Monday 22 May 2017

If you build it, they will come.

Greetings, people of blog land.

I sit typing this, rocking on my garden chair, my dog asleep on a patch of soil in front of me, and my lovely wife clattering in the kitchen behind me. Maybe I should be helping her.
As I swing, however, I'm distracted by the large blue structure in front of me - and also the wasteland that used to be a nice, well-manicured lawn - but mostly the blue structure. Some would call it a shed; others a money-sink. To me, though, it is the promise of something good: a blue wooden box with infinite interior space for ideas and creativity.

The build went a little something like this:



Dig hole, lay sand, gravel, scrape and level, drop flagstone on foot.

REPEAT until nearly dead.



Place flooring down and test for see-saw action



Add the walls and roof, and test stability with child and dog. Helmet, because it's a building site.

Wait for a week, remove the lot. Realise that the floor has settled and not as level as before.

REPEAT first step. Swear at the floor a lot (it doesn't actually do anything to help the build, but it's cathartic, therefore, important).

Read instructions, and, using a dad-type with power tools and a working hammer, build the outside.