VE Day

[terminal7]

Where's the insult?

T7

(Taffy from London - no sheep jokes please)

[scotia]

Yes - VE day, and a tremendous feeling of relief for much of the country (although I was too young to remember it). But remember, there was still Japan. My old friend on HMS Formidable was on deck on the 4th May, sailing off Okinawa when they were struck by a Kamikaze, but he told me that he was quicker on his feet on the 9th and was three decks down when another Kamikaze came plunging down onto the deck. I think VJ day is probably a better remembrance day. Otherwise any survivors of the Forgotten Army will still think they have been forgotten.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

In the garden

Not sat enjoying the sun and watching the grass grow though

Nope!

On the next leg of the civil engineering job. We can't get a machine in the back. So it's all hand dig.

I'd tell you the quantities but that wouldn't help understand what it's taken to get here.

I am going to put some photo's up though - just to remind myself how far we've come. And we still have a fair way to go - sometimes I hate living below my our means

AiYn'U

Found in the back garden. Free to a good home. Eats, sleeps, barks, wees and poos (a lot)



The back garden (civil engineering job - note to all bricklayers and gardeners the blocks and sleepers are all just temporary - sheesh, that means I've still got to put the new sleepers in and form the steps and lay the new lawn at the right and up top )



Each little terrace lovingly formed with my own fair hands The black weed membrane covers aggregates which will support the decking, the gravels, shed and summerhouse.



To your left 5,000 block pavers and in front of you the progress of removing stone, clay mixed with topsoil's continues (by hand)



Always looks bigger from the back The topsoil needed on the top terrace is coming out of the front garden. That has to be dug up first then brought round the back and up that lovely little gradient. Quick calculation and it's only between 20 and 25 tonnes.



If anyone asks me what I am going to do with the very large hole formed by the removal of the topsoil in the front garden I may just explode

AiY"t"n'U

[Watis]

If anyone asks me what I am going to do with the very large hole formed by the removal of the topsoil in the front garden I may just explode

AiY"t"n'U

Swimming pool?

Watis

(runs for cover)

[bungeejumper]

Swimming pool?

Basement recording studio, surely? Keep digging.

BJ

[didds]

Where's the insult?

T7

(Taffy from London - no sheep jokes please)

I inadvertently swapped a "r" for a "t" in "Yorkshirelad" ~:-)


didds

[monabri]

Found in the back garden. Free to a good home. Eats, sleeps, barks, wees and poos (a lot)

AiY"t"n'U

Good job there was a photo (sounds like a description of me although have stopped barking of late!)

[dealtn]

If anyone asks me what I am going to do with the very large hole formed by the removal of the topsoil in the front garden I may just explode

Not sure who is luckier. Dig more than 2 inches in our front garden and you would be below topsoil and into builder's rubble, and natural flints and stones.

[Loup321]

My mum remembered VE Day. It was the day before her 10th birthday, and they had a party at home, and she was allowed to stay up all night! I think marking the end of the war and the anticipation of the end of their "new normal" was justified, and I expect we'll mark the end of the current "new normal" somehow. 75 years on, perhaps looking back is what we should be doing, mostly with relief, but with a reasonable amount of gratitude and some sadness. We weren't going to join in all the celebrations anyway.

My mum died last August, and we were going to take advantage of the bank holiday the day before her 85th birthday to scatter her ashes in the sea near where she grew up. With hindsight, this would probably not have been wise with the good weather and the expected number of people on the beach. However, my dad isn't allowed to travel the 300 miles to us, and we are not allowed to travel the further 60 miles to the beach, so my mum will be stuck on the sideboard in the living room for a while longer.

Small one has to make a poster on VE day for her schoolwork, and we have a family maths quiz the school has set that should be done tomorrow. She also has English work, which we'll try and get done today so we've enough time to do the poster. I also have work to do (office stuff, from home), so I guess it will be just a normal day like today. Might get a half day off, and do some gardening...

[Rhyd6]

Searching for some music from the 1940s to play tomorrow I came upon the "Sods Opera" - I thought rugby songs were near the knuckle but these are the original forces version of songs Vera Lynn was singing. DO NOT play unless you are broadminded or are on your own.
I must admit I was quite amused when I heard OH joining in.

R6

[monabri]

Listening to the BBC this morning, they thought it necessary to explain who Vera Lynn is.

[swill453]

Listening to the BBC this morning, they thought it necessary to explain who Vera Lynn is.

Not surprising since nobody under 63 was alive when she last had a UK chart single.

Scott.

[terminal7]

I inadvertently swapped a "r" for a "t" in "Yorkshirelad" ~:-)

Didds - I know - sorry cabin fever 'joke'

T7

[monabri]

She did have a Number 1 UK album in 2009 and a Number 3 in 2017.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_Lynn#Discography

[didds]

Listening to the BBC this morning, they thought it necessary to explain who Vera Lynn is.

