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Banjo and Ros Grand Island Hotel - Season 1 - Episode 02: Water
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00:02Currently, we have to go to another island to have a shower.
00:07Yeah.
00:11How much do you have?
00:12A pound?
00:12A pound?
00:13Did you bring any?
00:14No.
00:15That would buy us three minutes.
00:16Yeah.
00:17I think it's a rip-off, personally.
00:19Hurry up then.
00:20That's 90 seconds.
00:22And I need two minutes.
00:24Oh!
00:25There we go.
00:26There we go.
00:26Oh, my God.
00:28You promised me when we moved in that I'd have running water.
00:32One bit of running water.
00:34I'm not asking for the world.
00:37I haven't got a bath.
00:38I haven't got light.
00:40I haven't got windows.
00:42Good things come to those who wait.
00:53I don't know how we're going to live here through all of this.
00:55No power, no water.
00:56This is the time we're going to look back on and think,
00:59ah, yes, those were the days.
01:02Remember when we didn't shower for three weeks?
01:06Our toilet didn't flush.
01:07These are the good old days.
01:10These are the good old days.
01:37no clothes,
01:38shops,
01:38nor anything one might reasonably call convenience.
01:42It shows our home to precisely 18 residents.
01:50i've now been on over 29 years this month a lot of people ask how do you manage over there
02:00because
02:00there's nothing to do and that's why i live here because there's nothing to do i do interact with
02:06other people but i try to keep it to a minimum the last time i was in rural the house
02:13it was
02:14the roof leaks all the windows are rotten for the electrical wire and needs replaced and
02:21all the plumbing probably needs replaced the whole house needs to be gutted down to the stonework and
02:29rebuilt despite having no water no electricity and a somewhat leaky roof banjo and ro have moved into
02:37all the house and begun this major undertaking so this is our current bedroom it's been pretty
02:45grim in here i've also got a leak in the cupboard i woke up to the sound of dripping and
02:49bits of
02:49plaster falling into a sink i think some of the hardest parts about like squatting in this place
02:54is uh keeping things clean and keeping things dry everything takes about three days to dry so
03:00everything's damp dusty moldy but it's the nature of the beast come boy
03:07with the whiskey library now complete attention turns to the hotel lobby i want to fuse like our
03:16antipodean influences with that quintessential scottish experience so a mural that starts off at the
03:26bottom of the staircase with some tropical motifs a little bit of an ocean as you kind of crawl up
03:33the stairs the landscape morphs into a kind of more moody scottish landscape it's going to be tropical at
03:41the bottom moody and stormy at the top do i get a palm tree no palm trees anything i request
03:49nada i've got
03:51zero every request i'm listen a palm tree one little palm tree you've got meters and meters and
03:57meters of mural space we can do better the entrance to ulva house is to be reimagined as an evocative
04:05reception hall at its heart a hand-painted mural will chart the improbable voyage from australia to
04:12ulva lush greenery will spill from corners and shelves and an arrival desk will welcome any weary
04:20travelers looking for somewhere to lay their head i want this mural to be a mash-up of scotland and
04:28australia because people are coming to enjoy scotland and the landscape here but they're also in our home
04:35and we're aussie and i'm a little bit homesick as well so i want to have a little bit of
04:40us in it and a
04:41little bit of scotland but after years of neglect the walls of ulva house tell a story of damp winters
04:47peeling paint and ruin this needs to be kind of brought into shape before we can do anything
04:54yeah i haven't seen this much moles ever in my life like if we had to get someone in here
05:00to clean
05:01who would one who would two we kind of thought we kind of thought that
05:10the reality is like the first thing that really needs to be done is the cleaning
05:14molds on every surface band is over there making some phone calls for our cleaning party on monday
05:24it's a hard sell monday morning come clean my house for me hopefully some people will come
05:32hello how are you if we can get 15 people in there to give us a hand to get it
05:36clean to get it done
05:37that'll be great putting on a bit of grub bit of a barbecue and then just do some like cleaning
05:42at our
05:43house i'll take three i'll be honest when you say eight hours i think you're meaning over yeah come
05:51over to over and just like you know wash a few walls no i can't make monday nutrients all right
05:58well thanks thanks for nothing appreciate it i think we're gonna have to call in favors from
06:07everyone we know on mull everyone on the island to come and help us with this place i'm too worried
06:13to do it nicholas has got a dodgy hip phil the former's busy with a farm rury's on so there's
06:24nobody
06:24here to help them this is the true test of friendship it's make or break from my friendship
