Working in my garden ... and Max's ... and Sam's

So Bulb say they have switched me back to dual-rate tariff and will give me £30 compensation in return. I haven’t responded yet. I think £30 is a bit mean. I still feel grumpy with them and I’m minded to move supplier. I’ll have to compare prices carefully.

I could set myself up as a garden handyman. This week, I have been to Max’s on Wednesday and Sam’s yesterday doing jobs.

Max’s neighbour loves gardening but has a very small garden. Nevertheless, she has planted six silver birches and has a border with soil mounded against the fence between hers and his. This has rotted the bottom board and when she waters the border, water and soil run into his garden, across his path.

We have replaced the bottom board and I’ve treated the whole fence with wood preserver. It hadn’t been done for a while, so soaked up the preserver. I’ve got another third of the fence to do and also to tidy up his raised beds. That’s a job for next Wednesday. I also went for a long walk with Max, Alice and Ollie around Syston. Alice had not slept the night before and both Inna and Max were a little frazzled. Inna was out wheeling her around town when I arrived and then she fed her and handed over to Max and I for another walk and (hopefully) sleep. She did nod off after about 20 minutes, so we kept walking and then, when we got back, she stayed asleep in the pram.

I didn’t really get to see her as she was still asleep at 5pm when I left for home. I wasn’t going to risk waking her just to have a look!

Yesterday (Friday) I went to Sam’s in Soham to help him put a section of fence and a screen at the end of his garden. We got the job done and made nice work of it, too. It’s a small section right at the end of their garden just in one corner. The chain-link fence at the top of their wall is broken down and it looks as if people have been coming in.

A neighbour told Sam that someone had come through the garden and broken into houses at the side of his house. Apparently, this was when the previous owners had been there and they’d piled up old conifers in the corner. Sam has had those removed (we dug a lot of compost out to fill in the pond) so the corner is now accessible again.

We put in new fence posts, pulled up the old mesh fence that had been trodden down and added new wire above it, also bamboo screen so it’s harder to see in. I completed the security screen by adding a small holly seedling I found in the border. I suggested they add a new laurel, so the line of laurels goes all the way down the garden. We finished off by digging out some old, rotten compost bins and then making three new ones from some old pallets. Sam burned a load of old wood on a bonfire, so the bottom is much more tidy.

It’s a big garden and will take them a lot of time to look after. Sam has had three large yew trees removed, which makes the side of the house much lighter, and also the lime trees along the road pollarded. The laurels really need a good trim and Sam is having the lawn re-laid with turf in the next month. The old lawn was badly damaged by leaves being left lying on it and also by moss.

Saoirse, me and Arthur having dinner after working in the garden.

Arthur and Saoirse came home at about 5pm. They were very exited to see me and also the bonfire (probably the bonfire more than me). I had a little play with them and sat while they had dinner. It’s a long day at school/nursery for them both.

Arthur was very keen to show me his new bedroom. He’s obsessed with the army and soldiers at the moment and his bedroom has a camouflage theme. Saoirse is campaigning to have the same in hers.

It was quite a stormy day and we were lucky to get so much done between heavy rain showers. Driving home, Ely cathedral looked wonderful against the stormy sky and there were some wonderful cloud formations across the flat fens around Chatteris, Manea and March.