Fit To Burst

Since I’m used to sitting in front of a computer almost every waking hour, the great thing about doing some real physical activity is that it’s a perfect wake-up call for how bloody unfit I’ve become.

Work Buddy’s girlfriend’s parents had come over from the Nether-regions. Although the mother understood/spoke some English, her father did not. So working together was a good way of communicating with him.

When we moved her possessions over at the beginning of the year, I had helped with the move. Carrying bulky white goods down a stairwell helped me learn the Dutch for “right”, “left”, “up” and “down” pretty darn quick. After that smiles and a thumbs-up were good enough.

Work Buddy and I had initially laid the slabs some months ago as the base for a shed, blaming the curvature of the Earth for the bodge job we had done. With the father over, things were going to be done right.

Raising the slabs and piling them up out of the way, I started swinging a pickaxe into the dry-mixed concrete and sand base and almost passed out. But as the morning progressed, and my muscles woke up, I really got into it. Even soaked in sweat and becoming a walking smorgasbord for the mosquitoes, which favoured the back of my knees for some reason, I wanted to get the job done.

Two paving slabs were left to complete a row when we were called in for lunch. I wanted to get them laid before we ate but contented myself in getting them down before I showered and we headed off to film the interview.

After filming, I stayed in London to work on the second project at home so that it wouldn’t be two people stuck in the hot studio while the computer here sat idle. Things would have gone to plan if the external hard drive with a copy of the project on hadn’t thrown a wobbly this morning and become useless.

So I’ll have to go back up to Work Buddy’s to complete it. Which is great, because all the slabs are down and we can put the shed up!

After all the work my chest feels lighter and I didn’t eat as much today. Although the thigh muscles are aching from the exertion, the best part about it was, no matter how hot it was last night; I had a great night’s sleep.