06:36circle no this anyone that turns up has gone above and beyond if you're not there you're dead to me
06:46hello oh the cavalry oh no you're a lifesaver
06:55well it's a beautiful day for it you guys need to soar out
07:01we've got buckets we've got heaps of cleaning stuff we'll start filling things up and just
07:05give it a go
07:11i kind of miss the old crumbly walls you're doing amazing sweetie just the last bit it's honestly the
07:19last bit usher wow it's so light isn't it brand new house thank you everyone
07:30thank you who wants to drink yeah let's get a wine
07:37i guess phase two is plastering i think with this mural idea what i really like
07:43is the story of sort of us traveling from australia to here that was our journey
07:50ro and i met at the pub and it was love at first sight i had tunnel vision for it
07:54it was just this vision with a ponytail and a couple of weeks after we met we bought a one
07:59-way
07:59ticket to sri lanka we were only dating for a tiny bit and then we're on this adventure
08:05and that adventure led us to mull yeah it was just such a joyous time
08:15when i say palm trees um it's got a really special place in my heart like um it was when
08:21we went on
08:22holidays and we're traveling together our first home had palm trees in the back garden it's so
08:27evocative of all of those memories like it just takes me straight back to those times
08:33yeah that's why it was important to me to have it on the mural
08:38i think i've been converted to the palm tree
08:45i'm up to the painting now which is the fun part of it all but a few late nights sanding
08:51a few late
08:52nights scraping just trying to stay on schedule the mural artist who's coming there is a bit of
08:58pressure uh to get everything done that needs to be done before they get here you can get quite
09:03overwhelming when you walk around the house and see all the work that needs to be done and all the
09:07wall space that needs to be prepared and practice painted banjo has enlisted a mural artist from
09:15bristol to bring the tropics of australia to the hebridean walls of alva house we're doing a mural on
09:23the staircase okay so is there going to be figures a rugged ferryman maybe in the back yeah and a
09:30rugged ferry
09:37here we are it's not too scary it looks bigger though now in the white doesn't it yeah yeah it
09:45looks massive honestly kid i know well done you've painted that this looked very different 48 hours
09:52ago so it's representing our journey we reached scotland upstairs but this is all about australia down
09:59here i would love a palm tree the palm tree and the thistle the classic combo we'll marry it together
10:06with colored even if it seems like a pretty random combination okay can we leave you to it i guess
10:12so all right you get yourself sorted so i've got to leave the island that means leaving roe to do
10:22the
10:23work here on the ground and leaving him a really long to-do list what do i need to do
10:28while you're away
10:30we need to patch the outside any water coming in so we need to make sure the roof's not leaking
10:35you need
10:36to investigate the plumbing if it's leaking and it damages anything that's not damaged
10:41now that's what we need to discover if it goes wrong it'll go really wrong we'll have more water
10:45damage in walls and ceilings than we already have are you okay no i'm not okay it's daunting look around
10:52this room this is where we're living at the moment i don't know where anything is oh where's the wrench
10:57like where's my where's my undies but i don't know where anything is at this point it's really
11:04daunting on how to one renovate the place and then one how to live in it yeah i'm terrified
11:12it's all gonna be okay yeah i know it's just when you start i guess putting things down on paper
11:18and realizing and it's there's so much as lots it's lots and so much is out of our control i
11:24know
11:24how overwhelming it is it's a lot but if we're moving in the right direction and we do one thing
11:31that's one less thing we have to do tomorrow we got this kid i love you i love you too
11:42while the mural slowly begins to emerge banjo departs for mull on a mission to procure interior
11:50treasures leaving roe to hold the fort at the homestead i love you
11:58what a grimper oh man perfect timing since when all the work has to begin yeah you're smarter than you
12:05it i know thanks all right just me and you buddy first mystery to solve the leaky roof
12:12andy has gone up and had a look for us
12:16howdy andy how do you all right yeah going all right so this is towards the apex of the roof
12:24and just see where you should have mortar it's all gone so they're big slabs and the water's running
12:29down the slab and falling and then going yeah yeah i suspect we'll just need to remortar them yeah so
12:34you
12:34should be fine yeah yeah next enigma to crack the ancient water system around the house
12:41this is john roe roe that's the major so you're the plumber so yeah i'll try and give you as
12:46much
