The hedge bed – year 3

I realised, this morning, that a year ago, I wrote about the progress of the hedge bed which runs along the fence between us and Dave and Gail. It’s where the hedge used to be. Looking at the photographs almost made me gasp. This year, the bed has gone a bit mad.

The madness is due, in part, to the fact that we haven’t been there to keep it bordering on sanity. Apart from mowing, I haven’t been able to do very much in the garden. The main reason for this is a lack of water. Not to water, you understand (we have water butts for that) but to wash in afterwards.

Actually, watering has not been an issue this year. Through spring and into summer, the rain has fallen kindly between bouts of sun, ensuring growth and bountiful displays. This bounty is especially true of the hedge bed. Particularly when it comes to the extraordinarily proficient herb Robert.

So, one of the things I did today (among the many things) was to extensively weed the hedge bed.

Before I started, it was quite difficult to see the euphobia: after I’d finished, it was all euphobia. I reckon the effort, sweat and dirty fingernails were worth it. This is how I left it.

But my weeding activity didn’t stop with the hedge bed. I managed to cut a swathe through the hot border and the ex-nettle bed as well, clearing away some really nasty looking weeds. The work was so extensive, I treated myself to a half hour sit in a chair under the gazebo afterwards. Perfect. Pity I didn’t have a beer…or anything else, actually.

Work on the house was all about Tim finishing the electrics today. I asked him how his stag week in Spain went and he said that the bit he remembered was really good. I asked if that was the big bit. He shook his head with noticeable sadness.

The guys from Quality Joinery showed up to fix up the two panels on the roof lantern that needed fixing as well as lifting an edge of the skylight above the (future) breakfast bar. Apparently they’d laid it flat over the opening and when Dave the Builder told them it needed a bit of a slope for run-off, they complained that it was his fault for making the opening so level. Anyway, they fixed it today. So that’s all finished.

After lunch, a guy from the wood floor people turned up to discuss oak flooring with me (Dave the Builder was also supposed to be there but he had to go to his kid’s sports day so he left me in charge). He was discussing engineered wood but I stopped him very quickly, saying we wanted solid oak. He told me that the problem with solid wood was the fact that it can curl up if the boards are too wide. I said I didn’t want it very wide. He was then all smiles saying that he preferred solid wood as well. Seriously? He’s not very good at selling the engineered wood!

Anyway, he showed me a sample of the wood and it looks fabulous. I reckon the floors upstairs will look brilliant. He measured up and will send a quote. A very pleasant chap, I must say.

We had to leave the house earlier than usual because I had to stop in at the tile shop and ask Dennis a few questions and then visit Bathroom John to discuss taps. Again, both very nice chaps. I think Dave the Builder only deals with nice chaps. I’m very glad about that. Makes things a lot easier.

As far as photos of the building site go, it was a bit difficult finding anything that looked substantively different this week. However, this photo shows the screed and some of Tim’s electrical work. It also shows the sun streaming in through the roof lantern.

And, one more. Here’s the laundry, plastered and waiting for a few units to fill it in.

And, if that wasn’t excitement enough, I had a dinner date with Dawn tonight. We went to the Holly Bush for a delicious lamb steak dinner…oops. Actually, Dawn doesn’t eat lamb since she started taking photographs of them looking cute. She had the pork…

I haven’t seen her for ages and it was great to hear about her insane cycling obsession which saw her riding from London to Brighton last Sunday. And, oddly, when she’s driving, she hates cyclists and when she cycles she hates drivers. I wonder if that’s true for everyone…