I was supposed to be having a weekend off from Rais and getting some gardening done at home, the back garden is looking horrendous at the moment and the Bay tree has gone completely mad, so if anyone knows a friendly, knowledgeable gardener with some time on their hands to help me tame it, please get in touch. I managed to mow the front lawn, cut the edges and plant up the few cuttings I had on my kitchen window sill, but by 430pm I simply had to get to Rais and check on Cassius, I could bear it no longer.. when I got there the shrinkage was soul-destroying. The soggy clay really was way too water-logged and cracked beyond belief... but thankfully we still have quite a lot of spare clay to make repairs and go again. It took longer than expected to fill the cracks and make good, but by 8pm I was packed and ready to get home again; bath calling me.
I was up again this morning and back with Cassius by half nine. I repaired the new hairline cracks and re-did the chimney after a dodgy attempt at making a snake coiled around it that looked more like a giant turd.
We only have one weekend left before Tracey and I set off for Zambia, so the pizza fest is going to be next weekend... ready or not... we have to have a rest at some point and with any luck it will come next weekend with pizza, wine, and good friends to help christen Cassius properly.
I also have to mention Simon in this blog, who has had his hard work on the bracken overshadowed by Cassius in the past few weeks. The whole time we have been puddling, mashing, mixing, brick-making, and modelling, Simon has been pulling endless amounts of bracken out by hand, which seems to grow a foot or so a week and appears to grow back within days, so it's a pretty thankless and back-breaking job. Sterling work Sewell, thank you so much for rescuing our efforts and ensuring next years growth is hugely reduced.