12:46information i can you're probably better at the discovery than what i'll be able to tell you anyway
12:52so john's going around and he's checking all the water pipes some of them are probably not in use
12:56because it's been upgraded at some point ah okay this would be the cold water storage tank for the
13:02house that would supply the the water that would have came up with the taps okay so this is where
13:06the drinking water would come from is it i'm not sure you could class it as proper drinking water so
13:11i mean you can see the amount of rust that's inside of it until it obviously failed and somebody has
13:16isolated it that's wild but there is a more recent pipe system to explore so i haven't been down here
13:26before right i'm just assuming we'll lift it and see yeah it's the only one of i think it's good
13:33it's
13:33accessible i need to go under and check
13:43are you all right john yeah well good all right okay from the tiny little bit i can see down
13:49there
13:49it looks dry so i think that's good oh john's come back it's actually looking okay yeah so the older
13:56bigger stuff that we can see is probably not in use anymore brilliant we need to test it but there
14:00is
14:00any problems then we can fix it okay cool thanks john while the plumbers prepare to test the cold
14:08running water through the pipes banjo has arrived in mull in pursuit of a critical item for the lobby
14:15and naturally any other treasures that might present themselves i've got collections and piles of junk in
14:22all corners of mull um i've got everything i could ever need to pull a scheme together i don't
14:30even know what's in there and i forget even buying half of it but i know that i'm always
14:34going to find something in there and spin it into gold that's a lovely thing
14:40it's a potential bedroom piece actually a headboard with a skull on it
14:53when i was a little boy all i ever wanted to be was an old man i think i just
14:59love old things i
15:01love patina i love the story that these pieces bring and i want people to feel that when they walk
15:07in the door i want them to switch off their phone and their worries and just step back into a
15:12time that
15:12was maybe a little bit simpler ooh that could be good frames they could come in handy
15:23back at the house andy has remortared the roof and melissa is making steady progress on the mural
15:29i'm kind of building up the layers of the background get kind of lots of
15:34color washes in and kind of go from there build things gradually i am trying to get
15:41some dark kind of contrasting tones in and then i'm going to soften it all and kind of bring it
15:47together again afterwards i think it'll become clear later on where this is i'm just kind of
15:52trying to build up a lot of different areas at once and then i'm going to kind of fine tune
15:57them and
16:04bring them together
16:07gary how you getting on yeah you're getting on not too bad not too bad upstairs for roe
16:13it's the moment of truth it's time to test the pipes everything goes as planned you'll have water
16:19throughout the house it means you get the the stench of pee from the toilets away as well yeah if
16:26there's
16:26the leak if anything does go i can turn it off it shouldn't leak right we'll put it on and
16:31we'll
16:31see what happens that's there okay okay chris you got people stationed around the house
16:38all right that's fine you're downstairs all right let's let's do it you ready for it yeah
16:43i'm gonna put the water on now right right let's go on chris let me know if you hear anything
17:11okay grim but working
17:18okay that's good so far so good so far so good all right perfect
17:31hello yellow they've just turned on the cold water and we have cold water
17:37and toilets and showers yeah boy yes that's good i want hot water
17:45look i'm gonna have a cold shower tonight do you know we can just have
17:49i know it's not hot oh my god i never wanted a cold shower more i know all right bye
17:54love you
17:56without a connection to the mainland system the water on ulva is naturally filtered through a peat bog
18:02picking up the color of amber and the smell of rain before finding its way to the taps
18:15so look it's got a bit of discoloration through it when you do compare it like what you would expect
18:21water the color becomes a bit more noticeable it's fine there's no nasties in it it's mineral rich
18:28which is the way i would look at it we're just going to call it peated mineral rich water so
18:35but not everybody on the island trusts the water
18:49i got this car off janet so it's it's more or less a community vehicle and we get water any
18:58heavy
18:59mill that comes big parcels there was opposition to me bringing this on to the island by certain people
19:10but it's here now anyway so it doesn't really matter because of the quality of the water
19:18i have to go down once a week to fill up water bottles for drinking and cooking
19:52i never felt magic
19:56doing this restoration it's hard it's way
20:04harder than i ever could have anticipated it's hard getting things sorted without banshee
