the water pipe before the damp people arrive on Monday. We will also lose the cooker from Sunday as the gas pipe sticks out where the new damp membrane will go. This will have to be capped off as we intend to have the cooker on the other side of the room. We’ll have to see if we can get an old electric oven off Freecycle or something. I think J intends to get by with just the camping stove – but that could be for months.
The architect is going to get some prices for the big works. As soon as we get that we'll know how long we'll be living on bread and dripping for.
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November 2nd, 2007
12:57 pm - Drains
Our poor Victorian drains have evidently been overwhelmed with 4 people living in the house using washing machine, kitchen, toilets etc, all of which drain into the same inadequate drain. Last weekend the drain blocked. T managed to unblock it, but then it blocked again on Wednesday. No Thursday evening trip to the pub for us this week - we spent the evening trying to clear the drain with rods, plunger and caustic soda, none of which worked. For a brief moment whilst standing in the dark garden directing a torch down the drain last night I wondered why we hadn't bought a new house. It didn't last long - our house will be nice once all the problems are sorted and, at least, none of the problems has (yet!) come as a surprise.
A man and boy came today and got it cleared, but said that it will block again because the drain structure is inadequate for the house. How did the people who lived in our house before us (for ten years) manage? They must have suffered blockages, but must have just got them cleared, rather than deal with the underlying problem as we will as part of the building work next year.
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