I bumped into my neighbour Jean-Claude yesterday coming up from my neighbour at the back’s house and he told me that their daughter was arriving later on and that he had just opened it up for her. Well, it turned out to be not just their daughter because when they arrived, they came in four cars.
And not only that, all of them were blasting out loud thumping music which from that moment on didn’t stop. In fact, when it got dark the lights came on behind and the reveries continued in the garden with non-stop noise and loud music – through into the early hours. And by that I mean past 4.00 am.
I found it impossible to get to sleep until they decided it was time to go to bed and after a few hours shut-eye, eventually awoke at 9.00 am. All was quiet behind so I decided it was time for an early start to cut my lawn. By 9.15 am I was outside at the back of my house with my mower going full blast walking up and down and round and round to make sure that my grass in that area had a really good cut.
Half way through, I thought that it was about time that I checked my chainsaw that I haven’t used for a couple of weeks, because you know how that kind of kit needs to be regularly started up and run. So out it came and after I’d topped it up with a bit of 40:1 it soon roared into life. But you know what these little chainsaws are like – you need to warm them up a bit so they can reach their maximum revs, so that’s what I had to do.
It took two or three minutes to get up to temperature but eventually it was roaring away nicely, which it did very well for another couple of minutes. Then it was time to get back to the grass cutting.
After I’d finished, my neighbour Benjamin came across with his little boy, Samuel. We chatted for a few minutes and I asked whether he’d heard the noise last night. He said that he had and that it had affected him too, but luckily Samuel had slept through it. He said that he almost got up to go and tell them to Shut Up! He asked with a smile if that was the reason why I’d made such an early start with my ‘gardening’? I just smiled back and shrugged my shoulders, and he said that he approved 😉
I then wheeled my mower back into my ‘atelier’, gave my chainsaw one final test for a couple more minutes and went indoors for breakfast.
We’re expecting a bit of a cold blast next week, a bit like the UK but nothing like as cold. Even so, as I was running short of cut logs for my wood burner, I decided that it would be a good idea to cut and split a few more lengths of oak. My wood store is now really proving its worth and the concept I originally had in mind is now working really well. I took a few shots while I was at work to show how I set myself up for the job.
Some log splitters come with stands to raise them up so you don’t have to keep bending your back. Unfortunately, mine doesn’t have one and although I’ve been thinking about making one myself, it would take up more space, which is already at a premium because of all the stuff that I already have to store, as the next shot shows.
Finally, here’s a shot taken from inside the store looking out.
All in all, I think I can look back and compliment myself on a really useful morning’s labours 😉