Day 730 A filling job

8th August 2019

I had to go into Bath for a dental appointment, so this was a great opportunity to use my bus pass for the second time. The only drawback was the long steep hill I had to take to get to the bus stop. I started out okay, taking confident strides, until after four of them I hit the wall. I eventually got to the top of the hill panting and wheezing. It was a good job I had some time to spare, as I don’t think the bus driver would have understood a word I was trying to say.

Soon the bus came into view. I didn’t realise that in order to get the bus to stop you had to jump out in front of it. Instead I stood confidently expecting the vehicle to stop, but it didn’t. I then started to wave my arms, and finally it drew to a halt.

I got on with my pass tightly gripped in my fist.

The driver then said “ You cannot use that until 9.30am (it was 9.25) so you will have to pay to get to the next stop”. I refrained from getting into an argument and paid my £2.50.

Note to self, check the bloody time.

The journey was memorable, not least the make up of the passengers. There were a mixture of seniors and students. I was fascinated by one Asian girl who had a safety pin through her cheek. “Wow that must have hurt” I kept telling myself, but also trying to understand why someone would do that to themselves. As piercings go it had to be the most extreme, but at the same time useful in times of an emergency.

The was a young mother who got on with one child in a buggy, and one in a backpack. They had to sit directly in front of me and play this game that made the youngest child shriek with laughter. Now I love children, my own, not other peoples, it was times like these when noise cancelling headphones come into their own, or a soundproof box the the child can be placed in. Anyway I had to endure bedlam for more than half the journey.

I got out in Bath with my ears ringing, and totally disoriented.

The journey back was a little more crazy, and when they finally fit the suspension to the bus it would be tolerable.

Being the first time on a bus since I grew hair, I wasn’t sure where the stop was that I needed to get off, so I made a guess. Totally wrong, and not wishing to embarrass myself by admitting I got it wrong I found myself in the countryside. I bet the driver thought “ That’s the first time I’ve ever dropped someone off at that stop”

There was nothing there, no houses, nothing.

I pretended that everything was fine, and waited for the bus to disappear from sight before I started walking. It wasn’t that far, and I did it with a big smile on my face.

I can’t wait to do the same again tomorrow.

I started work on the wall where I wanted to mount the house number.

I had plans to use a piece or oak sleeper and set it into the wall, but as I cleared the foliage around it I could see that a lot of the stonework was loose, and as I started removing the stones the hole got bigger.

I abandoned the idea of the wood, and decided to use my stone mason skills and rebuild the wall.

I have no stone mason skills.

With the aid of an old saw I cut up a large piece of Bath stone to make a plinth.

I had a piece of the gabion mesh that was left over, and bent it into a shape that would fit on to the plinth.

By the end of the afternoon the plinth and metalwork was all cemented in place, ready for filling with stones.