Thursday, dull, damp, but mild all day.
Ted was late in starting work on the greenhouse today, as other things took priority.
Around 4.45pm he puts on his fleece and ventures out into the garden, armed with a pocket full of nuts and bolts and the cordless electric screwdriver with the attachment for tightening bolts. After taking the greenhouse panels to the top of the garden (the only empty space large enough to lay all the pieces out flat), he started to put all the pieces together to form the box. Three sides went on fine, but when he lifted the fourth side up it got stuck under the branch of an apple tree. No problem, easy solution, he comes back into the house, gets the saw and attacks the apple tree at random, trampling the emerging daffodils growing underneath it into the ground in the process.
Strange the bolt holes on this final side don’t line up. I can see him formulating an idea involving metal drill bits and added ventilation on the framework. I tentatively suggest the thing might just be the wrong way round, receiving an unhesitating reply, “Don’t be so f......, oh yeah”. Within minutes the frame is complete and with power tool in hand, he’s tightening the nuts up in every direction.
Then to put the roof beam in place. This was a two-person job and I was finally allowed to help by holding up the beam while Ted bolted it in place. I hadn’t been allowed to help before as, and I quote: "I had a Meccano set, you only ever had Lego”. All went well, no dramas at all, the main beam was on, the side struts of the roof went on well.
Now it’s time to move the greenhouse frame all the way down the garden onto the timber base. It’s getting dark now, so on goes the security light at the back of the house giving enough light to work by. He’d had problems getting the base level (see episode 1) but it was ok now. We manoeuvre the frame onto the base, it looks decidedly wonky: level it may have been, but square? No chance. “This greenhouse isn’t square” he’s heard to mumble, and out comes the hammer. I tactfully suggest that maybe it’s the base which isn’t square, and am treated to a look of total disdain. After promising to make some tea and fetch the tape measure to check the diagonals, he agrees to check before setting about the frame with the hammer. The greenhouse frame is fine, the timber frame is not. Out comes the hammer again, up comes the timber, careful repositioning and measuring diagonals, its now square. Spitting nails from his lips, the timber is nailed back in position, and diagonals checked again. Out comes claw hammer, up comes timber (repeat 3 times), finally the base is square, but is it level – is it heck! By now the air is blue, the farmer across the road can be heard laughing his head off, and it’s fully dark and raining. This is going to continue for some time yet I fear.
Final deed of the day. Screw the frame to the timbers to hold it down overnight (it gets a bit blowy up here) brand-new metal drill bit, first hole, bent drill bit (90 degrees), second brand new drill bit, still first hole, bent drill bit, ancient drill bit, drill set to high speed, hammer action on, torque set to maximum, and finally first hole is drilled. Remember the Weigela he demolished yesterday? It got its revenge today, by poking him in the eye when he turned round to get the screw, but this hasn’t deterred him from securing the frame to the base for the night.
