Eleven
This is SO much more fun now that we know we can get started…WOO HOO! On Friday afternoon we (ok, I) decide that we should move the pile of stone. Or stones. These are proper lumps of Welsh stone, worth keeping, so they need moving… The only place to put them is near the beech tree where they won’t be in the way, and there are twice as many as we thought as half of them are buried in the soil. We even sort them into ‘lumpy stones’ and ‘flat stones’ (technical terms, obviously) in case we need them for something. We take the one remaining ‘in the way’ branch off a tree and pull up any seedlings where the shed will be. I speak to the concrete people again who now refuse point blank to come and see the access. They evidently don’t think one measly load of concrete is worth the effort…
At the weekend we’re off to stay with Sarah and Vincent, where we talk sheds, bases, sheds, bricks, sheds, gravel and Fiat 500s (that was Sarah’s bit). We admire Vincent’s summerhouse and you could now be admiring Vincent’s summerhouse too if I’d remembered to take a picture… On Monday we’re still off work and we reckon we’re still on holiday, so we take ourselves to the lovely salvage yard for a rummage, and to look at slabs (for in the gravel path) and bricks (to edge the gravel path). The slabs are, as usual, gorgeous and can be delivered. Good start. There are also pallets and pallets piled high with reclaimed bricks. Bliss! However, they’re expensive – 85p each. Which doesn’t sound like much but we want 200, so that’s £170!! ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY QUID!! I tell Guy that I will make it my mission to find the bricks we need for free and save our cash… We also go for a nosey round the rest of the yard, and find some beautiful pew backs… we’re going to put bench seats under the little windows anyway, so we could use pew backs for the fronts and pew ends for the, er, ends. We don’t actually buy anything… Having to wait 6 months for planning seems to have put the brakes on my spending. But, hey, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it again soon…
On Tuesday I have to make a mercy dash to Court with a document for my boss that she needs, and I keep an eye out for bricks. I am explaining to Gareth (also from the office, two of us have to go to court because it’s impossible to drop anything off otherwise) that I am on the lookout for bricks. I wave a hand airily at a skip we’re just passing and say ‘you see, that might be full of bricks’ and then notice, as we pass it, that it’s full of bricks. Brilliant, beautiful, reclaimed, clean, red, local bricks. WOW! And about 40 of them that I can see… we can’t stop, but I plan to go back down later tonight, or in tomorrow’s lunchtime, and see if I can liberate a few…
Later we have WAG stuff to do and then we have Rob the Builder (as opposed to Bob the Builder) who comes round to quote for the base… in his head he has it planned, and it’s very simple: Dig out base with JCB, add hardcore with dump truck, pour concrete direct from mixer. As soon as he arrives he realises there are A Few Snags: We can’t get a digger in because there’s no access, we can’t get a dump truck near (ditto), we can’t pour concrete as there are too many trees to get the conveyer belt arm thingy (another technical term – is this turning into a building manual?) into place. Bummer. He does, however, seem to understand what’s needed (and mentions a damp proof course before we do, which is a big step up from the idiot who did the pool base) and thinks he can do it when we want, i.e. before the shed arrives. He says he’s quite pally with the concrete truck drivers and if we slip them £30 they might just make it up the lane… He goes through what he plans to do, and says that he can get access from the lane if we take the fence down. That’ll be access through the lane by the beech tree. Access through the lane and down the garden where we put all the stones. Bugger. We realise we haven’t a hope in hell of doing the base ourselves. Not if we want a shed this side of Easter, anyway. He gives us a rough quote and we nearly faint. HOW MUCH? Good Grief.
Gary from Keith the Shed’s workshop phones to say that Keith hasn’t been in touch about our shed price because he has the flu… We’ve met Keith so we can only imagine that he must be seriously ill to not be working – get well soon Keith! Mostly so that you can build our shed, obviously.
Achieved: Stones shifted, one quote for base.
Hours worked: About 2 shifting stones. Going round salvage yards doesn’t count as work… And the stones may need to be shifted again. We’re trying to think of it as an alternative to an expensive gym.
Progress: The ground is now clear, the offending branch has gone, we’re ready to put a base down. We need a builder.
Purchases: We didn’t buy bricks. And we’re not going to either…
Pressies: Er, nothing.
