And Then She Be Done...

That is it. The old fencing is down and the new up – on time and in budget. Ish.

What took the time? Taking down and then away the old fencing took a lot of cutting down to car boot size and many trips to the tip.

What took some more time? The new prefabbed panels, upon delivery, looked worse than they looked in the yard and looked like the lapping had been cut using a circular saw blade that had made it’s last clean cut sometime around the late eighties. I could chew cleaner cuts than those. Yes, even with just my two teeth.

Also, some of the panels gave the impression that a good shake would’ve reduced them back to their constituent bits as it was obvious the panel fabrication technician had run out of the required nails and screws and wasn’t too keen to take the walk to the warehouse to replenish his stock of said fixings.

What to do? I suppose I should’ve sent ‘em back but we’d already roamed the yards and there didn’t seem to be anything any better out there and we wanted the fence up, the weather was okay so I fettled ‘em up myself. No big deal but isn’t it a shame that these days, when buying stuff like this, it always seems to be in a state of being not quite quite finished? 

I’m hoping that this will be my last ‘major’ project, baring emergencies, as the mind is willing but the body just sighs a sort of ‘gimme a break will ya’ sort of sound and stiffens right up.

My one fear is that when I finally shuffle off this mortal coil – shouldn’t that be ‘shuffle of this mortal toil’? I’ll be met above, assuming that’ll be my direction of travel, at the gates by Pete who’ll greet me with, “Foggy!! Man, you took you’re own sweet time getting here!” Which would be words I could live with. Pardon? I’ll already be what? Oh, right.
”Yup, I was happy where I was I guess. Anyhoo, now I’m here, can I come in please?”
”Well, therein lies the rub. As pearly as these gates be, they’re seized solid on their hinges.”
”Right.” I respond, sensing where this is leading.
”And we’ve been waiting for you to put in a showing, like forever, as the boss wants those really, REALLY big gates you’re standing in front of taking down, the hinges fixing, the gates all stripped down, re-painted and re-hung so they swing smoothly, look nicely and you’ll then be free to pass through the pearly, refurbished really big gates in style.”
”Damn.. sorry. Dang, they are big gates are they not?”
”That they are. And dam... dang heavy too.” 
“That would be me alone and all by myself doing this refurbishment lookin’ stuff then?”
”Good lor.... heavens abov... no, no. Five all-up as there’s already four other fools beside stuck this side of the sticky gates.”
”And if I say I’m just too dam... too tired?”
”In that event my fine muscular, sadly now all run to unsightly flab, fellow, as we can’t open the gates you’ll be sent to stay for ever over there with the neighbours. And trust me, they really are the neighbours from hell.”
“Damn!”

Quote;  Jim Rohn

“Don't wish it were easier. Wish you were better.”