… and the twain met. This was very cheering. We’ve done sections that met before, obviously, but this is the very first time that Dave has started at one end of the row and I have started at the other and we’ve carried on until there was just one brick separating us, at which point I went to get my camera and Dave slapped on the mortar.

Dave would like it to be pointed out that this part of the wall runs north to south so he doesn’t think the heading is accurate. I would like to point out that his surname is East and my name, here at any rate, is Z, so it is.

Here is Dave getting ready to lay that last brick. I’m the one at the start sounding like Boris Johnson (actually, Boris models himself on me, or so I’ve heard) and the Sage is the encouraging one at the end. The picture is of Dave.

And here are other photos of that brick, and of the wall as a whole.





And it really is a whole (yes, it has holes too) now, although there is still a course to lay before the top goes on. I thought it would be too tall for me today, but whereas from the kitchen garden side it comes up to my eyebrows, from the drive side it is hardly to my chin and still manageable. We have scaffold boards (and a Risk Assessment in place) for the final layers. I am tremendously excited; a few weeks ago Dave saw me lose my rag somewhat with the absent Sage (I had time to recover my temper before he arrived home) and today he saw me in excited mood.

When we’d finished, I went to make tea and while the kettle was boiling I took the plates, mugs and cake out on to the lawn. Three bantams came rushing hopefully to meet me. I was tremendously flattered as they usually only do that to the Sage. I had already planned to bring bread, so dumped everything on a convenient barbecue and went back to fetch it, and the tea. Dave, who is a Man of Steel, didn’t flinch once as, from a couple of feet away, I kept flinging handfuls of breadcrumbs to hopeful chickens. I did, at least, throw overarm and not like a girlie. One chicken, a charming 4-year-old, ate from my hand.

Today I received the bill from the heating engineer for the London boiler, the bill from the hospital for the x-ray and the bill from the consultant. The Sage received one eBay purchase, an email to say another had been posted and he’s already got his other two purchases. We’ve both spent about the same amount. I will revert to my practice of thinking of all money spent in terms of something not routine. Like, I want to buy a new fridge – that’s about a Lowestoft sparrowbeak jug. Or a computer – that’s a teapot in generally good order, if not in an exciting pattern. Going by that, the boiler cost a rather special teabowl and saucer and looking at my hip cost a Victorian vesta.

Actually, I was not dismayed by that bill. I told Al, when I’d posted off the cheque and phoned with my credit card for the x-ray. “That doesn’t seem too bad,” he said. “When I think what I paid the dentist this year, and what I paid the plumber.” I agreed.

Adding a video to a post takes ages, but at least I could type in the meantime, and now I’ve just got to insert the rest of the photos. Well, soon. It’s finished uploading and is now processing.

Ho hum. *Twiddles fingers*

We’ve had time to watch an eBay item finish and chuckle at the high price, especially in view of the fact that it was somewhat misdescribed as enamelled instead of a wrap-around. Buyer might be disappointed, we think.

Oh hooray. It took 35 minutes to upload that video.