Bags of tiny rocks

Today I had to stay in to wait for a delivery of gravel. Builder Dave ordered it on the weekend and it was due sometime today. By ‘sometime’ they mean between 8am & 6pm.

There was a brief moment (well, half an hour) when I had to take Day-z to the vet for her kennel cough squirt up the nose, but other than that, I stayed in.

Day-z hates the squirt up the nose, as did Carmen. In fact, Carmen would happily put up with anything the vet did…except the squirt up the nose. Day-z, on the other hand, generally doesn’t like anything that involves her head or her bottom. Today was no exception. It took both of my hands and one of the vet’s to keep her still for the millisecond it took her to squirt the stuff into Day-z’s nasal passages.

Of course, I apologised for Day-z’s bad behaviour but the vet assured me that all dogs hated the squirt up the nose but, unfortunately, it’s the only way that the stuff works. That must have been a weird thing to test. Anyway, at least it’s over for another year.

Back at the house, and somewhere around lunchtime, there was a knock at the door. Ah, I said to the dogs, that must be the gravel. It wasn’t. It was the other stuff needed for the step tops. Two big cardboard boxes. One with a bonding kit, the other with the primer.

It wasn’t until quite late in the day that the gravel arrived. There was a ring at the bell (it’s interesting that some people press the bell and others knock) and a tiny little old man stood there, all gap toothed and grinning.

“Gotcha rocks,” He said, somewhat maniacally, paying no attention whatsoever to Emma who I was holding.

He then unloaded the bags from his van, one at a time, and piled them by the porch. He tried to fob me off with the plastic and the pallet but I managed to deter him from this line of folly. As he put the final bag down he remarked that he was getting too old for it. I could only sympathise; he looked about 70.

And so, the makings have arrived. When I let Builder Dave know, he emailed me to say they would try it Saturday week if the weather remained rain free. He then emailed me a little later to say he’d found a guy who works for him who has laid this sort of surface before. For this reason, it might be completed earlier in the week. I don’t know why.

I was surprised that Nicktor didn’t come round tonight – we’d sort of planned it – but, to be fair, I was happy not having to be particularly sociable. Day-z has been waking me up every morning at 5am and, given I don’t get to bed much before midnight, I was pretty tired.

I saw Neighbour Dave and Gail today and asked them if they could hear Day-z and Emma in the mornings. This was something that was worrying Mirinda. They were surprised, said no, then asked if I could hear Rodney. Apparently, he does the same thing and wakes them in the early hours to go outside. They have taken to sleeping downstairs with him (on alternate nights) so the other one can get some sleep. As Dave said, they’re making a rod for their own backs. I can only agree.

Eventually, Emma will sleep through and I can sleep again.

Mirinda was in Birmingham today, visiting a university. She emailed me through the day to say that Sally and family would be dropping into Farnham on Friday night to see us. So, I’ve planned dinner for them. Looking forward to it. It’s so good having a kitchen that we can entertain with. Oh, and a very big table.

Speaking of tables…our old one has gone to a very good and deserving home. A young couple (Yvonne and her husband) came around tonight to pick it up. I’d put it on Freecycle as soon as the new one arrived and they were right in there going for it. They’ve just moved into their first home together and they have no furniture. Well, now they have a very nice first table. They were very pleased…and fussed over the dogs A LOT!