Was that summer?

We had a couple of wonderful days. The sun was shining, the breeze was gentle and I actually had T shirt and shorts on. Not a pretty sight so I’ve spared you a photograph. I took the opportunity on Friday to fix up the gate from the front field to the house. It’s an old wrought iron job with about twenty layers of peeling paint and a bolt fixing into the wall.

Removing the old, very rusted bolt took ages. I eventually managed to hacksaw the bolt off. It actually took longer to find the hacksaw than to do the job. Still, the toolshed is gradually getting sorted.

A couple of coats of Hammerite and a new bolt, job done. I could take the old gate off to work on as the farmer has taken his sheep with lambs off to pastures new. It’s amazing how they’ve eaten the grass down. Looking closely I can see how much of the grass is actually moss.

He’s brought new sheep back now, not as many though. Hopefully liming later in the year and tillering (is that the right word for raking the land with a tractor?) will improve the value of the pasture for next year.

Saturday was lovely again so we went off to visit the nieces and nephew who are camping about half an hour away from us. They’re near a lake and were having a wonderful time, boating and swimming. We settled for a coffee and a chat with the parents!

Bulk Order Arrives

Our bulk order of fertilisers and composts arrived.. Now our house is set back from the road and the garden shed is further back still but the good news is that there is a track that runs up beside the house and past the shed.

In fact, this was the only way to access the house years ago. It’s not a tarmac road, but neither is it too rough for an ordinary car. So the lorry arrives and I go down to the driver. Everything is shrink wrapped onto a pallet. So he asks me if I’ve a forklift truck.

Well no, I’ve not got a forklift but he can just drop the pallet off his tail lift (he’s got one of those hand forklift things in the wagon) in the gateway by the shed. Just pop up the trackway. Oh no he can’t. It’s too narrow to get his medium sized lorry up there.

I explain he’s got about two feet clearance to either side except for one bit where there’s a telegraph pole and he’s only got a foot on that bit.

Oh well, it’s too steep. Hang on, it’s no steeper than the road he’s just driven up from the village, surely your wagon can do that. Possibly but it’s rough, the wheels might spin or it might get stuck in a rut. But we had a huge removal van up there and that had a low wheelbase. Yes but they’re contracted to deliver to the house and I’m not. More than my job’s worth.

So he dumps the pallet onto the track and off he goes. I rang our neighbour who popped down the impassable track in his car and loaded his portion of the load whilst I barrowed my share up two bags at a time to the shed. I was pretty puffed out by the end of that!

It’s funny how some delivery people have no problem at all and others reckon we’re impossible. Anyway, poor chap probably hasn’t made it home yet. The only ways involve going up hills and some narrow roads. (Yes, that was sarcasm!)