DIY is a casualty of Covid

I’ve already mentioned the horrendous waiting times for hopeful delivery in respect of Hubby’s shed, which is why he still hasn’t got one.  The idea of paying £300 to £500 or so upfront for something that MAY be available for delivery in five months is a definite No No in my book. I would have no objection putting down a refundable deposit of say 10% to secure an order and fixed price for one, but no way are they getting the whole lot only to cancel and then fob us off with a credit note rather than refund.
Patiently waiting

Getting other building supplies has been very hit and miss, but now with our archway collapsing, we need a new framework to support our clematis. You would think that would be quite straightforward don’t you. Welcome to our world.
The local timber merchants had suitable wood, but no post mix. The metaposts available had 24 inch spikes on them and there is no way we could bang them into the ground here.
The guy said he was unable to get a delivery of post mix until the beginning of October as it was hard to come by but helpfully offered us ballast and concrete………… 25 kilo bags of each for a job where we’d only want about 10 kilos in total.
We tried elsewhere locally and they had wood, but 4.2 m rather than the 2.4 m lengths we wanted (that would just fit in the car), and no, they wouldn’t cut or deliver it.
We came home for a much needed cup of tea and had a quick lunch of sausages, beans and mash. We looked on-line at readymade arches and balked at the prices, so time for plan B.
We loaded up the dog and went 25 miles away to a big DIY store. If we couldn’t get what we wanted there, we had three others to choose from on the same industrial estate.
Good plan………………. sort of.

It was early afternoon, and we don’t know the back roads well enough yet for the side of town we wanted so had to go in the way we were familiar with.
Two teenagers on pushbikes were playing chicken with the traffic and came straight for us. My window was down and I ungraciously told them to get out of the f***ing way! I got a mouthful back, and hope he fell off, seriously hurting himself and involving no-one else.
It only got worse.
It’s the start of a weekend.
It’s the summer holidays.
BUTLINS has reopened, and traffic in both directions was solid for about 2 miles.
Once past that though, and deciding we were definitely not going to come back that way, it was a doddle and we were at our destination less than 20 minutes later.
Hubby parked up, donned his mask and gloves, and went inside.
He was gone a while, so I people watched and breathed in when a lady in a huge maroon coloured tank started to reverse into the narrow gap beside us. She parked with little room on the driver’s side to get out, but stayed in the vehicle anyway until her partner came out with the few things he’d gone in for. Even then, she had to edge out so that he could open the passenger door to get inside. The irony? There were bigger spaces three cars down!
Hubby came back all smiles as he’d got EVERYTHING for the job. He bought 2 bags of post mix even though we only needed one, and 5 pieces of wood for the price of 4 as the checkout lad was fed up and told him could have a freebie rather than correct his mistake on the till.
Coming home was fine as we set the satnav and it routed us the back way. I made mental notes ready for the next visitation.

Hubby has now coated the base of the wood which will be in the concrete to protect it, and we will set to building the new framework tomorrow, weather permitting. Yesterday he was remodelling our raised vegetable bed ready for next year and I gave him a hand. I actually managed to get the nails in straight first time, and hit only the nails, not Hubby! Hurrah, improvement!!
It’s supposed to be dry and sunny over the weekend which is good as we want to get the washing up to date but bad as the holidaymakers from hell will be out. We’ll be busy in the garden so I don’t particularly care!

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