Fifteen
At the start of the week I’m excited as Alison at Work’s building is starting, which means that there will be BRICKS available. But she’s not in work, and I can hardly go round and bang on her door… can I? I restrain myself.
When she arrives in the office on Tuesday she says that she’s got Really Good News and that her builders have decided that, rather than knock the wall out first, they’ll build the new outer wall, put in the steels and get the new roof on first. My, that is Really Good News. That means the bricks from the wall to be knocked out won’t be, well, knocked out for at least another month. How inconsiderate is that? Never mind that her house would have been open to burglars and the elements just as we head into a cold snap… On the plus side, Keith phones to say that he is nearly well and he has a quote for us. Less than we expected! Hooray! And he hopes to get the shed to us before Christmas but he’s really really busy….
On Wednesday George the Groundwork is due to visit the house with his laser line thingy to look at the levels. We don’t know if he ever visits because we never hear from him… so rude. He could at least have phoned and said ‘don’t fancy it, love’ or something buildery. Meanwhile, Rob the Builder (who already has the job anyway so we don’t need you George yah boo sucks) phones to say that he’ll be with us next Saturday to make a start. HOORAY! Oh my goodness, that means it’s actually happening…
If it’s actually happening we need bricks. I have the rather brilliant idea of putting a card in the local newsagent saying we’d like some bricks. I call in at home on my way back from work on Friday, write out a pretty card saying ‘wanted – bricks’ (I think that sums it up) and drive down to the newsagents. I say I want to put a card in the window and then say that as I’ve left it at home perhaps it would be a Very Good Idea to go home and get it. The newsagent thinks it’s a Very Good Idea. I drive home, find the card where I’d put it down to pick up my keys and go back again. I am hoping he’ll read it, say ‘oh I’ve got a pile you can have’ and we’ll be sorted. He doesn’t. I keep my mobile glued to me in case it rings…. It doesn’t.
If it’s starting next Saturday we need to move compost bins NOW. And grasses – I think they’re something clever like Grassus Giganticus or some Latin name for Big Grass and they are rather lovely, so we (ok, Guy) will move them to the bog garden. At the moment they’re in free draining leaf loam and we’re moving them to, er, bog. Do you think they’ll notice? We’re hoping not…
Guy digs up grasses while I do other gardeny stuff (blow leaves off the gravel, pick up leaves, rake leaves, mow the grass) and we put them artfully in a wheelbarrow and think of entering it for Chelsea. But that’s 8 months away so we (ok, Guy) head for the bog instead.
And we move compost bins. Just to prove it, here's the 'before':
And the 'after':
Lovely compost… we chuck some of it in the wooded bit of the garden (ooh, I think that’s called ‘scrubland’ round here) and then put the rest in bin bags to use for planting around the New Shed when the New Shed is finally in. The planting will help hide the dodgy wall we are undoubtedly going to have to build to hide the vast bit of block walling that will be visible because of the levels.
We also pull up seedlings… hundreds of them. Not sure what they are but as they’re so prolific they count as weeds… We start by saying ‘we’ll pull up 250 each’ then that doesn’t take long, so we do a ‘how many can you pull up without moving your feet (Guy wins with 117 to my 79 but I have my feet too close together and can’t move without falling over – needs practice, I think), then decide we’ll clear ‘everything from here to the beech tree and left of it’ until our backs ache and we give up anyway. The site is now ready to receive builders. We think.
We take Blunkett and Izzy for a walk past our neighbour’s house. They (the neighbours, not Blunkett and Izzy) have bricks. Lots of bricks, piled up in a heap looking neglected… we hang around in case we can just casually bump into them (the neighbours, not the bricks), then give up the casual approach and bang on the door. Their very young grandson tells us they’re watching the telly and/or having tea, so we leave them in peace. Bummer. We shall ask again another day…
Achieved: We have a shed ordered, deposit paid, a builder due here in less than a week to start the base, compost bins moved, grasses replanted and site cleared. Phew.
Progress: Well, it’s what’s above really. What’s the difference between ‘achieved’ and ‘progress’ anyway? Who came up with these categories?
Plan for the week: Wait for Rob the Builder on Saturday. Find more bricks.
Cakes: We delivered ‘Blod’s Boat’ on Friday. Can you guess what it was? You’ll notice the names don’t improve… There’s a pic on the cake page. We've cut one more into a weird shape (going to be an orienteering cake) and there's one more in the oven at the moment - it's going to be a 'bloke on a sofa' cake. Or at least it will be if I remember to get it out of the oven.
Brick count: Guy found 1 under the grasses, and we picked up 4 on our walk, so that’s now 59 bricks. I’m sure the card in the newsagents will work, and equally sure the neighbours will be delighted to have that pile of old bricks removed. I’m an optimist.
