Paving progress

Paving progress….

One cannot expect DIY projects to flow smoothly or quickly. There is always a tricky situation to resolve or a change of plan to take into account. Before we embarked on the great paving spectacular, we had a smallish garden bed sitting in front of the kitchen windows. It was bushy and overgrown. We did not have an area close to the house where we could set a long lunch table and while away a sunny afternoon or a balmy evening. So I suggested to Frans that we pave the garden bed. It won’t take much I said. We could do it in a week. Such optimism….

With the craziness of Frans’ birthday celebrations behind us, our friends Michelle and Michael came to stay for a week and got stuck into the garden. Frans and Michael ripped out bushes and started defining the area. At this point there was definite ‘scope creep’. The area kept getting bigger! Once M&M and left us, it was down to Frans to keep going.

We had days of bad weather where it was just not possible to work outside. The temperatures hovered in the high 30’s some days and some days it rained. Slowly, little by little Frans got the preparations done. Many trailer loads of crushed rock, river sand and cement were ferried from the building supplier in town. A ‘whacker’ machine was hired to compact the base. Then it was crunch time. Lionel (my gorgeous younger brother) arrived from Brisbane with his lovely family last weekend. He provided a few solutions to a number of tricky issues that Frans was facing. The boys got to work. Lionel left and the next stage was ready. The outside brick border had to be laid. Our friend John who lives just through the forest came to Frans’ aid with the supply of a concrete mixer. This made life a whole lot easier!

Some of the many stages of this 'small' project

Frans and John

The outside edge is now complete. Practise makes perfect. The fourth edge is an exercise in perfection. Frans is fastidious to the point of driving us lesser more impatient mortals a little spare. But we cannot fault the finished product. We’re now ready for the middle bit. That will hopefully be completed this week. We are looking forward to a ‘christening’ of the paving area next weekend. Weather permitting!