Right at the start, I predicted that initially I'd update this blog fairly frequently.

And then I'd update it from time-to-time.

And then I'd stop the updates.

I was right, wasn't I? Doesn't happen very often, so it's worth making a bit of a fuss about it.

In the 12 months since the last update, all the brickwork has been completed. That was a path, two garden walls, and a repair to a pre-existing retaining wall.

At the start of the work I was using a particular pre-mix of cement and sand. As I came to the end of one wall, the next batch of mix was noticeably different. It was sandier, less blue, and didn't mix up. With the addition of [copious] amounts of cement, it came closer to the previous mix.

I contacted the makers by email, suggesting that their quality control wasn't what it could be. I got no response. So, I contacted them again by email. Again, no response. Then I tried a phone call to their "customer service" number, and got no response. Finally, I wrote to them, this time enclosing copies of the receipts. A year later, I'm still waiting for a response.

This is basic customer service. If you don't look after your customers, they won't come back. You can have the best product in the world, at the best price. But if you don't look after your customers, you might as well not bother.