18.05.2025 He's at it again!

 ~o~

  Sunday 18th 50F/10C. Bright overcast with a more cloudy day promised. Northerly wind again.

 Up at 6.00 after a busy night attending to the fire bucket. I was drinking lots of water to combat the effects of sweating due to the near constant, heavy exercise. The salad can't have helped.

  My efforts to clear the site must continue apace. There is still much to do. The contractor is coming tomorrow to examine the site in person.

 7.15 Time for my walk. 

 7.50 Back again. Full sunshine. Lots of birdsong. I met two of my neighbours and a very small guard dog. 

 8.00 54F/12C Time to get back to work. Priorities? Clearing the space outside the house. Deciding the most efficient way of removing the pile of recyclable timber at the back of the gravel area. There are lots of long lengths. Which would need individual handling. Carrying them any distance would eat up the available time I have left. I'll have morning coffee on my first rest.

 8.50 Back in again. Dripping with sweat and already tired. Too windy to go without a jumper. Too hot to wear one. It is beginning to seem like a world's strongest man competition. I have moved the heavy carport components, the recycling bins and assorted other stuff. Which had no reason to be there anyway. 

 It has all gone down the garden. Onto the sloping western lawn. Tidily and within reach but safely clear of any likely excavation and earth moving activities. Time for morning coffee. So I can regain my strength. Perhaps I should change my t-shirts after every stint out there.

 10.00 The area outside the the house is completely clear and strimmed of grass and weeds. The carport's, polycarbonate, roof sheeting has gone into the greenhouse.

 11.00 I am breaking up the "patio." A very loose term for splashes of concrete thrown over rough ground. Covering the area just to the north of the house. Laid probably half a century ago. Without the least preparation or leveling. The resulting mess varies between an inch and four inches of crazed concrete. 

 Which meant an hour of swinging a pick and sledgehammer. Then trundling the broken concrete off to the far end of the gravel area in the wheelbarrow. To dump the rubble over the edge. At least as much to do again. Am I having fun yet?

 If I can get this area leveled and graveled to a suitable depth. To match the whole parking space. Then I will gain enough height to lose a full step going indoors. This is still well below the non-existent damp proof course. Probably 20cm below the indoor floor level. 

 12.00 Another 40 minutes of pick, sledgehammer and wheelbarrow. My back is aching. I need a rest. The image shows the small stuff I haven't dumped yet.

 15.40 I had a nap and lunch then went back out again. To complete breaking up the concrete as far as the step. Only about 6m x 1-2m wide. I used the DeWalt hammer drill on the last bit next to the step. To avoid undermining it. The drill is not very powerful on thick concrete. Only managing to flake off the surface. 

 I found three different runs of concrete drainpipes under the concrete. Which I didn't know I owned. Nor cared about after their demolition. I haven't seen this area clear since we moved in all those years ago. The concrete was always hideously ugly, dark with damp and crazed. Though my wife managed to cover the entire area with her plants.

 18.15 Back in again after clearing wood, rubble and rocks. I decided to stack the wood beside the gravel area. Where there is a drop to the original garden level. This meant I did not have to walk backwards and forwards. It's not pretty but will serve for now. It's been a very hard day! I am not sure I want to make a Sunday dinner. 

 Dinner was cheese of toast with mackerel in tomato sauce. I gave the mackerel five minutes on top of the cheese and the corners of the toast were burnt.

 

  ~o~