Toil and soil

A while ago, I had to move a ton of topsoil from the front of the house to down the side by shovel and wheelbarrow. Since moving it, I’ve used about half of it, by shovel and wheelbarrow. This, logically, should mean I had half a ton left to move in preparation for the builders.

We have had a lot of rain recently. In fact, we have had the wettest January in 247 years (since records began). I can verify that, in terms of sheer weight, about half a ton fell on the topsoil.

This means two things. Firstly, the bottom of the bag of topsoil has congealed into mud and, secondly, the addition of the water has doubled the remaining weight back to about a ton. Today I moved it down the back of the garden with shovel and wheelbarrow.

Fortunately, the weather remained bright and sunny. Even so, it took me most of the day, punctuated with moving the remaining accumulated detritus of years gone by.

While the extra weight was a pain, the sudden appearance of mud was extremely annoying when it came to using the shovel. It felt like more mud remained on the shovel than anywhere else. I was constantly scraping off sticky clumps, making the job last even longer.

Even so, I managed to complete the task in time to make dinner (pork with green butter, for the first time in ages). At least the topsoil is now in a better place for later distribution on the garden.

The other major task was to move the wood pile. Given the logs are still in their original bags, this wasn’t too bad and the job was completed quite quickly.

Now, all that remains down the side passage is the big white cupboard, containing plastic boxes. I shall empty it before Wednesday.

By the time I finished, the aches had already started. Tomorrow will be a trial of determination over muscle.