Foggy.

For most of the day we have been enveloped by low fog. The view was so hazy that I could barely see beyond the first bend in the river.

I've spent most of the day working outside removing the rest of the top decking. Peter persuaded me to give the drill another go after he fitted the correct head. Though only a few of the screws came out with the drill it loosened most of them enough for me to lever up the planks. I was using our largest screwdriver as a crowbar when suddenly it flipped out of my hand and into the small rhododendron bush on the right. Now this screwdriver is over 12" long, the sort you might use to fix a tractor with a bright red handle but could I find it in the bush? The bush is only about 4ft high and 3ft across but I had to spend a long time searching until I spotted the screwdriver pointing up at me.

Here I've taken up all the planks but haven't yet begun cleaning the paving slabs.

And finally, the slabs have been initially cleaned and swept. They must have done a lot of plaster and cement mixing on the slabs before laying the decking (very badly) as at least half of the slabs had mounds of cement or plaster on them. So far I've chipped a lot of them away but need to do a bit more before I begin pressure washing. Although at first glance the decking looked smarter and more modern but on closer inspection, presuming you hadn't slipped over, the planks were in a poor state and rotten at the ends. I've stacked all the planks according to size and shall ask someone more knowledge if they are at all salvageable. Ideally I'd like to have decking on the left side, the paving slabs cleaned up and maybe a few along the right hand side taken out to make space for planting.