18.02.2023 It ain't pretty. It's my patio! 🙈

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 Saturday 18th 41F, heavy overcast with a cool SW breeze.  Up at 6.30.

 09.30 Back from my walk. Stove lit. Going to tidy more outside. The nice lady from the council is coming to see how I'm doing on Monday. I like to show I have made some progress between each visit. Just to ensure I don't get bunged into an old people's home. 😱

 I just broke up about 3 m^2 of the old concrete slab with the sledge hammer and a navvy's pick. I wheelbarrowed the remains across the parking space. To help to fill the low ground beyond. There was an old ceramic drain hidden just under the crazed concrete slab.

 Probably the way the rats and mice got into the house when the previous owner lived here. There was a couple of cubic meters of rats nest material in the kitchen cupboards and in the ceilings when we bought the place. 

 I blocked the drain from indoors very early on in our residence. The drain led out to a stinking manhole. Which I filled with gravel to close it off. Thankfully there were no further problems after that. Well, not with that particular drain. 

 11.00 It has just started raining. So I can have a well-earned rest! I'll have to barrow some self-stabilizing gravel onto the rough patio area. To fill the dents I have just made. If I smooth it out and level it then it won't look so awful! 

 I don't have any "cosmetic" gravel to tidy it up properly. For which I'll want sharp granite chippings. Not the usual pea gravel. Which rolls far too easily underfoot. Sharp chippings lock together.

 12.30 More concrete removed and barrowed away. Then I barrowed some self-stabilizing gravel onto the newly excavated area. After raking it over and stamping it ain't pretty. But it's my patio. 😂

 13.15 Lunch over. Sunshine. 

 11.00 2C/35F Dinner was poached eggs on toast. Bed time.

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