One Happy Matt and One Happy Builder 
End of Stage One of the Great Garden Project
Well now, those boys did a really fantastic job on Monday. They backfilled all the levels with the soil and stuff that had been dug out, especially in the post holes. They levelled things and tidied. They got one of the gravel beds ready. Then Mike had to head home, for the day was getting on and he had a two-three hour trip to Devon ahead of him. Matt and The Builder carried on. By the end of the day they had built all the edgings for the gravel beds, sorted out the gate and got the entire edifice ready for Stage Two. Which will be when the decking and rails and steps actually go in. I fear we have run out of time and budget to proceed any further this month!
While they were doing that, Jeanette, Rebecca and I went back to the craft market. There were things Rebecca wanted to do. While we were out, there was a sharp shower of rain. No worries, we were in Tesco buying beer for The Workers. WE came out and it was sunny. WE got to the market and the heavens opened right up. Only for a few minutes (but it was enough to drive the boys inside for a time!) Drove us in too. Into the face painting tent. Which also had a Make and Take section – which is a bit like the Plaster Fun Factory, where you get a plaster moulding and paint it. While Rebecca and Jeanette were doing that I went for a mooch around the shops. Was quite tempted by a three tiered steamer in the Cook Shop. Sadly, the only money I had was The Builder’s, and I couldn’t really spend that on an unexpected steamer, no matter how many tiers it had.
Wandering along, I espied a goat in a pen in the centre of the market. Went to investigate. Awwww. There were little tiny ducks and little tiny chickens. There were lambs (which, apparently, grew into micro-sheep). And there were piglets. Ever such cute piglets. They too apparently only grow to be quiet small pigs. The mean Builder wouldn’t let me have one. Not that he was there. Hard to see how he could have stopped me! But he might have noticed the addition of a pig to the garden, even a small one. Especially if it ate his runner beans:-P
So not a bad day on Monday. Nice and productive for the boys. Fairly restful for me. Mostly I watched, played on the Net, read, pottered.
We stayed over to Tuesday morning and left Whiteley just after 9. Jeanette, Matt and Rebecca had, of course, left much earlier than that (Matt had left just after 6, I think!). We were off to Salisbury to visit The Builder’s parents. We went a roundabout way through Southampton, to avoid a hold up on the motorway. We called at the Landford garden centre, where I bought a replacement grape vine, then mooched on to Gwen and Mick’s.
In we went. General greetings and settling in. Tea was brewed. “Oh,” said Gwen, The Builder’s mother. “It’s a pity I didn’t think to ask you to bring a saw.” But The Builder has his van! “Yes, but a saw would have been useful. You could have cut my kitchen bench/table in half.” Pause, while we pondered that unlikely suggestion. “But I’ve got my van,” said The Builder. It’s got all my tools in it! Including a saw.” Including, in fact, the very saw that you would need for the job Gwen wanted doing. Ten minuets later, the bench/table had been pulled from the wall, cut in half and reattached to the wall. It seems that she isn’t allowed to keep her fridge freezer in the cupboard anymore. So she is buying a new one (just because) and needed the space on the wall where half the bench/table had been. Job done, then. Though I’m not sure why she can’t have her fridge in a cupboard. Ours is built in to a cupboard!
In the meantime, she asked if we would like to stay for lunch. Chicken and dumpling stew. Nothing special, she hadn’t prepared anything for us, but there would be enough if we wanted to stay. Just as well we did! If we hadn’t, I think she and Mick would have been eating chicken and dumpling stew for the rest of the week. I suspect she might have secretly prepared extra, just in case we could stay! And it was very, very nice. Don’t get dumplings all that often – and hardly ever properly cooked ones! Freyja makes her own gnocchi. Proper Italian dumplings!! Gwen’s were suet. And very nice too.
And so we made our way home. Not too bad a trip, given that we arrived on the M1 just in time for the Peak Hour Traffic. In fact, we came off a junction early to avoid an accident further North, and had a lovely run up through Alfreton and Clay Cross. Might do it again from time e to time. Much more interesting than the motorway and bypass.
Marlo was very pleased to see us home. So were the goldfish, for we hadn’t asked Tammy to feed them while we were away. And the garden is positively blooming.
But we are both tired (even me, who has done virtually nothing all weekend). I think we both slept through the 10:00 news!
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