We went to do a garden clearing job for a fellow congregant who owns a house in Paulton. It is a lovely job. Since the passing of her husband ten years ago the garden has not been tended and has become overgrown. The lawn had become a field and all the bushes were over run with ivy and brambles.
We reckon there is about 24 hours work. At a rough guide, you need one day of remedial work per year of abandonment of a garden. We wanted to make a bonfire and here our situation became interesting. I went to the neighbor on the right as I noticed that there was washing hanging out. That belonged to her daughter and she pro,ised that the washing would be removed. She commented that she did not like bonfires. It was not what she said but the dismissive way she said it. Maybe she does not think much of workers in general.
We lit the fire and it poured out a fair amount of smoke. The neighbor the other side spoke to me over the fence and said that I am not allowed to have bonfires until after 6pm. This I know is not correct and I told him so. He raised his voice and said that he knew the rules. He clearly did not. I typed in BANES (local council) bonfire times. The first response –It is a common misconception that bonfires must be held after certain hours….
I carried on the fire. He later said that if I did not put it out he would spray the hose on it. I did call him some names. Not nasty ones – I think I called him a sad individual that should be happier – something like that. He did get his hose out and made a half hearted attempt to spray the fire but the pressure was weak and the attempt flopped. I never saw him again. My customer told me that he complains about everything – the grand children playing for example. Some are so bitter they are not happy unless they are grumbling about something.
Anyway we did 10 hours between us and will return Saturday to do some more. The weather was lovely with blue sky and a slight wind. Not much rain has fallen which means that the field experiment recently referred to stands a danger of failing without a water supply.
