Harley 1 Ivy 0

Sunday. Car boot then djembe for the Funky Chicken at church (don't ask). Time to tackle the remaining ivy. Was one of those times where aspieness turns a simple job into a mammith undertaking (and no thats not what happens when furry elephants die). Harley couldn't simply get rid of the biggest weeds and then retire for a leisurely cuppa. Oh no. Harley has to get rid of ALL the ivy. Harley ends up re-laying 5 slabs thanks to her need to get all the roots up. Still, at least there isn't a hole in the middle of it now. Took bloody ages...but looks tonnes better now. Hopefully I won't get every passing block paving salesman trying to give me a quote now!!! Although the one who asked if my parents were in was amusing!

Hard afternoon's graft. And suprisingly..no squashed fingers/toes.

House ivy....your time will come!!

Will be most gratifying burning this lot!

JD

Saturday. Early. The sort of time you should be wrapped in your duvet watching Rugrats. I wouldn't say I got any better at it, but I managed 3 to Chris' 8 this time. So...slabs all laid. Alas, that may well have been the easy part...

In order for the top of the wall to be level with the grass it has to kind of sink down as it goes. I'm guessing this was tricksy as I was sent to B+Q for more mortar and bricks...or to get me out of the way.

Isn't that cool how it just emerges from the ground!! Genius that York lad.

Next job... this is my next major task (after the drive)...change this into a nice path bit...all by myself. Hmm...we'll see!

All done! Needs a bit of a clean. Rain Sat night helped, but gonna try hose and brush Mon...again...we'll see.

Flowers not doing too badly either. Smug grin.

Was some mortar leftover...so fixed the front wall...using the worst pointing technique ever seen (ie fingers).

Then just started playing with it.

Bit of food...then started to tackle the front 'garden'. Began as a quick tidy up of the bush at the front... ended up as an ongoing personal vendetta against ivy.

No rain...but no Chris either

Friday...another week raced by. Disappointed today. Chris obviously busy somewhere else...thought the good weather (finally) would mean we could finish today. Oh well. Some positives today. Mortgage meeting went well this morning. Solved a problem that John had spotted..pinned it down to a blocked gutter pipe...sorted it myself...even managing to not scream when my fingers found a slimy slug whilst investigating..yuk. Also managed to do some weeding this afternoon.

And thanks to my wonderful neighbours the fence and drive look great. How brilliant is that...they not only painted my side of the fence too, but weeded the drive too...and fixed the car port gutter. Nice reminder that there are some lovely people out there willing to help each other...as does Freecycle (kind of traded straighteners for new rat cage).

Er..no Harley..that would be upside down.

Narrowly avoided starting a new trend in inverted patios. Me and Alison had spent ages in B+Q looking for the slabs with the nicest features and fretting over whether the different colours on some would come off etc etc... only to be told in the nicest possible way that the slabs in fact go the other way up. D'Oh!...this was after I tried cleaning them and explaining the natural beauty of the stone.

At least Chris made a minor judgement error too...putting the leftover bag of ballast I had into the mortar mix...then having to pick the stones out again!

The master at work..getting the first slabs down. Unfotunately this was the first time he laid them, not the final (so far) third time he laid them, thanks to our foolish assumption that we were working to a true right angled triangle with nice straight edges!! Should have known!

So this is my dead chuffed with myself photo of the very first slab I laid all by myself...lets ignore the fact we had to move it 5 mins later!

So...end of play Thursday... Score is currently 20 to Chris and er, 3 to me. Getting them to be flat AND not wobble sure is tricksy!

Did you mug Grumpy on the way over?

(...asking Chris where he got his pick). Started the patio today. Stage one...clearing the turf ...

Stage two...levelling off the site...and trying to dispose of the excess soil...not very convincingly!!! (over the fence extremely tempting). Have to confess to having climbed over the fence and stolen the neighbours wheelbarrow. He was out...really hope he won't mind...but it was a lifesaver.As you can see... blocks for the edge and sand and stuff all bought ready...waiting for Chris to come back but......

..its raining.

Much better

Oh...and here's how the garage door looks now. Much better (if you don't get too close). Had to remain calm when I had finished and tidied away properly and everything....then noticed a small white strip at the bottom of the door that you can't see when you are at the door....D'Oh!!

TGF the Walker Van!

Had a good day today...not only did we decide on the slabs...we also managed to get them...so they are all here ready. This is all thanks to Alison and her willingness to give up her day to help me in the van...and no thanks whatsoever to B+Q in Loughborough being useless. Thank goodness I had the bright idea of asking them to see if the Leicester store had any in...Cos they didn't think of that. Shame I had already placed and paid for the order...to wait two flippin weeks for them!!! took them another half hour and three different people to cancel that. Anyway. Had coffee and cake in Daisy's cafe to celebrate, and got some cool plant pots to go on the patio when its done.So all in all a good day. Oh and even Alison agreed that skateboards are great! ...at least when they save you carrying 36 slabs down the drive!!