Royal Wedding Street Party

An advantage of living in a cul-de-sac is that you are more likely to be able to get permission for a street party. Here they are in the morning (about 10.30), setting up...



And later, post lunch, during the fun trivia quiz that one of the guys put together. I'm afraid Team North did not win. Oh well. It was a good time - the weather co-operated beautifully (if this keeps up, I'll begin to think I no longer live in England) and there were arts & crafts for the kids, sack races, cake competition, music, a telly outside (so as not to miss any wedding coverage which might be happening) and loads of food and drink for all, among other things. The last, hardiest folk went inside well after 8pm (I left not longer after 8 - it was getting very chilly). What a nice idea. There is already talk of doing it again next year for the Diamond Jubilee...

Dinosaur invasion

What the Easter Bunny did...

Here's what the Rabbit brought Sarah - each kid got a half-chocolate egg (the one in cellophane) with small bits of chocolate inside it - Olivia's was white sheep, Alex's was chocolate dinosaurs - Alex and Sarah got chocolate bunnies (Olivia had Easter shaped marshmallows instead as she's not a huge chocolate fan the way the other two are) and then there were small eggs and shapes as well... Unfortunately, there are no marshmallow peeps in England, or the Easter Bunny would probably bring them as well... Still, there's enough chocolate (and other sweets) to last some time...

First of the year

...and at the end... yum.



After some struggle to get the fire going - I think the charcoal was a bit damp perhaps (it was last year's, and had been in the shed all winter) - burgers and veggie kebabs were eaten. And of course, dessert.

Nearly there!

So, our part is largely done (the border on the left will have bark on it, the way the one on the right does, and there's a tiny bit more shingle needed over to the right of the photo where you can't see it) and what remains now is for the council to come out and do the cross-over and kerb (i.e. take the kerb out and pave from the road up to the edge of the drive). In some areas, your builder can do this, but here, only the council is allowed to, even after they give permission. This is partly because they want the money they can charge for doing it, and partly to ensure (I assume) it's done to a particular standard. Anyway. That should happen in the next four weeks some time, and then we'll be able to actually park on it. Hurrah.

Lunchtime Wednesday

This is all the work they can do today - tomorrow, someone will deliver a tonne of gravel, and then they'll be able to come back, spread that out, and finish the edges of the driveway area. And then it will be done. Hoorah!



And then, of course, all we have to wait for is the council to come and knock the curb down and do the footpath crossover - which could be any time in the next 4 weeks or so. After that, we will finally be able to park on it!



In case you were wondering, this is what the honecomb plastic gridding looks like, which will hold the gravel in place - it comes in squares, about a metre square, and clips together.

Wednesday morning, 9am

So, the grabber lorry finally makes it - which is great, but of course it comes about ten past nine, and blocks the road, making us nearly late for Alex's swimming lesson (we really need to leave by 20 past at the latest; didn't get out until 9.30. Sigh. But at least all the rubble is gone!)




Here's where they'd got to by close of business yesterday - today, they should get all the honeycoming laid, the fence finished, etc.

Driveway, Day 3 (more or less)

Day 2 was a bit of a washout as the builder had to leave about halfway through the day due to illness - and then, with him unwell and the other two guys on holiday, nothing really happened until now. This is all dug out and levelled. Plus, you can't really tell, but a fence has been removed and fence posts for the new one (to match the new one on the other side) sunk. Tomorrow, paving and whatnot. And hopefully, the rubble will go.

New Driveway, Day 1

Yesterday, he removed the path and the bit of concrete at the front of the house (behind where the wheelbarrow is). This may not seem like a lot of work,but it was 8 inches deep in places...



At the moment, it's quite a big step up to the front step!



And a lovely big load of hardcore to take away - of course, the driver of the lorry that would take the hardcore away has just been to the door to say that he can't get his lorry down the road because some idiots (my phrasing) have park right on the corners, so he can't turn (it's striped a certain distance from the corner, you aren't supposed to park there, but commuters often do it anyway - it's very annoying and frequently prevents delivery lorries and others from being able to get into our part of the road, which requires a right-angle turn...).

Funky hairstyle

Olivia stayed the night at a friend's house and the friend's mum did her hair. Of course, she wants me to duplicate this now - fat chance!

Deputy Sheriff of Nottingham

In his school play. He had quite a few lines and did very well. It was a comic villain part and he got lots of laughs, especially in one bit where the whole rest of the cast gets to yell "Shut up!" at him. Now if I could just get the songs from the play out of my head - problem is, after having rehearsed them a billion times with the two classes I work in, I know all the words!