ARNIE ARRIVES!!!

So part of the land is cleared – the money is saved and our first order for our first “trial” container goes in. This trial container is literally just that as when we do the other containers they will be our home and we are not planning on ever moving again so they need to be right, so we are going to try the ideas we have and see if they work and we are happy with them. We don’t have the finances to get it wrong and have to redo it all…. Obviously we have done tons [and tons!] of research about this and one of the things we really wanted to do was to actually see and walk around a container and see what options we had – so we wrote to a few companies supplying them in Greece and the one company who was always quick to answer our questions, was as helpful as possible and of course had good prices was Hellenic Containers in Athens [https://www.helleniccontainers.com/]    So that is where we went.

Yianni that we met and have dealt with from then on was excellent – answering all of our questions but also coming up with more options and ideas … for instance we had never heard of “pallet containers” which are wider than normal containers – they also now can make a lot of alterations etc on site …… you want a door adding [like we have for our first one] – no problem.

So we chose the container – came back – cleared the land and let Yianni know we wanted the extra door at the other end to the main doors [we are going to put a wall in as practice, so we wanted to be able to enter from the other end  as well] then “Arnie the Apotheke” [Apotheke is Greek for basement or storeroom] was put on a transporter and driven to Corfu ….

Now in our first “dream” plan we had used four 40ft containers – not thinking of course anything about access – then the transporter driver came to see us at the land and pointed out that there was no way we would get his lorry up the road to the village, never mind anywhere near the land , so there was no way we would get 40ft containers there either. So plans changed and we went with the 20ft containers [another reason we went to see them so we could really see what that meant]. But even that was not going to be easy! Where is a friend with a helicopter when you need them!

So there was a lot of head scratching and options and opinions!!!! Then in the end Arnie was driven from Athens to Corfu on the large transporter, he then stopped on the main road at the bottom of the hill coming up to the village and a smaller “crane lorry” came, literally – and I do mean literally, watch the video  !! – dragged Arnie out of the transporter and onto the smaller lorry, wrapped a strap around it – seriously watch the video, Jamie and I were hysterical, health and safety in the UK would have had a field day!! – drove onto the land through a gap where there was not even a centimeter wiggle room, and craned it off exactly where we wanted it ……….”Arnie” had arrived!!!!