I've done almost half of the one foot high brick wall which edges the paving at the end of the garden. It will be about 13 feet long and have a brick built barbeque stand at one end. The foundation is concrete, and the reclaimed Imperial bricks are laid with lime mortar which matches the house. This wall gives a solid edge for the paving laid on sand, and also resolves a worry I had about whether we had taken the ground down too far beside the 6ft stone wall; it will raise the ground level at the base of the wall thus preventing erosion, and also I can dispose of a good quantity of excavated earth behind it.
I spent yesterday working at my normal speed, until about 3pm. I had done two major e-mails on church business which, with a phone call as well, had taken most of the morning, and then I got on with the foundations for the second half of the wall. This was hard work as yesterday was very hot, and I was digging through a layer which contains animal bone (no human has teeth that size!) and a good amount of local brash. This stuff is annoying as you have a few bits of stone as large as your hand hidden in good earth, and if partly hidden they still have to be removed. Suddenly I realised that actually I was very tired, and that I wasn't going to finish digging the hole and mix a load of concrete in what was left of the afternoon. So I stopped and at that same moment decided that I would do nothing at all today as well - just have a day off.
I've had a bit of a poor throat recently, but last night I slept pretty well. I had to get up at 6.30 to take t'other half to the station, and when I came back I went back to bed with another cup of tea. Next thing I knew it was 10.00am! I went to the shops for a few essentials and a haircut, and only then realised that I had not had any breakfast. After lunch I found myself watching the Formula 1 practice on TV, and an old film with Telly Savalas. I certainly feel rested and much better today; perhaps this is what retirement is meant to be like?
Yes, there are still lots of things I could do around the house and garden, and I know I have to finish doing things by October 16th (operation day) but I am determined not to let these jobs put such pressure on me in the future.
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