20:09i miss it i miss having my rock and yeah having that person to to be there but also help
20:22you know sometimes i do miss australia you know there's so many happy memories
20:27and then we've come here and it feels completely different and i i don't understand just yet why
20:33i love it so much it's like a magnet
20:38that i don't know why i feel so connected to but i do
20:46i love it i really really really love it they're perfect i really really really love it okay i'm almost
20:54emotional no yeah because it doesn't it does remind me of home that's really sweet and i don't get homesick
21:02it's gonna make you feel more it does it does i don't even know why i'm quick let's call him
21:09grandpa
21:10yeah i'm not homesick it's just it's perfect you've just captured scenes and visions in in this
21:19i'm ready to yeah i'm really i love it thanks melissa i'll stop crying now i promise no thanks
21:33all that remains now is to fill the hotel lobby with banjo's carefully acquired treasures
21:40ding welcome to the grand island hotel do you have a reservation yeah booking for two
21:47who is he where on earth did you find that barbara barbara in the borders barbara's had it for
21:55years husband wanted to get rid of it said you'd be doing us a favor to get rid of it
22:00you did good
22:01yay
22:03all right should we get it over howdy rory what have you got there stein oh a reception desk oh
22:09thanks mate
22:14i think it sits nice with the palm trees no i think it's great i've invited the cleaning party
22:19back i think they'll love it oh i hope i hope they do gosh imagine if they don't no this
22:26is our first
22:27first guests i think the magic's in the mix when you pull a space together like this
22:33texture natural materials crack paint all of that adds up to that lovely warm feeling guests are
22:41going to get when they walk in i don't know how it's all going to go together but that's where
22:45so i'm thinking the original inspiration board what if we put them kind of suspend them
22:53in the frame on the wall do we have more frames well we need to scrub the bird poo off
22:59that for starters
23:04oh that's a moment i do love it i think that looks good because the mural is the backdrop
23:11to everything else
23:14your eye has somewhere to land otherwise you're staring off into yonder confused why there's a palm
23:20tree in a hotel in scotland not cleaning the door hello welcome to the grand island hotel wow
24:09do you like it yeah wow do you like the mural i love the palm trees well it's meant to
24:18be like
24:19a bit of a story of our travel here picture this bro and i a couple of young whippersnappers we're
24:25in
24:25australia we've got a big dream just a couple of dollars in our pocket we leave australia we buy a
24:30one-way ticket to sri lanka then we arrive in like the misty moors of scotland we land on mull
24:37and we've arrived you did help us get to this point and clean it up yeah very grateful
24:43incredibly grateful yeah it's incredible you're amazing no one else could have done this
24:49they created something quite magically you can really tell it's benjamin row but sometimes it
24:55really fits into the house it's lovely it's a real homage to their journey
25:04our romantic explorers have successfully transformed the entrance to ulva house
25:10the stored cold running water to its ancient pipes and begun to repair the various leaks to the roof
25:17all achievements worthy of celebration
25:32my my my my it's a beautiful world like what a treat you know oh yeah it's just nice to
25:38be out here
25:39and like remind yourself why we fell in love with the place yeah we can get caught up in it
25:45all can't we
25:45yeah
26:00it's a beautiful world
26:04time for a puffin picnic
26:17i don't know if we have properly stopped it's been a lot
26:22yeah i know well you've struggled yeah i struggled the other day life just found it really tough
26:28it's all worth it that's the thing if we keep our eyes on the price yeah we're here to kind
26:33of build
26:34a life for ourselves how did we end up here yeah i don't know it's wild isn't it
26:38so far away from where we grew up like the middle of nowhere the bush oh yeah we weren't we
26:45weren't
26:45surrounded by sea not at all i've always loved the sea that's why i'm so glad we've moved to this
26:50place and we're surrounded by it remember that time you died at sea i was a fisherman and i was
26:56out
26:57working you thought i tied that's what the mail i got was like two blokes on this boat have died
27:04so i went down to the pier was there with the other fisherman's wife he had a cry and then
27:11i was
27:11like all right well he's gone i had the most beautiful service arranged for you honestly i'm glad i didn't
27:18die me too i'm glad you didn't die you've done a lot of jobs yeah we've done what we've needed
27:23to do to
27:23get by yeah cheers to us cheers to us there's no place that i'd rather be
27:28i watch the sun as it comes up i watch it as it sets yeah this is as good as
27:36it gets
27:39so my my my it's a beautiful world
27:44i like swimming in the sea
27:48you
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