15 December 2017 (Friday) - Fixing the Fence

I slept like a log last night; finally waking just before 7.30am. As I scoffed my toast an article on Facebook caught my eye. Several people were posting on one of the local groups; there was consternation and indignation that what was once a pub is to be demolished and rebuilt as flats. I can’t see why this is such a shame. When the place was open it wasn’t the sort of pub you’d dare walk in to. It has been closed for nearly ten years, and derelict since the fire of four years ago. So many local people were bleating about how a modern block of flats would be far worse than a burnt-out shell.
How does that work?

I got myself together, plugging in my electric screwdriver to charge it up, spent ten minutes scraping the ice from my car, and set off to collect "My Boy TM". We decided that first things should be first, that we should get our priorities right, and we went straight to the Brookfield Café for a fry-up.
We made our way to B&Q where we found they didn’t have any met-posts so we went on to Wickes who did. As we drove home we realised that we’d not got anything to help us get the concrete cores out of the ground (the ones I’d loosened yesterday) so we went back to B&Q where we go three metres of ratchet strapping (?) for the price of two.

We came home and I explained to the first fruit of my loin what we had to do… Whilst I ponced around in a managerial fashion he would get the concrete cores out of the holes. Put one fence panel in place. Stick in the first new fence post. Put the second fence panel in place. Put in the second new fence post. Repair the broken fence panel and stick that between the two new fence panels. Fill in the holes round the new fence posts. Replace all the shingle and make good. We would both then get some dinner. Job done.
It took me about thirty seconds to write that… it took us about three hours to actually do it. Having done a lot of the preparation yesterday had helped us quite a bit, but there’s no denying we did waste a *lot* of time when we lost one of the met-posts. How can you lose a met-post? They are three feet long and weigh several pounds. And we had a minor panic when we went to put the final panel in place and found the panel was about an inch too long for the gap we’d made for it. But in the end we managed to get most of the job done.
With it only remaining to replace the shingle "My Boy TM" suggested we left that for a couple of weeks to let the soil settle. It will sink naturally and it we’d replaced all the shingle today, it would look daft in a couple of weeks. We’ll sort the shingle and make it good later. As we worked I took some photos; you can see them by clicking here.

As we worked so the dogs bimbled about doing their own thing. Fudge was happy to wander round the fish pond. Treacle was happy to wander round nice-next-door’s garden. I wasn’t happy with her doing so, but that was why we were fixing the fence. She wouldn’t be able to once we’d sorted it, so I thought I’d let her make the most of it.
There was a minor episode when nice-next-door’s cats started pulling faces at the dogs from an upstairs window, but I think the cats won that one. And towards the end of the session we had to shut the back door as Treacle was lifting slabs of ice from the garden pond and trying to take them into the house.

Just as we were finishing, nice-next-door came home for lunch. We got chatting; they are moving as the house isn’t big enough for them. About six or seven occupants ago someone turned one of the bedrooms into a bathroom and what was the downstairs bathroom became a utility room. Everyone wants three bedrooms, and no one is fussed about a utility room…

We went to McDonalds for some McLunch; after the morning’s exertions we felt we deserved it. In a break with tradition I had a McBurger. For all that I go for McLunch a lot, I rarely have a burger. I usually have chicken strips or just ice cream. The spicy select burger was rather good.
I took "My Boy TM" home, then came home to shouting dogs. On seeing me they wanted to go for a walk. We walked round the park in about three times the amount of time it might have taken, had Fudge got a move on. He certainly takes his time when we go for a walk.
With walk done I got out the Dyson and did some hoovering whilst both dogs quivered in terror. They hate the thing.

By then it was nearly five o’clock. I’d certainly made the most of the day’s leave. I had a shower then made myself a cuppa and watched episodes of “Still Game” on Netflix until "er indoors TM" came home…
Fish and chips, telly – I really should have an early night.

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