Busy times

Blimey, my last post was back in June and here we are in the middle of August. No excuses, we have just been very busy. So whar has been going on?

The back garden was full of established (read 25 year old) shrubs, bushes and Leylandi. Well they have all gone bar the dwarf Cherry tree and a Wygelia bush.


Slabs removes and hardcore rolled in gets transformed...

We had the old slabs that fulfilled the role of patio taken up, along with part of the lower lawn and textured / coloured concrete laid. That had meant a lot of time doing some creative gardening with a raised flower bed and seeding grass. In turn that has meant several trips to DIY centres and garden centres to purchase appropriate materials and flowers/plants. It is starting to look good now, though there is still a final phase to be done which includes laying slabs as a base for a new shed (12' × 8') then buying and erecting that in time for the guys from BestCrete to come back and play the path to the shed joining it to the patio bit they've already done.


Into this patio with raised flowerbeds.

Then mother has had a 'cataract' operation on each eye in turn so that she no longer needs contact lenses. She has had the all clear on the left eye and hopefully will get the same on the right in 10 days time.

I have had a recurrence of my hip/back problems that are the result of a motorbike accident I had 37 years ago, so I have been under a physio for the last 5 weeks - on going.

Thankfully, but also worryingly, my work has been slack. No redundancy this time though and starting this week I am back to working 3 days a week on client site. Just as well because the little Volvo is showing signs of needing major expenditure over and above it's value, so yesterday I put down the deposit on a Mazda6 which I pick up later this week.


Volvo - soon on its way to a new home...


Soon to be mine - Mazda6 saloon 2.5 litre petrol engine...

Of course there has been loads of other stuff, like last weekend when Suzie and I drove down to Staines and put in the skirting board and laminate flooring in the hallway of Mark and Eleanor's home. Hopefully it will give them a much needed boost to get on with other work that needs doing.


From ancient bare floor boards to this in 1 weekend - not a bad effort.

So, I failed to find time to update the blog, but that has now been rectified, and there is more to come...