Back where we started

And so we return to where we were last autumn: the new gates are installed.


Very slightly different to the previous set, being less decorative.

And that concludes this section of work. There might be more happening in the autumn, however.

Before the break

And here we are all painted and ready for gates:

Dashed handsome

The plasterers finished construction work on the wall and pillar yesterday:


The painter is due on Tuesday, then we need to get new gates organised.

Wall Day 2: The Rendering

In between the showers today the builder rendered the wall.


Looks about ready for dashing now.

Driven up the wall

Four months of frustrated dealings with insurance companies have come to an end at last. First our claim got lost in the landslide of others arising from the big winter freeze. Then our house insurer decided that they weren't going to claim the parts that they didn't cover from the driver's insurance, after saying they would. But last week, at long last, the cheque for the bulk of the work arrived and today the builder began with the basic blockwork:



I feel better about the whole thing already

There's about a week's worth of work to do on the wall itself, followed by a new set of gates. At the end we bundle up the receipts and invoice the driver's insurance for anything not covered by our own.

Surprise guests

We had some unexpected visitors this afternoon, when this chap arrived in our driveway, in something of a hurry, according to eyewitnesses:

Those large blocks are from the garden wall, are damn heavy, and were propelled with sufficient velocity to knock a couple of minor lumps out of the front wall of the house. The car, thankfully, didn't touch the house and was stopped by the kerbing at the edge of the driveway.

Though our gateway is perfectly adequate, the new arrival preferred to make an entrance of his own:


He was, apparently, swerving to avoid the blue car which you can see sitting dented across the road and which was coming out of the garage nearby.

Given that that's a bus stop on the other side of the garden wall it is amazing that no-one was hurt in this.

Looks like we have some more building work to do...