24th March 2021
I was determined to finish laying the decking.
It had rained during the night leaving puddles on the joists, I noticed the first time I sat down on them. Each strip took me approx fifteen minutes to fix. There was collecting it from the side of the house, not easy as they were sixteen feet long. It was like trying to carry a stiff dead python.
Lay it on the chop saw, resting one end on a cart and supporting it in the middle with a stack of wood off-cuts. Cut off a couple of feet, then carry it over to the deck, and mark it for the final length, then carry it back to the saw for the final cut, making sure not to trip on the joist. After the cut, carry it back to the decking for final fixing.
Gradually the end was in sight, I had gone through a couple of hundred bucks worth of clips, and three boxes of screws on this project.
They must make a bloody fortune on these clips, a bit of painted punched steel that must only cost less than a penny a hundred, bastards!
I also learnt that my ears were not designed to hold two pencils.
It is instinctive to stick one behind the ear, this time I had an abundance of pencils . I tried unsuccessfully to stick a second one behind the ear and wondering why it wouldn’t stay there.
As the evening drew in, I finished, just the last piece to rip down to finish it off, I have no idea what has been sealed up in the deck, and I don’t care, my body just said, “now you can crawl away and die”.
Another Lifetime to go 