31.05.2025 Job done.

 ~o~

  Saturday 31st 54F/12C. Overcast but fairly bright. Dry with sunny periods promised. Light winds. 

 Up at 3.00 when my security camera reported a person at 2.47. Then reported their leaving again 3 minutes later. There was no sign of movement on the very dark image on my phone. Though I could see easily in the semi-twilight it was very dark indoors. I sneaked around looking out of windows but there was nobody to be seen. "They" had probably already left. Because I only got up after the second notification. Then I went back to sleep. 

 I have just bought new lights with movement sensors to replace the existing units. Hopefully the security camera will perform better with more light. Not to mention the shock to wanderers of being suddenly lit up. So much for all the glowing reviews about full colour in pitch darkness on YouTube! I was using wireless connection to my router. So I'll try a network cable connection next. In the hope off better things.

Up at 6.00.  The contractors are due back at 8.00 to hopefully finish the gravel work. I'll have to move my car to the end of the drive. So I don't get trapped in. Nor get in their way. 

 Tomorrow is wet in the morning so the pressure is on to complete. The online jobbing app holds the funds until I confirm completion. So the contractors won't get a penny until I confirm my satisfaction with their work.

 The contractors arrived after 9.00. Things seem to be going smoothly. They are taking pains to ensure I am satisfied with their work.

 13.00 They have left with the job completed to my satisfaction. They spread the last of the gravel and compacted it. Then spread the granite chippings and worked the plate vibrators over that too. I expressed a desire for a fairly flat area where the carport was intended to stand. Just beside the shed but with plenty of spacing. To which the were accommodating. Including extra compaction. It is difficult to see in the image but the soil beyond the gravel has been spread and compacted too. 

 The dry granite is remarkably pale. I had ordered grey mix. Coming back down the drive in the Morris in sunshine it was just like approaching lying snow. There is a white coat of dust adhering to the chippings. Which will be washed away over time. They are already much darker when wet.

 I have never seen the whole area in one view until now. There were two heaps of gravel in the middle of the yard and machines parked until mid morning. Now I get the clear view to the distant tree line. The Morris is parked in the intended carport position in the image. A full turning circle is easily managed. As is reversing. The major obstacles in the yard for so long had given me a false sense of a lack of space. 

 Dinner was salad with everything. Well, not quite. It is so long since I had salad cream that I completely forgot this major, recent investment. I was almost half way through before it surfaced. The absence was soon corrected. Generously of course. Though I have no photographic proof of this. I do have proof that I ate cold sardines from the tin and enjoyed them immensely. 

 

 ~o~