Back to Work

Well, I could now give full details of what is involved in the rather personal procedure I went through last week, but I'll keep it polite.  They removed a small part of me and so I now have to wait 7-10 days for the result of the biopsy; however the doctor is quite sure that in his experience I'm OK.  The procedure actually wasn't too bad - it's quite odd seeing your own insides on a TV screen and the staff were all wonderful.  I have nothing but praise for the way I have been treated at the local NHS Trust hospitals.  The worst bit of the whole affair was the preparation for it when you twice have to swallow a solution of magnesium citrate.  If you know what that is, then you know what I mean!  Google it if you've never heard of it. Enough said.

So, back to work after my enforced rest.  The gateway to the back of our house is through a mock wrought iron gate, which is just visible in the photo (right) on the left of the doorway.  I don't like being visible to people in the street whilst I relax with a beer or cup of tea in the sunny spot at the back of the garden . So, at last, I have erected one of my back gates; this one was the one that I obtained as a swap for some wavy glass which I didn't need.  I had recently spent some time re-painting it, so it was all ready. To fit it I had to remove, refurbish and refit the existing gate post which was attached to the wall beside the front door.  The old 4 by 3 post was a bit rotten but I decided to re-use it as I didn't think it was as bad as it looked (it wasn't) and I thought that it might just be oak (it was).  I trimmed the rotten ends slightly and gave the whole thing a treatment of some proprietary chemical which is said to be good for preventing further rot.  I know this isn't very PC in the period property world but I do not want to have a bit of damp rotting wood attached to the house.

I drilled a hole in one of the quoin stones on the corner beside the door, set well back from the edge, then attached the post with a single huge coach screw.  I was then able to drill the holes in the wood for the other screws in situ, lined up with other suitable stones, so that I could drill through to mark three more holes in the chosen stones.  Then, by swinging the post on the one loosened screw, I could drill the holes in the stones, which was a bit noisy (sorry!).  Then I put the post back, attached coach screws and discovered the bad news: the old post was pretty straight and I had made the hinge line vertical as you look at it, but the thing that caught me out was that the wall wasn't vertical.  Jobs are never as easy as one would like, are they?  So, it was again loosened so that I could swing it away from the holes and fit some packers, then retighten.  I did shear one of the 140 mm coach screws but fortunately by the same method I was able to get to it and remove it with my pipe wrench, and re-tighten everything.  To my surprise the gate went on fairly well with the new T-hinges, et voila! It's even horizontal, and is so low that the local cats won't be able to get under it - if they want to use my garden as a hunting ground then they'll have to jump up and over the new wall - when it's done!  I don't have a photo of the new gate yet as it hasn't stopped raining since I did it.

I now need to do that "new" wall which is going to incorporate two lovely stones with pintles, so that I can then hang the other gate (formerly the back door, now being refurbished).  I reckon that I don't need any permission as there used to be a wall there - I found the old foundations in January - and I don't need permission to do a repair.  In any case, no-one could see that part of the gardens anyway when the enchanted forest was still there, as you can almost see from the photo (left).  This shows how it looked in January last year after (only) the roof had been done; the wall and gates will fill the gap to the left of the corner.

However, I think it might be some time before I manage that lot, as I am turning my attention back to finishing and tidying the new extension, so that it's fully useable.  We have ordered some bits of furniture and I need to buy a couple of wall units for "my own stuff".  I know they won't be big enough for everything but I desperately need somewhere to put my things out of sight without going outside to the over-crowded shed.  If you don't have an attached garage, where do you keep your tools and materials to hand?