Zoo Day.

A little sun today with a mild morning turning colder through the afternoon.

I set my alarm for 7.00 to be up and ready for the builders' arrival at 8.00 but anticipation had me waking up even earlier. I got up to turn up the heating, (we leave it set at 16C/61F overnight, boost it to 19C or 20C/68F in the morning and leave it at 18C/64F during the day), then fed Speedy who was suffering for extreme hunger and decided I might as well get the breakfast things ready and make tea. Had tea in bed and then got on with putting out the rubbish and recycling and preparing for the builders. They didn't want tea straight away and all four of them got on breaking up and clearing the old blocks before laying the new stone slabs.

And this is how it looks at the end of the day. What a difference. It will be a while before the glass balustrade goes on as it has yet to be ordered due to a communication mix-up. In fact our builder still gave us the choice of replacing the old galvanised railings with a new handrail but the terrace and the view are such a highlight of being here we wanted to have the glass if at all possible. So the old railings now lie in sections on the grass and we get to enjoy the view. Unfortunately building regulations state that if the drop is over 2ft there must be a 3ft 6ins barrier so leaving it open is not an option. When I was at the zoo I got a message to pop back home to check that I was happy to change from a grid layout our original plan, to a staggered layout as the natural stone slabs have too much variation to look good as a grid. Decision made I returned to the zoo for more weeding. There was one more decision to be made at the end of the day, which colour to use for the pointing. Although the choice ranged from black through reds to beige I went for natural grey to tone in with the colour of the stone slabs. 

At the zoo I carried on weeding the woodchip and have uncovered the whole of the far corner. I had just put my tools back in the car and got my camera for a photo walk around when I had the opportunity to meet with the volunteer who organises the gardening and another lady who has started working at the zoo doing more gardening. This meeting was to talk about ideas and future plans which was perfect timing as I'd spent my morning coming up with a plan for a wildlife meadow or 'Bug Jungle' on a piece of neglected grass next to the woodchip I'd been working on. Simple activities such as weeding are perfect for letting the mind wander and come up with random ideas. We spent an hour coming up with ideas that should improve the general look of the zoo and also make it more interesting for visitors at minimal cost. When I realised the time I rushed back home without taking any photos as I knew Peter wanted the car to go shopping before town was clogged up with parents collecting children from school. Then when I got home he decided it was too late anyway.