A Path, A Wall, A Door

As I said in my previous post, in order to finish the garden path I had to start the garden wall (previous episode).

To start the wall, I had to dig a trench, put in a concrete foundation, and put down a couple of courses of bricks. Then I could fill in the gap with dirt, put down some sand, and only then could I lay the path on that sand.

Of course, I could have just built the walls first, but there was some pressure from the beloved to get the path done before anything else.With the path done to the beloved's satisfaction, I could go onto the rest of the first of the walls. And now it's done.

And, it doesn't look too bad. Certainly not as bad as I thought it could have been. Oh, a brickie would take a quick glance at it and laugh him/herself all the way to hospital. But I am quietly quite happy with its looks. Yes, I'm very careful to say "looks", as its strength in holding back a garden bed is yet to be tested. I'm now quietly confident in my ability to build another wall for another garden bed for my beloved. But that will have to wait until after the new doors have been painted.

The Path Is Done

Today, I finally finished the path (previous episode) after weeks of procrastination and pontification. Actually, I couldn't finish the path until I'd started the walls, and that's where the procrastination and pontification came in. As an IT Help Desk-er, I knew I'd make a seriously bad brickie. So I put it off and put it off and put it off. In the end, I decided I had to do it at some time, so it might as well be right then.

I was wrong. I am not a "seriously bad brickie". I am an Horrifically bad brickie. The first wall arcs through 90 degrees over a couple of metres, straightens for a metre, and goes off at a right-angle for a metre or so, enclosing what will become a garden bed. One layer of bricks below ground level, three layers (oops, sorry) courses above ground. And... but the rest can be for another day. This is supposed to be about the path.