It has come to my attention that I’ve been very busy lately and haven’t shared much of it with you – so it’s time to change that.

This post will have lots of pictures, despite me getting ever closer to my WordPress ‘limit’!

In the spirit of Christmas, I’ll begin with showing you some tractors I saw recently. They are decorated for competition and lots of money is raised for charities as they drive around the local area. Then everyone gets together at a local park:

You can see a short clip of it here:

In the garden, I’ve been very busy trying to fix the fence – yes the saga continues. If you weren’t around, I’ll quickly fill you in. The fence between us and our neighbours on one side is made up of 3 wood panels which like to pretend they are sails on a ship anytime there is a storm. Earlier in the year one panel came down completely and after some time, I got one delivered – then after some more time, the neighbour ‘put it up’ (I’ll come back to that).

A couple of storms ago, the middle panel came down, but the new one just about did too. After many – and I mean MANY – calls, emails etc, I managed to get hold of a type of handyman scheme who sent someone out to have a look. He managed to temporarily secure the wobbly new panel and removed some rubbish for me. He said if I supplied the materials, he would speak to the office and get a day arranged to come out and do the work. The next week I got a call from the office: it was the same person I’d spoken to a few times during the previous month of trying to get someone out. Anyway, this time I was told the job wasn’t in their remit. I suspect, her boss told her to tell me that as the previous week, it did seem to be within their remit.

So, with my tiny budget and lack of DIY skills I was left wondering what to do. This is what I was dealing with:

It was a complete disaster. The panel on the left is the new one! The middle panel came down completely. On the right picture, you’ll see the post used to secure the panel and the netting I put up as a temporary measure to stop Scooby getting out. Thankfully I had some spare at the allotment. I also had to put lots in front of it so he couldn’t get to it!

So, this last week, I decided I would do something about it myself. Turns out I couldn’t get another panel. I got the last one from B&Q but they don’t deliver them anymore as too many got damaged by the courier they used. I saw one online for £33.99 but guess how much they wanted for delivery?

I should add at this point, this was just after I’d bought a recliner chair for Dearest Husband for his birthday and had to pay for that to be delivered. What an eye opener that was by the way. Some companies wanted £70, some said £40 an hour and it would take 2 hours and 2 people so that would be doubled. One company said, £50 and I can do it when you want. Guess who I picked?

Turns out it was 2 young lads (identical twins if my eyes were correct) who were running their own business and I’m so glad I hired them. Turned up on time, no messing and let me know where they were so I’d know when to expect them. As if that wasn’t enough, get this: I saw the chair on Gumtree and I sent the woman a message saying I’d like it if I could get delivery organised etc. She even lowered the price by a considerable amount. I asked her how she wanted paid as I hadn’t met her and all this was being done by texts. She replied we could sort that out later. So, on the day, I let her know the delivery boys were heading to her and also when the chair had been delivered. She then said I could either put the money in her bank (providing all details) or use Paypal (providing her email) but there was no rush – ‘when you are ready’. How is that for trust? I got husband settled in his chair and paid her online but I couldn’t believe how well it all went and how trusting that lady was.

Long story to say I couldn’t afford another £50 to get a panel delivered. Instead, I went to a local shop and bought some Postcrete as I know the posts would need that and while I was there I noticed some 8′ long pieces of timber – not as big as a post but I’m not putting up a panel anymore so I thought they’d do.

I moved all the heavy stuff so I could get to the post the neighbour had dealt with. Not only had he not used postcrete, he’d stuck bricks around the post, hoping that would hold it in place! No wonder it all came apart in the wind. He’d also not made sure the panel was straight but it was at such a level there wasn’t much I could do to fix it without digging up part of their garden and I wasn’t going to do that so I did my best to sort it.

I got that post secured and made sure the panel was actually attached to it then a few days later, I started to dig a hole for my new timber. That was when I found the old, rotten post and had to dig it out. It wasn’t cemented in but it was very deep down. After that I started to build my frame and that’s where I have another story for you!

The wood I used for the frames came from the old sofa we got rid of (which the recliner was replacing). Dearest Son and I managed to get it out to the front garden and I took some time to dismantle it and get the wood before we dumped the rest.

If you would like to see what this all ended up looking like you can watch the video here (please remember to subscribe!):

I’ve been busy on the allotment too, of course, but I’ll save that for another day. At this point, I’ll finish by saying Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful time and manage to feel the joy of the season. X