Swopping Paris for Patios....

It's been a very productive weekend here at Splucy's but not the sort of weekend I had in mind a few weeks ago, as this weekend just gone had been earmarked for a jaunt over to gay Paris. The idea of a weekend away was thought up in our "list of things to do when Mr P felt better" and back in March we'd flagged this weekend as a potential gap in the diary when we could make the trip (no school holidays, no gigs for his band, no weddings/birthday do's etc etc) And of course me being the planner that I am this was entered in my Filofax with glee.

The booking of said Paris trip however didn't run so smoothly. Where have the weeks gone since March? I honestly have no idea what happened to April and now here we are halfway through May! I'm scared to blink in case I suddenly realise it's Christmas and I'll have missed Wimbledon, The Apprentice Final and possibly even X Factor (although now Dannii has been replaced by the chick from N Dubz I don't think I'm the target demographic for it anymore). Anyway I digress (is there one of my blog posts where I don't say that? I doubt it! If you can find one there may be a prize!)

We struck some issues with the Paris trip when investigating the costs/logistics etc. With Mr P horrified at the prices - to be fair I'm sure our all inclusive 10 night stay in luxury in Egypt cost less that some of these "bargain breaks" on the Eurostar website - and me horrified at the prospect of travelling at the crack of dawn and staying outside the city just so I'd have enough Euros leftover to purchase coffee, croissant (and Chanel)

And then, as I mentioned earlier we wake up and it's only blooming May!!! No chance of an early bird booking now.

Now 2 weeks ago (I'll help you out here, Royal Wedding, 4 day weekend with the May Bank holiday, nice weather mostly) Mr P's most lovely family came up for the weekend on a mission to rid his garden of a fence so rickety it was more wobbly on it's feet than I am after a Chardonnay or 6 and a shed that was so old and useless it made Bruce Forsythe appear to be in the first flush of youth. A very productive weekend was spent pulling down said fence and shed and digging out concrete footers. Followed by concreting in new (straight and solid) fence posts. All ready for garden makeover part 2 when the new fence panels could be put up at a later date.

Goodbye rickety, spider filled shed & wobbly fence

Well after 2 weeks of frosty air between us and our neighbour across the now open plan garden (I believe she was unhappy at the collateral damage of one dead potato plant who was caught in the cross fire of concrete and fence post removal) this weekend was the weekend. The one where we were to get our privacy back with a shiny new fence going up.

Mr P's family returned, with Mr P's ickle brother Mr K Junior who along with his dad, Mr K Senior, are experts in the gardening/building/fencing area. Along with the two Mr K's in the van was Mr P's lovely Mum and our brand new fence plus a fabulous new gate!! My role I always feel in these proceedings is to make sure of the following:

1) The kettle is always primed and ready for tea making duty
2) That along with the tea there should always be an ample supply of biscuits, flapjacks and chocolate covered items
3) Meals should be large and hearty
4) That the kettle is put back on again for more tea

I am a big believer in the feed the work force well to get maximum returns theory ;0)

So it was rails up, gate added and all the planks in place. How does our garden look now? Only absolutely blooming amazing! It is larger, brighter, airier and as a huge bonus our nosy neighbour next door can't see over as it's 6 foot tall (well the fence itself is only 5 foot but with a bottom riser as we are panning a patio I haven't got a hope in hell of seeing over it so neither does she!)




Hello beautiful large garden!


And this is how I swapped Paris for (almost) patios. As while a weekend in Paris can happen anytime, wonderful relatives that will renovate your garden are far more fun to spend time with.

So stage 2 of the garden makeover is complete. Stage 3 involves Mr P redesigning the patio layout (again) so that when the Cornish contingent are able to visit once more we can make even more progress towards our dreamed of patio/BBQ/cocktail area.

I have to be honest, I would love to get to a point where Mr P's family are able to come and visit without him making them work so hard so who knows maybe once we are all patio'd up we can have a BBQ to celebrate where we can all kick back and watch Mr P do the hard work and cook. Although on second thoughts maybe we should treat them to the lush Sunday carvery at the pub nearby? After all I'd hate to see our new fence end up as cinders from an incendiary sausage......

Lx