Tufa

18th March 2008

I made a rather foolish decision a few days ago. The job was to smash down a small building attached to the house to make way for a large terrace. At my disposal was a very nice, orange digger (see picture) which is designed to knock down small buildings in a matter of minutes, or, alternatively I could choose to spend the rest of my life taking it down by hand to save the bricks for later.

Me and my digger

That was the first bad decision. Then, yesterday, when deciding where the drains and septic tanks need to go, it was decided that the perfect spot would be where I had just spent 3 days piling up those 562 big, water-heavy bricks (trust me, I did count them)
So now I have to move them to the other side of the garden, by hand, which gives me another chance to count them, I suppose.

Tufa - beautiful, but heavy when wet.

Who would have thought that the main topic of conversation at my 6 year olds parents’ evening would be the fact that of all the children in her class, only Lorenzo eats his vegetables and absolutely no-one eats the minestrone. Those parents who weren’t busy chatting on their mobile phones looked most upset except, of course, for Lorenzo’s mother who almost felt the need to stand up in her moment of pride. This was, fortunately, the only moment when individuals were singled out. Most of the parents were cowering in fear of the public humiliation at the hands of a teacher who was literally foaming at the mouth as she explained her exasperation at coping with such an ‘unruly’ lot.
However I managed to escape unscathed from both sets of teachers, now I just have to work out how our two children manage to transform themselves into little angels between 8.30am and 4.30pm.

The stupidest thing I did today;
See above...

Comments

[Jon]

Easy mistake to make - especially if you don't have it all planned out in advance - but where's the fun in that!

I've had a go with a digger like that when we had some guys in to do our garden. Great fun - and much quicker than moving soil with a spade.

[Double glazing]

We all make mistakes bro. Just look at the planning next time yeah?

[Pam Stacey]

Interesting article!one of our conservatories would have looked great on your new terrace!it's a pity we don't sell in Italy!

[Miranda Taxis]

Hi there guys,

yesterday Di from new Zealand sent me this link and I think your going to love it - we did!

http://www.jcbsong.co.uk/jcbvideo.asp

Glad to see you are getting on with works and can't wait to come over and see what you are up to one of these days - that is AFTER the Toscana Tour has finished.

[Anne]

You sound like a man with a very good sense of humour!! Please call over to my blog as you have been tagged..hope you will play.

[Sally]

If it is any consolation whatsoever: you are NOT ALONE! We did exactly the same thing a couple of years ago. Except we aren't nearly clever enough to use the digger ourselves. And we still have the pile of bricks. (Just like yours, they are too beautiful to get rid of - still thinking of making a patio, but other jobs get in the way.) Good luck.