Having had a well deserved rest day yesterday it was back to work today in the garden. With lots to do it was important to make good progress. We needed to finish the wall for the raised bed and get all the flagged areas dub out as the hardcore for underneath should arrive tomorrow.
We actually only started at about 1130 as the frosty morning ground was simply to hard to dig into. After suitable thawing time has elapsed we begin work. Father completed the wall while I dug out the rest of the flagged areas and moved the soil into/onto the raised bed. I really can feel my body getting accustomed to this.
It was at this point that we had some lunch. 2 teacakes with ham. cheese, tomato and coleslaw for me made by the wife and a bag of cheese and onion crisps. Very satisfying they were to! During lunch we got into a debate (me and dad) about how helpful a cement mixer would be. We would still have much to mix and we are currently mixing in a small trough like palette which is placed on the ground. This is OK but is hard work and not good for the back! On the way here Dad stopped at B&Q in order to buy more building sand. Our early estimates were clearly way out. Whilst in B&Q he saw a cement mixer for a bargain £100. Therefore over lunch it was discussed that we would purchase the mixer and then sell shares to other members of the family. Brother and Uncle came to mind. This would make it a bargain £22.50 each as it was 10% on Wednesday when dad would buy it.
After lunch it was time to do the preparation for when the hardcore (dad calls them scalpings) arrive in the morning. It is all a matter of levels. You need to get the patio sloping just a little so the water doesn’t sit on top but not to much so you don’t feel like you are walking on a slope. To get this right we knocked some pegs into the ground at the correct height (getting the correct height is the hard part!) and the fastened some long boards to each end. The sand and cement/hardcore mix would be levelled to these boards and the flags will be laid on top. That’s the theory anyway and we will see whether it works on Wednesday or Thursday.
