Well, soil at least. Inching past in a succession of barrows under the purported guidance of an increasingly stooped man. Yes, it’s the obligatory decking project — well, what else would you do with a sweltering bank holiday weekend?
We’re replacing the two walled flower beds outside the back of the house with a deck, and I’ve been barrowing the too-good-to-waste soil round to the allotment. Ouch. Actually, I started the week before the bank holiday — I bought an angle grinder and cut down the railings, then started removing some of the brickwork. Over Easter, I got pretty much all of the earth moved; with luck, this coming 4-day weekend will see me getting the foundings level and the frame started. There’s a bit of concreting to do, too — something else I’ve never done before.
Tony and Peter have been helping. Peter came round with a large percussive/rotary drill which drilled into concrete as if it were butter and got out one of the railing supports which was deeply concreted in. And Tony has been pondering ways to approach the construction and offering advice, much of which, if taken, would extend the job by some months, though it is generally good advice.
Of course, just doing the decking would have been too simple and relaxing, so we decided to use the same weekend to potty-train Neve. After all, there’s nothing better able to take your mind off the unstoppable momentum of a few hundredweight of soil than a hysterical almost-two-year-old running around clutching her bum and shouting “cacca!”