Daddy Clanger (imc) wrote,
Daddy Clanger
imc

A real update, for once

Now where was I?

Our patio decking (not for the patio - but for a patio-like concrete slab down towards the end of the garden where presumably a greenhouse once stood) arrived on Thursday (17th). It's perhaps just as well that I had been delayed from going to work that morning, as it was delivered by single chap in his late 50s so I helped him carry several long pieces of wood through the narrow passageway (and next door's garden) and dumped them on the not-patio.

So on Saturday (19th) it was about time we started putting up the fence. I looked at the existing fence post, and it was further from the vertical than the Tower of Pisa, so I started digging it up to see if I could make it somewhat straighter. In the end (with a bit of help from the neighbour) I ended up pulling it out entirely. It was warped and also significantly smaller than our new fence posts. However, this now meant we were one fence post short. Nevertheless, I dug some more earth out of the hole and set up one of our new fence posts. It was a job well done.

And then I disappeared into town for a bit of the CSS meet which I'd been informed about. There were only half a dozen people, but several of them knew me by reputation, and vice versa.

On Sunday, bopeepsheep suggested I take smallclanger with me when I went to church - it was Fathers' Day after all (but it was more because she needed the rest). He was his usual chipper self, but didn't make too much noise except for a brief period near the end, and he climbed about and played with some of the toys in the semi-enclosed crèche area.

In the afternoon after hanging some towels out on the washing line to dry I took the back seat out of the car and went in search of a fence post. I had to go all the way to Wickes to get it, as the nearer DIY stores didn't have any the same size. I also needed some timber fixing brackets to fit the gravel boards, since for some reason there hadn't been any in our order (which was cribbed off a Wickes leaflet from the page saying "here's what you need to build a fence about 12m long"). When I got back I spent the rest of the afternoon digging holes and planting the two fence posts. And lo, it was another job well done (although I only used 2½ out of our six bags of postcrete).

While we were having tea it started pouring with rain. And the towels were still out. So we left them in case they had a chance of drying the next day. On Wednesday I think it was when bopeepsheep finally brought them back in again, still soaking, and so I put them back in the machine for a rinse and hung them over the (indoor) airer.

The cold that I had last month came back for a repeat performance on Monday afternoon, so on Tuesday I kept my germs at home again. I did a couple of trivial pieces of work from home, but during the afternoon I did also get some Animal Crossing in. I forget which day it was, but the fortune teller came to town and said all the money in the world was coming my way, so I shook (almost) every tree, bashed my treasure rock and dug 30,000 bells up from under the shiny-thing. That day I paid over 80,000 off my house and I hadn't even sold much stuff other than a couple of fossils and several fruits. Sadly the fortune wore off the next morning and, though I tried to get a re-reading, I just got the one where animals wouldn't talk to me. Nevertheless, I managed to pay off my expensive extension within the week. Moreover, I ordered a basement and paid the whole thing off in one the next day. And so I am now the proud owner of a 3-storey house (two main floors plus basement) - and also a huge debt, of course.

Anyway. On Friday the first Examiners' meeting to consider the Finals results happened, and I was in there from 10am until about 6pm, after which it was my responsibility to print off some results. And then to go home and drive to Witney to collect bopeepsheep and smallclanger from his granny's.

On Saturday we had a very lazy morning, so lunch happened before very much else. I then went out into the murky weather to put down the gravel boards for the fence. I discovered that the holes in the arris rail brackets were rather larger than the heads of the nails (it turned out we'd been sent the wrong nails, but it didn't matter that much as they are still OK for nailing the fence boards to the rest of the structure) so I went out to get some larger ones. But by the evening all the arris rails were up.

On Sunday bopeepsheep wanted to do some tidying, so I took smallclanger to church the second week running, where he said hello to a little girl about half his age (and tried to steal her toys from her pram). In the afternoon I went out finish putting up the fence, while the neighbours were also out putting up various garden structures. So we now have a nice new fence - hoorah. But the decking still needs putting up.

On Monday afternooon the second Examiners' meeting happened, and the fates of 45 students had been finally decided by about 4pm. So the rest of this week is a bit more relaxing… aside from the fact that this morning the chief Examiner came to me and said there were a number of corrections to the marks on a couple of the papers! Fortunately the corrections didn't have a major effect on any of the overall results.

The motor for the non-working electric window has apparently arrived at the garage, so I've booked the car in at 8.30am on Thursday for it to be fitted.

And that's about it for now.
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