Plan for the week: Get another quote for the base (George the Groundworks is coming on Thursday) and go back for those bricks. Get office colleagues (both offices) looking out for more bricks.
Quote that will come back to haunt us: Guy says ‘if Rob the Builder does the base it’ll only take a couple of days’. I think he may be mistaken…
Brick count: 18. I had these already, but they still count!
At the weekend we’re off to stay with Sarah and Vincent, where we talk sheds, bases, sheds, bricks, sheds, gravel and Fiat 500s (that was Sarah’s bit). We admire Vincent’s summerhouse and you could now be admiring Vincent’s summerhouse too if I’d remembered to take a picture… On Monday we’re still off work and we reckon we’re still on holiday, so we take ourselves to the lovely salvage yard for a rummage, and to look at slabs (for in the gravel path) and bricks (to edge the gravel path). The slabs are, as usual, gorgeous and can be delivered. Good start. There are also pallets and pallets piled high with reclaimed bricks. Bliss! However, they’re expensive – 85p each. Which doesn’t sound like much but we want 200, so that’s £170!! ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY QUID!! I tell Guy that I will make it my mission to find the bricks we need for free and save our cash… We also go for a nosey round the rest of the yard, and find some beautiful pew backs… we’re going to put bench seats under the little windows anyway, so we could use pew backs for the fronts and pew ends for the, er, ends. We don’t actually buy anything… Having to wait 6 months for planning seems to have put the brakes on my spending. But, hey, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it again soon…
On Tuesday I have to make a mercy dash to Court with a document for my boss that she needs, and I keep an eye out for bricks. I am explaining to Gareth (also from the office, two of us have to go to court because it’s impossible to drop anything off otherwise) that I am on the lookout for bricks. I wave a hand airily at a skip we’re just passing and say ‘you see, that might be full of bricks’ and then notice, as we pass it, that it’s full of bricks. Brilliant, beautiful, reclaimed, clean, red, local bricks. WOW! And about 40 of them that I can see… we can’t stop, but I plan to go back down later tonight, or in tomorrow’s lunchtime, and see if I can liberate a few…
Later we have WAG stuff to do and then we have Rob the Builder (as opposed to Bob the Builder) who comes round to quote for the base… in his head he has it planned, and it’s very simple: Dig out base with JCB, add hardcore with dump truck, pour concrete direct from mixer. As soon as he arrives he realises there are A Few Snags: We can’t get a digger in because there’s no access, we can’t get a dump truck near (ditto), we can’t pour concrete as there are too many trees to get the conveyer belt arm thingy (another technical term – is this turning into a building manual?) into place. Bummer. He does, however, seem to understand what’s needed (and mentions a damp proof course before we do, which is a big step up from the idiot who did the pool base) and thinks he can do it when we want, i.e. before the shed arrives. He says he’s quite pally with the concrete truck drivers and if we slip them £30 they might just make it up the lane… He goes through what he plans to do, and says that he can get access from the lane if we take the fence down. That’ll be access through the lane by the beech tree. Access through the lane and down the garden where we put all the stones. Bugger. We realise we haven’t a hope in hell of doing the base ourselves. Not if we want a shed this side of Easter, anyway. He gives us a rough quote and we nearly faint. HOW MUCH? Good Grief.
Gary from Keith the Shed’s workshop phones to say that Keith hasn’t been in touch about our shed price because he has the flu… We’ve met Keith so we can only imagine that he must be seriously ill to not be working – get well soon Keith! Mostly so that you can build our shed, obviously.
Achieved: Stones shifted, one quote for base.
Hours worked: About 2 shifting stones. Going round salvage yards doesn’t count as work… And the stones may need to be shifted again. We’re trying to think of it as an alternative to an expensive gym.
Progress: The ground is now clear, the offending branch has gone, we’re ready to put a base down. We need a builder.
Purchases: We didn’t buy bricks. And we’re not going to either…
Pressies: Er, nothing.
Plan for the week: Get another quote for the base (George the Groundworks is coming on Thursday) and go back for those bricks. Get office colleagues (both offices) looking out for more bricks.
Quote that will come back to haunt us: Guy says ‘if Rob the Builder does the base it’ll only take a couple of days’. I think he may be mistaken…
Brick count: 18. I had these already, but they still count!
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