We are down in Whiteley for the May Bank Holiday weekend, so that Jim, Mike and Matt can build the frame for the extensive decking that Jeanette and Matt are putting in their backyard.
We came down on Saturday evening, after I had finished a quiet, peaceful, calm shift at Psalter Lane. Not a bad run down, although we did have to have two attempts at leaving. Got as far as Grassmoor when The Builder started cussing to himself. “What haven’t I brought?” he asked. Well, I don’t know. You haven’t brought lots of things. Most of the things in the house in fact. What haven’t you brought that you meant to bring? Ah. The electric drill! Still in the kitchen. Sort of need that if you are building decking frames! Apart from that, though, we had a good run down. There are advantages to going away for a long weekend and not leaving until later on Saturday. By that time, most people who are going anywhere have already got there! And I have taken Tuesday off as well, so we can wait until everyone has got home again before going ourselves!
Got to Jeanette and Matt’s to find Mike there, though without Rosie. She has been very poorly sick lately and isn’t yet very robust. Plus they have sold the farm and are moving to a house in one of the older parts of Whiteley. She is spending the weekend sorting out things ready for the move which is planned for a months time. Oh, and Rebecca wasn’t here. She’d gone to a birthday sleepover.
Sunday was the Great Building Day. After a hearty breakfast, the boys went out to make a start. There was the possibility of rain later in the day (after many, many days of dry weather!) and they wanted to get as far ahead as they could. In the meantime, Jeanette and I walked to Mike and Rosie’s new house to have a nosey. It’s a nice walk from their house to Mike and Rosie’s new place. Across the playing field, along a few roads, through the wood, the onto an established estate of very big houses with lots of trees. Took about 15 minutes, though we were walking quite slowly because Jeanette is 22 weeks pregnant and finding it difficult to leap about! Would take perhaps ten minutes at my normal walking pa
ce. Though at that speed we might have missed all the wood carvings of animals that someone has put in the tops of the trees in the wood.
Got back to find that the boys were making grand progress. Decking frame number one was in place; number two was underway. So off we ambled to collect Rebecca from her sleepover, calling at a computer warehouse type thingy for a web camera for our laptop, and at the supermarket on the way back for lunch. The boys were going great guns. Rebecca, Jeanette and I went to the Whitely shops to look at the Bank Holiday Craft Market. Got back, and the frames were finished. Just
the little support posts to be finished and all the posts cemented in. Luckily, Mike had brought a baby cement mixer from the farm! Mind you, we nearly dedded him! He was carrying a bucket of cement and concrete mix, went to step up onto a duckboard, missed his step, stepped in a post hole and went flying. Not good when you are someone who has to wear a back brace to keep all your bones inside your frame! In fact, they were all getting tired. The Builder kept dropping the posts he was drilling screw holes into. Matt was sighing and slipping. Fortunately, they finished for the day, all posts cemented in, before anyone met with a more serious accident. Not the safest of building sites I have ever seen!
We came down on Saturday evening, after I had finished a quiet, peaceful, calm shift at Psalter Lane. Not a bad run down, although we did have to have two attempts at leaving. Got as far as Grassmoor when The Builder started cussing to himself. “What haven’t I brought?” he asked. Well, I don’t know. You haven’t brought lots of things. Most of the things in the house in fact. What haven’t you brought that you meant to bring? Ah. The electric drill! Still in the kitchen. Sort of need that if you are building decking frames! Apart from that, though, we had a good run down. There are advantages to going away for a long weekend and not leaving until later on Saturday. By that time, most people who are going anywhere have already got there! And I have taken Tuesday off as well, so we can wait until everyone has got home again before going ourselves!
Got to Jeanette and Matt’s to find Mike there, though without Rosie. She has been very poorly sick lately and isn’t yet very robust. Plus they have sold the farm and are moving to a house in one of the older parts of Whiteley. She is spending the weekend sorting out things ready for the move which is planned for a months time. Oh, and Rebecca wasn’t here. She’d gone to a birthday sleepover.
