Jill is great on the wacker .....

Pain and pleasure.

Begun in November, the long and winding road that is the completion of the drives to our bungalows is in view. The man with the chequered flag is about to give it a shake. And gosh, there's a palpable sense of achievement and relief as we approach the final straight. But  the voice in my headphones tells me we're not quite there. A bit of gravelling here. Fence panelling there. A bit of compaction. And the knotty technical problems that go with making the drive gates work...Then we can get on with the planting (always the best bit).

Drive gates drive Dave to tablets

The drive gates are proving a challenge to our friend Dave. So much so that I gave him paracetamol with his coffee and then had to discretely check the exhaust pipe to his van when he retired there in despair. He was ok. Just wrestling with a technical difficulty.

Jill using wacker........

But, we're almost there.

On Friday our Dave completed the tegula blockwork that separates the drive and the lane. Gravel board drive edging is almost done.

But there was pain with the pleasure. My back hurt so much last Sunday that I couldn't bend to dress myself after a bath. Oh, the indignity.

To take your mind away from that image, here's a few photos of us at work, before the big climax. 

Speaking of which, and ever wishing to be topical (as Fifty Shades of Grey plays to full houses around the country) here's a photo of my wife using a wacker*.

*Builders' term for a Compactor.