Not surprising since nobody under 63 was alive when she last had a UK chart single.

Scott.

yup.

i a simlar fashionj that "nobody" over the age of 63 will have heard of Abel Makkonen Tesfaye a.k.a. The Weeknd," currently 2nd in the Top 40 charts (#1 being a R1 collabaration ditty).

didds

[monabri]

i a simlar fashionj that "nobody" over the age of 63 will have heard of Abel Makkonen Tesfaye a.k.a. The Weeknd," currently 2nd in the Top 40 charts (#1 being a R1 collabaration ditty).

didds

I think you might need to revise that age downwards. I'm a few years younger and have not heard of said singer.

Mind you, I'm "getting hip" ("hip"!! ) as now, thanks to this board I've heard of 'Grimes' ( Elon Musk & Grimes).

[Midsmartin]

A house up our road has Union Jack bunting out. I don't understand why it is celebrated in this jingoistic way. Let's remember, and celebrate the end of violence but we should be at peace, and spaces on the bunting string should be shared by flags of the EU (if only), Germany, France etc. In a symbol of modern togetherness (in my dreams).

[AsleepInYorkshire]

In the garden

Not sat enjoying the sun and watching the grass grow though

Nope!

On the next leg of the civil engineering job. We can't get a machine in the back. So it's all hand dig.

I'd tell you the quantities but that wouldn't help understand what it's taken to get here.

I am going to put some photo's up though - just to remind myself how far we've come. And we still have a fair way to go - sometimes I hate living below my means

AiYn'U

Having celebrated VE Day bank holiday by trying to recreate the trenches of the Somme I thought I'd bore you even further with an incy wincey update.

The top terrace 6th May 2020



Top terrace 16th May 2020



Top terrace 16th May 2020



Yes it was a puppy asleep. Winnie is 10 weeks & 4 days old



Summary

1. Move 5,000 blocks 2m. 8te (took three hours on my own )
2. Excavate area 70m2. With help from the girls . Some topsoil, some aggregates, some builders rubble, some roots, some clay. Approx 19te. Reclaim aggregates for use in steps.
3. Use reclaimed "topsoil" and lay 50mm over excavated area 6te.
4. Total moved 33te.
5. Topsoil needed to complete job 13te. To dig (by hand) from front garden. To make additional car parking space.

AiY"t"n'U

[sg31]

Summary

1. Move 5,000 blocks 2m. 8te (took three hours on my own )
2. Excavate area 70m2. With help from the girls . Some topsoil, some aggregates, some builders rubble, some roots, some clay. Approx 19te. Reclaim aggregates for use in steps.
3. Use reclaimed "topsoil" and lay 50mm over excavated area 6te.
4. Total moved 33te.
5. Topsoil needed to complete job 13te. To dig (by hand) from front garden. To make additional car parking space.

AiY"t"n'U

You have been busy. I know how much work that list is. I only have to read down the list and my back starts hurting.

I've been doing something similar with my garden which extends to about one acre. Luckily access to my garden is good and a friend of mine owns 2 diggers. A big one of 15tons and a smaller one of 8 tons, (I'm not sure of the exact size of the smaller one but that figure is in the right area).

It is amazing how much work a digger can do in a short while. I have many years building experience but most of it was in Brighton where there was very little opportunity to use machinery at the back of houses, so most of the excavations was done with pick and shovel. Removing spoil was normally done in buckets and bags carried through the property. I can well imagine how much work you have done to get where you are now.

I would have been seriouslty tempted to hire a crane to lift a digger over your roof, do the work and lift it back out. It might have cost a bit but it could have been worth it considering the scale of the work.

My garden is now on the last stretch. We had to suspend work due to the wet ground over the winter. I've just taken delivery of 60 Tons of soil from the farm next door to level out the last area of garden. That was free as he was haviung a new access road built. I've got to buy another 40 Tons of sandy top soil for the surface layer. That will all need laying out and tracking in by the digger. Then the surface layer needs grading out and I follow behind with a rake to prepare the surface for grass seeding. To be honest that's easy, the digger driver can get it so close to perfect I barely have to touch it.

It's been 4 years in the doing, 2 extensions to the house and complete renovation to the inside of the house. Then several sections of the garden to sort out . This is the last section of garden then it's just the driveway and paths to sort out.

I'm supposed to be retired, I'd never have done this if I was working.

I hope your garden is as good as you hope it will be. I'm sure it will be with the effort you have put in.

[oldapple]

AiY, I recognise too the level of seriously hard labour your project involves and all the upheaval too, at least the weather has been pretty much perfect to tackle it. But I really just wanted to say - Winnie is gorgeous!