Friday, 19 September

UK Power were another no-show!

Allegedly, they will now come tomorrow and Sunday; we shall see...

I honestly believed that they were taking that sort of thing seriously, but it seems not.  Steve, who is coming tomorrow (to possibly horrify us with his estimate and, hopefully, fix us up with some power), told us of another property with an unsafe supply: they did make it safe fairly quickly, but then left the house without power for 17 days after - what's that all about?!

I achieved "third time lucky" with my other attachment and the 4m extending handle; the 'plough-share' end was narrow enough to wiggle between the gaps.  Both handles were useful [the 3m one is much lighter, so I'm finding it more wieldy (?), especially at full stretch from the step ladder], as were both ends.  The valleys are now clear on both sides of the roof at the front.

I spent the rest of my time there clearing a space (in what will become the wildflower meadow] so that we can burn rubbish.  We would much prefer to compost and chip all the waste, but we are becoming overwhelmed by the sheer volume; if we get on top of it whilst we are doing the massive clear up, we can adopt good practices going forward.

David continued to 'de-bramble' the front garden, and remarked at the end of the day that his piles were impressive [fnarr]; they certainly are!

Adam, the tree surgeon came to look at the unwanted [and dangerous to the house] conifers, and will call [probably Tuesday] to let us know how much their removal will hurt the pocket.  He reckons that it's safe to take them down in one go, and his public liability insurance goes up to £2m, so we would be covered if he was wrong.  I'm seriously tempted to tell him to go ahead, if we can afford it, and take them all down and dispense with the arboriculturist report...

I've got until the expert gets back to us to make up my mind.

I said to Adam that we would like the chippings, to make pathways in the woodland, and are happy to keep the trunks [they will just sit in the woods until we find a use for them - fire pit, maybe?; we know they shouldn't be burnt on a log-burner as they are too tarry], and just want the stumps grinding out.  He said that will make it a lot cheaper; green waste is second only to asbestos for being expensive to dispose of.

That makes sense of why someone abandoned their trimmings on our drive before we completed the purchase.

It was another wonderful day, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that the next week and a bit continue with the fabulous weather; we really seem to be achieving a lot, and it would be great to feel finished or nearly there with the initial clearing marathon.