Today

The shed arrived yesterday. The van driver dumped the pieces in the driveway. It was pouring with rain. "Manana" we said and left it there. It poured all day and the thought of the whole task became larger and larger. First, the pieces have to be dragged through the house into the back garden. Next, we need to check that they're all there. Then we have to attempt to assemble it, following the, no doubt lucid, instructions provided by Focus DIY. And we have to do this without getting our hands full of splinters, putting our backs out or having a major row.

The benefits are plain to see - our garden will be better organised, the lawnmower can come in out of the rain. And anyway we've paid for it.

This morning, after my run, I still had some energy, so, solo, I heaved the shed pieces through into the back garden. Noticed that one panel was a little damaged - can we repair it? Don't think I'll mention it Paul - it'll be amusing to see his face when he goes out the front and sees it gone!

Another instance of me seizing the carpe diem.

In My Day

When we bought the house in Montfort Close the owners were proud to tell us that there was a greenhouse, complete with vine. Well, when we took a look, we saw that the vine was pretty complete but that it had destroyed the greenhouse in the process.

So, at the end of the summer we bought a new one. Like the shed (above) it was delivered in anonymous flat pack form. So we stuck it in the back garden and tried to pretend that we'd never bought it.

One weekend, early the next spring which we were spending with our best mates, we all sized the proverbial on the Sunday morning. Cold, wet and windy though it was, the 4 of us unwrapped, read instructions, laid a brick base, lost and found screws, bolts etc and got up the greenhouse without so much as cracking a single pane.

I grew tomatoes and courgettes in the greenhouse, having hacked away the vine, as an unproductive things that wouldn't even give us a single bottle of Merlot .

And our best mates are still our best mates.