Pavers, driveway, 22 tons

I was told they could be delivered any time from 0730 to 1600, but that the driver would phone when he was leaving the drop off before me.

So that was Wednesday written off, so to speak. Isn't it funny how you just feel today is the perfect day to visit that friend you've been meaning to call on, or go to the sale in town that starts today, so that's when all the bargains are to be had?

So I made good use of the time. I wrote the first draft of a new short story before lunch, which I'm quite pleased with, and it will go towards my 'Writing for Children' module in September. It will undergo countless revisions before anyone reads it, but at least the kernel of the story is written - and I like it :-)

The phone call came just as I was preparing lunch "I'll be with you inside an hour, traffic permitting.' Great, time to eat my avocado salad, drizzled with the hoummous I made a couple of days ago. The leaves in the garden are a welcom addition to the shop bought lettuce and tomatoes.

I felt the rumble of the 44 ton lorry before I actually heard it. I'd been sitting on the bed strumming the guitar so that I would see it arrive, but, I felt it first. It was a monster lorry, boy, was it big!!

The driver got down from his high throne, and we discussed where to put the 22.42 tons of pavers he had brought me. The crane fitted on his lorry didn't have the reach of the one that delivered the bricks for the porch and conservatory, but he was confident he could just squeeze them in.

David and I watched as the lorry bed was lowered slightly, and the generator growled into life. Then the lifting began. 20 pallets of buff (well, that's what they call it, really they're quite yellow - it'll be a bit like Dorothy following the yellow brick road when it's done!!) pavers, the 80cm deep ones suitable for a driveway. Each pallet weighs just over a ton each, all securely bound in metal bands.

Poor man, it took him ages to manouvre the crane through the curtain of holly and spotted laurel branches. Not to mention the lower branches of the sycamore with a preservation order on it, and the telephone cable for the house next door.

But he managed it, and even kept a smile on his face.

Now David and I have the task of moving many of them into the back garden, as some of them will be used on the patio, interspersed with the red and heathery pavers that I've been buying locally in dribs and drabs.

I can see me carrying one in each hand, while David carries rather more at a time in the wheelbarrow. We'll get it done ... eventually. Fortunately, we can do it in our own time. And it will be worth it when it's done. Honest:-)