Bush transplant

The workmen arrived to make a start on the garden at nine on Monday, and set about breaking up all the old concrete and tiles, and wheelbarrowing it out along the narrow back lane to be taken away by van. I provided tea and coffee. The task must have been rather un-nerving, as two of the garden boundary walls in houses opposite ours are leaning at a dangerous angles, ready to collapse. This is a consequence of letting trees close to them grow too large, and it'll be difficult to remedy. I suspect the property owners are somewhat in denial about their state. Thankfully, the weather's dry at the moment, but I could foresee both walls coming down and blocking the lane after a bout of rain and/or frost. By lunchtime the men had done all they could for the day and departed.

After they'd finished for the day, I noticed that the concrete flower bed kerb had been removed and the Rosemary bush it contained was leaning with some of its roots exposed. We'd already discussed what to do about the bush, to no conclusion. It was a treasured retirement present to me from St John's Sunday School, and has flourished in our garden. It survived re-location once, but now is a bit too big to take different place in the garden, so I suggested obtaining a large pot and keeping it in our miniscule front garden. An hour later, after an excursion to B&Q, the tree was being helped into its new home in a front garden pot, where it will partially conceal new Council provided dustbins we now have to keep out front rather than wheel through the house on collection days. I was cheered by the effort. It'll need further trimming to restrain its growth, provided it survives the transplant. 

The workmen returned on Tuesday, just a bit later, complaining of traffic delays. A third man joined them, and together all four of us easily lifted the garden shed off its plinth and put it on the lawn, affording an opportunity for the rest of the paving area to be cleared and levelled with a mechanical tamping machine which made the house tremble as it packed down a fresh layer of hardcore, ready for tiling to commence.

I went into the office for a couple of hours in the afternoon, to show Ashley a website re-build I've been working on slowly this past couple of weeks, then returned home early to get to Chi Gung on time, though not early enough to prepare supper on this occasion.