Warmer.

We've had some weird cloudscapes as warm winds blew from the south. I hummed and hawed over doing some washing and after eventually washing some sheets it looked even more like it was going to rain. However it was very windy so I hung the washing out. By the time the first raindrops dotted the terrace the washing was dry enough to iron. And after that there was no rain at all. Later in the afternoon the clouds blew right away and the temperature shot up but we're back to greyness now.

We were up early as the builder had said he would be coming. We thought he'd be up on the roof sticking the ridge tiles back on but instead he came with his ground worker and put in the footings for the raised beds in the front garden.

It didn't take long to dig out the trenches for the footings and even less time to fill them with concrete from a cement mixer. One little boy, 2 or 3 years old who was going past with his dad and dog had a wonderful time watching the cement mixer pouring concrete over our fence. 

Apart from making cups of tea I found things to do; cycling, writing notes for my Hobbit journal and ironing, where I could keep an eye on what was going on in the garden. Even the nicest of builders can cause unintentional damage to a garden. This morning they thought that they would need to chop away the bush growing across the end of the garden and the hydrangea next to it which would have left the garden and terrace in open sight of anyone walking past. Instead I went down and tied back the bushes with some strong rope and all of a sudden they had enough room to work.

Although it might seem a bit of an extravagance to go to all this effort and expense just for some raised beds not only will they make it easier for me to garden when my back gets worse but they will provide extra support to the terrace and to the raised bed holding the hedge. The next stage is to lay the blocks but that won't happen until the blocks are delivered so it may not be for days or even longer.

The builder also removed the galvanised gates from the step and dug up the posts. They will be moved down to replace the old gates which conveniently broke when the builder was clearing the way to bring the mini-digger in. At the same time Peter used his now working grinder to cut down the concrete wall in the back garden. It's now all ready for me to create a paved area for the acers.

Today's winds brought big, clean waves and some adventurous surfers and SUPs. Now that it's the school holiday there are a lot more people around.