It would take me more work to explain how we have spent the time than to describe what has changed since the last chapter.

Work commitments, once again, combined with the unnecessary obsession of finishing our university studies, preparing for promotion exams at work, and so on, could be good reasons for having put this project on pause. But it would not be entirely truthful if I failed to mention that our relationship with the builder did not end well.

Time has given me enough perspective to conclude that it would be unfair to accuse him of negligence or shoddy work without mentioning how difficult it is to find anyone willing to travel to the end of the world to carry out a project under these conditions.

I am not happy with the work he did, just to be clear, but I am convinced that if we had not acted to restore the roof, the incipient ruin would have become a plot full of useless rubble. Even so, the house is still standing. The provisional door we installed is now covered in moss, and the interior has become a residence for birds, cats, mice and insects of all kinds. Every spring, the tentacles of brambles, climbing plants and other wild species compete to take back the right to live there. In a way, I’m not entirely bothered, because the same difficulty they impose on us when trying to reclaim our own house is offered to anyone who might want to break in.

And what do we have of value in that house? Not much… A toolbox, a plastic chest full of watertight boxes, my old youth bicycle, a barbecue and an umbrella. All objects with more sentimental than material value. We could have taken them on the last trip, but we left them there as proof that everything in there is ours, because that ruined house is our property. Not everything has been on pause. A couple of months ago we managed to get an electrician to connect the house to the grid. We are waiting for the bureaucracy, but I would bet my hand on it that the next time we set foot in the place, we will have construction power.

There is more: one of the three builders who visited the house in August 2022 has reserved a slot for us to continue the works. What works? Basically, to properly finish the roof so that we can consider the house safe from any weather, because right now it is not.

If all this happens — something I still can’t quite see, because we are already running late — the next thing we will commission him to do is to build the concrete or hollow brick floor structure for the upper storey. It is a major part of the work that we cannot carry out with our own hands, which prevents this ruin from ever becoming a home. And once that floor is built, the family, suitably armed with new tools and YouTube videos, will set about raising partition walls, installing doors and windows, connecting the plumbing, fitting the electricity, and so on. So, depending on what does (or does not) happen in the coming months, we will be able to talk about a living project or a new and frustrating pause.

I forgot to mention that, in addition to the bike, the chest, the umbrella and the toolbox, I installed one of those internet-connected cameras in the house, precisely in the window with the best view. As of today, it has been there for more than six months, allowing us to take a look inside whenever we miss the place.