Sunday was the Great Building Day. After a hearty breakfast, the boys went out to make a start. There was the possibility of rain later in the day (after many, many days of dry weather!) and they wanted to get as far ahead as they could. In the meantime, Jeanette and I walked to Mike and Rosie’s new house to have a nosey. It’s a nice walk from their house to Mike and Rosie’s new place. Across the playing field, along a few roads, through the wood, the onto an established estate of very big houses with lots of trees. Took about 15 minutes, though we were walking quite slowly because Jeanette is 22 weeks pregnant and finding it difficult to leap about! Would take perhaps ten minutes at my normal walking pa
ce. Though at that speed we might have missed all the wood carvings of animals that someone has put in the tops of the trees in the wood.Got back to find that the boys were making grand progress. Decking frame number one was in place; number two was underway. So off we ambled to collect Rebecca from her sleepover, calling at a computer warehouse type thingy for a web camera for our laptop, and at the supermarket on the way back for lunch. The boys were going great guns. Rebecca, Jeanette and I went to the Whitely shops to look at the Bank Holiday Craft Market. Got back, and the frames were finished. Just
the little support posts to be finished and all the posts cemented in. Luckily, Mike had brought a baby cement mixer from the farm! Mind you, we nearly dedded him! He was carrying a bucket of cement and concrete mix, went to step up onto a duckboard, missed his step, stepped in a post hole and went flying. Not good when you are someone who has to wear a back brace to keep all your bones inside your frame! In fact, they were all getting tired. The Builder kept dropping the posts he was drilling screw holes into. Matt was sighing and slipping. Fortunately, they finished for the day, all posts cemented in, before anyone met with a more serious accident. Not the safest of building sites I have ever seen! 
And now it’s Monday. So far we still haven’t seen any rain. A tiny bit of drizzle yesterday, though not enough to stop any of us doing the things we were doing. A little drizzle overnight. But not enough to make anything seriously wet. The clouds are heavier today, though, the wind is stronger and the temperature has dropped. I think we might have some rain this afternoon. Rosie rang yesterday evening to say that it was raining quite hard in Devon. I do hope some of this heads to the gardens at The Sidings. Some over the allotment would be nice, too.
I had a test last Friday. A 25 question, multiple choice, online test on theories of adult learning. Prepared for it very hard, I did. I read each of the four articles we had been given at the beginning of semester twice on Thursday and again on Friday morning. This, let me tell you, is called “Surface Learning”, which is task-orientated, superficial, short term learning. Couldn’t even say that it was “Strategic Learning”, though it was my strategy for passing the test! And it worked. I got 18/25, which is 72%, which strictly speaking is a First. Personally, I think that Firsts should be awarded at 75%, but University policy is 70%, so nyerrrr! Actually, it doesn’t matter, for the PGC is only a pass/fail award. And I have forgotten it all now. But my surface learning worked!
The Builder has been very busy in the garden. We had 500 bricks delivered earlier in the week, which he wheelbarrowed round to the “patio” area. And which he has now laid. We don’t have a “patio” anymore. We have a patio! I have started putting herbs and low flowering plants in the spaces. Plus there is an asymmetrical thin bed around the edge. I might plant a hyssop hedge. Or something very like it. In addition, he has bricked all the way up the concrete path to the step. Not quite enough bricks, but another lot was ordered, arrived and was speedily turned into path. He’s a busy little bee, is my Builder! He’s also put guttering around both the greenhouses on the allotment, and connected water butts. Now all we need is rain to fill them!
I was stood at the kitchen sink on Saturday morning, more or less getting ready to go to work. A very pretty train went down towards Nottingham or Derby. A little while later the carriages came back up gain, this time not pulled by a diesel engine but by a steam engine! That’s two in a week :) I had a text message from Richard later telling me that the train was the Duchess of Sutherland. Last week’s train was the Rood Ashton Hall. If there are going to be steam train trips up our line on a regular basis, I want to go on one. And happily, I have found one. A trip from Nottingham, stopping at Chesterfield, to Carlisle in September. Saving up now!!
The boys are outside. It’s still not raining – in fact, the sun is coming out. The Builder has sawn all the long posts so they are the same height. And they are backfilling under the frames with the soil and rubble they dug out earlier. Should be finished in a couple of hours, ready for the decking to go on. But that is not happening today.
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