Wildlife update: I’ve gone off badgers. Bloody things are making CRATERS in the grass… And they got through to Colin’s ‘show lawn’ too. Oops. No, it wasn’t me with a trail of peanuts. Honest. However, the squirrels are still cute and it has been dry and bright enough to take pics… now I just need to get them developed.
When she arrives in the office on Tuesday she says that she’s got Really Good News and that her builders have decided that, rather than knock the wall out first, they’ll build the new outer wall, put in the steels and get the new roof on first. My, that is Really Good News. That means the bricks from the wall to be knocked out won’t be, well, knocked out for at least another month. How inconsiderate is that? Never mind that her house would have been open to burglars and the elements just as we head into a cold snap… On the plus side, Keith phones to say that he is nearly well and he has a quote for us. Less than we expected! Hooray! And he hopes to get the shed to us before Christmas but he’s really really busy….
On Wednesday George the Groundwork is due to visit the house with his laser line thingy to look at the levels. We don’t know if he ever visits because we never hear from him… so rude. He could at least have phoned and said ‘don’t fancy it, love’ or something buildery. Meanwhile, Rob the Builder (who already has the job anyway so we don’t need you George yah boo sucks) phones to say that he’ll be with us next Saturday to make a start. HOORAY! Oh my goodness, that means it’s actually happening…
If it’s actually happening we need bricks. I have the rather brilliant idea of putting a card in the local newsagent saying we’d like some bricks. I call in at home on my way back from work on Friday, write out a pretty card saying ‘wanted – bricks’ (I think that sums it up) and drive down to the newsagents. I say I want to put a card in the window and then say that as I’ve left it at home perhaps it would be a Very Good Idea to go home and get it. The newsagent thinks it’s a Very Good Idea. I drive home, find the card where I’d put it down to pick up my keys and go back again. I am hoping he’ll read it, say ‘oh I’ve got a pile you can have’ and we’ll be sorted. He doesn’t. I keep my mobile glued to me in case it rings…. It doesn’t.
If it’s starting next Saturday we need to move compost bins NOW. And grasses – I think they’re something clever like Grassus Giganticus or some Latin name for Big Grass and they are rather lovely, so we (ok, Guy) will move them to the bog garden. At the moment they’re in free draining leaf loam and we’re moving them to, er, bog. Do you think they’ll notice? We’re hoping not…
Guy digs up grasses while I do other gardeny stuff (blow leaves off the gravel, pick up leaves, rake leaves, mow the grass) and we put them artfully in a wheelbarrow and think of entering it for Chelsea. But that’s 8 months away so we (ok, Guy) head for the bog instead.
And we move compost bins. Just to prove it, here's the 'before':
And the 'after':
Lovely compost… we chuck some of it in the wooded bit of the garden (ooh, I think that’s called ‘scrubland’ round here) and then put the rest in bin bags to use for planting around the New Shed when the New Shed is finally in. The planting will help hide the dodgy wall we are undoubtedly going to have to build to hide the vast bit of block walling that will be visible because of the levels.
We take Blunkett and Izzy for a walk past our neighbour’s house. They (the neighbours, not Blunkett and Izzy) have bricks. Lots of bricks, piled up in a heap looking neglected… we hang around in case we can just casually bump into them (the neighbours, not the bricks), then give up the casual approach and bang on the door. Their very young grandson tells us they’re watching the telly and/or having tea, so we leave them in peace. Bummer. We shall ask again another day…
Achieved: We have a shed ordered, deposit paid, a builder due here in less than a week to start the base, compost bins moved, grasses replanted and site cleared. Phew.
Progress: Well, it’s what’s above really. What’s the difference between ‘achieved’ and ‘progress’ anyway? Who came up with these categories?
Plan for the week: Wait for Rob the Builder on Saturday. Find more bricks.
Cakes: We delivered ‘Blod’s Boat’ on Friday. Can you guess what it was? You’ll notice the names don’t improve… There’s a pic on the cake page. We've cut one more into a weird shape (going to be an orienteering cake) and there's one more in the oven at the moment - it's going to be a 'bloke on a sofa' cake. Or at least it will be if I remember to get it out of the oven.
Brick count: Guy found 1 under the grasses, and we picked up 4 on our walk, so that’s now 59 bricks. I’m sure the card in the newsagents will work, and equally sure the neighbours will be delighted to have that pile of old bricks removed. I’m an optimist.
Wildlife update: I’ve gone off badgers. Bloody things are making CRATERS in the grass… And they got through to Colin’s ‘show lawn’ too. Oops. No, it wasn’t me with a trail of peanuts. Honest. However, the squirrels are still cute and it has been dry and bright enough to take pics… now I just need to get them developed.
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