The Pillars of the Earth

This could be the most boring post ever. It's quite long, doesn't have many pictures and the subject matter is not every-ones cup of tea but here goes...
The new HQ requires some reinforced concrete beams to replace the old wooden ones. Ordinarily you would buy some RSJ's but here things aren't quite the same - they make 'em.
First the lorry arrives with 10m lengths of 5 & 10mm diameter steel rods (bent in half). Then wooden trestles are thrown together made from the old roof timbers which are seasoned coconut which is very heavy, barely floats and is used for everything. You know that satisfying "shick-shick" sound a sharp saw makes? well I don't. All I hear is a dull rasping noise like 2 mating hedgehogs www.prickthis.com/sounds_of_the_forest/CD#6(Twilight) and smoke rising as they friction-burn their way through. Anyway, the steel rods are straightened i.e. they open them out and bash them straight with a sledgehammer, if you've ever straightened out a paper-clip you'll know what I mean. Cutting to length requires a group discussion a bit like a rugby scrum complete with ear-biting as they fight over whether to use the newer metric tape-rule or the old one (rods & chains). The bending jigs 

(that's a laugh) are attached to the trestles and one lad (presumably the apprentice) forms 200mm squares from the 5mm rod while the master-wroughtsman (or whatever) sets about the big stuff. By afternoon tea they've made this!
They need 6 and it's taken 6 men 8 hours to make one and that doesn't include the 6 cages for the footings or the (as yet undiscussed) horizontal beams.
The holes were dug last week and the gravel has arrived so it's time to mix some concrete. No, a lorry doesn't arrive with 20 cubic metres of premix and no, they don't use a cement mixer it's all done by hand with wheelbarrows and shovels and a chain of men with small buckets to transfer the heap to the holes. Each pile requires about 2 cubic metres of concrete which is about 400 buckets-worth. Now it's the holidays so all the bright steel has plenty of chance to rust properly before they continue next week.
I've just read "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, £12.99 from Pan MacMillan, which is about a bloke who builds a cathedral in 12th century England - timescale 15-20 years so I'm a bit concerned about how long it will take. The book is filled with lots of sex and violence so maybe this will be just as entertaining.
Meanwhile, back at the batcave kitchen, the counter is also made of reinforced concrete. wooden shuttering is made, steel rods are cut to length and balanced on bits of roof tile. In a stroke of genius they remember to leave a hole for the inset sink (which they've been tripping over for the last 5 days) and grind some of the rods short. In a stroke of abject incompetence they don't see if it fits until the cement has gone off. "Pass the angle-grinder Charlie". The interior walls are cement rendered, a beautiful thing in the hands of a master craftsman or in this case, a thing. Tiles arrive and need cutting, they are 600mm square and about 15mm thick but I'm sure you just score and snap them like normal tiles, not physically cut them in two with the angle-grinder but hey-ho. The cut pieces are buttered with cement and stuck to both the wall and the counter-top with no gap for grout.
Now, I'm no genius but I'm seriously thinking that if I want to live here I'm going to have to build my own house (or maybe 3 years of foreman school and a whip is required).
I'd like to say "There, rant over" but I suspect I'll have enough material to be able to write a book about what will happen during the next few months. Ken Follett look out!