West Australian Christmas tree & English Holly Two cultures coming together Mum from UK living in WA
Before we get into the joys of Christmas I must bring you up to date with the procrastination over the pavers. In the end I decided it was a bit too hard for someone who had, up to this time, never done a day of paying in her life! Having done most of the hard work of shifting sand and levelling out my lower back was starting to complain! (well that’s the excuse I’m sticking with). I rang around once more to see if I could get a few more, reasonable quotes. A guy, Mel, came out and said he could do it and could also cement the edges of the areas I had completed. He gave me a reasonable price and said he could do it before Christmas! WOW I was impressed. In fact he could start on the Monday at 9am.
old pavers I needed to straighten and improve
At 6am I was up at the unit. I wanted to straighten out some of the front path pavers too which had been damaged and misplaced when the limestone wall was put in a few years back. I also wanted to widen the path so that it was flush with the limestone wall. Parts of the path also needed pulling up as roots had lifted pavers.
working on levelling the area with slopes away from house and limestone wall so water drained into garden
As I was lost in my work the shadow was creeping further and further away from me and I could feel the scorch of the sun upon my back. Surely it was after 9am! I had arrived early taken a break for breakfast and had finished pulling up and repaving the edge when I received a text message from the Mel the paver. He would be late. I continued and finished digging out the roots, levelling out raised pavers, extending the pavers to the limestone wall and packed the car with all my tools (I won’t be needing them now) when Mel finally arrived after 10am. He apologised for being late and announced that he would not be able to do the paving till tomorrow, early. I said that was fine but for letting me down could he also cut the pavers I needed to fill in the gaps in my newly repaved area and cement these edge too. Deal!
Sean levelling ready for paving
So the following day I arrived at 6:15am ready for the day with my breaky in a container for later. Mel arrived at 6:45 with his helper Sean on a working holiday from Dublin. I took some lovely pics of the process and also worked on the finishing of the front path. It didn’t take them long to level and compact the area ready to lay the pavers. I was hoping to use the old pavers as an edging for the new area but Mel pointed out that the new pavers were not the same height. Hmmmm I wasn’t impressed. The original pavers I had wanted were the same height. Because there was a mix up over this original order and I was offered the ones I have now I had forgotten to check their height. Oh well, never mind it was as it was and if I wanted the old with the new it would cost a whole lot more so I decided to go with just the new.
Mel laying new pavers
The new pavers quickly when down but there was another hiccup. It was a little more difficult than they had first thought as the house and limestone wall weren’t aligned so that meant cutting the pavers to fit. Unfortunately it took longer than Mel originally thought so he then skimped on the aligning of my back pavers and the work he was doing. I was really not in the mood to make a point so have just left it looking a bit dodgy. I had originally suggested they pull up my edging pavers and relay them so that they would be level with the ones they had just laid but this was not done so the ones I’d laid were some lower some the same height as the new pavers. Fortunately this is where the new side fence and gate would go so I’m praying it wouldn’t look too odd.
edge needing pavers to be cut to fit angle
While the paving was being laid, Ian, the fencer turned up. I thought he might be wanting to finish the fence too but he was just dropping off the gate so that he could finish the job another day.
Just as the paving was being finished the reticulation guy arrived. He lay the pipes, plugged in the drippers and set up the timer so that my new plants could be watered automatically. Now all I need to do is bury the hose. This I’ll do after Christmas.
In hindsight I’m so glad I was able to get someone to do the paving for me as I’m sure the obstacles Mel and Sean faced would have really frustrated and stumped me. The levelling alone was really complicated. I was also really grateful that I was able to get all this done before Christmas as I have a busy 3 days with Christmas celebrations and family.
Please also continue to pray for the sale of my business and the car. Blessings for all over this Christmas period. Thanks to Lou for doing my proof reading once again. Love to all, Sally