Whichever direction one arrived on site from this morning, there could be no doubt what our priority had to be:
Path closed
to public = #1 task for us in terms of urgency.
Once a metre’s length had been pulled up to determine the extent of
repairs required, it had of course also become important to get the job done –
and get it done right:
 |
| Mind the gap |
The construction
team set to with tape measure, pencil, and carpentry saw:
 |
| “Measure twice, cut once” |
Meanwhile,
on the wildflower meadow it was hay-clearing time, with rake, pitchfork, and (not
so traditional) blue plastic tarp:
On one of the
sections not yet mown, was a small butterfly which is frequently mistaken for a
moth:
There is no doubt, however, that it is a
butterfly, and, to be more precise, an Essex Skipper. Apparently the only
way to tell it apart from a Small Skipper is by spotting the black bobbles at
the end of its antennae.
On the far
side of the site – which involved walking along a pathway beside the waterway
below a main road – a couple of Green-Gymmers had made a start clearing a
pond. To begin with, it was a little
difficult to tell a) where the volunteer workers were, b) where the pond was:
Also, to
begin with, there was some experimentation with various tools to clear the overgrowing
vegetation. Once the pair had found the
best system of work, the speed with which clear water emerged was impressive:
Note on the
bank, to the right of the volunteer, discarded tools – yes, you’ve guessed it:
the best way to pull out encroaching vegetation was with gloved hands (aka
brute force
& ignorance):
& ignorance):
The
blackness of the mud and water was also impressive. The volunteer in shot said it reminded him of
the film, Creature from the Black Lagoon. Another told the tale
of how his (little white) dog had once fallen into the pond, having mistaken it
for a patch of grass for him to romp over.
We could imagine only too clearly what colour the poor creature was when
he was fished out and taken straight home for a bath!
A fair
amount of cleaning up was needed before we could participate in the
tea-break. Even just carrying away the
plant-life pulled out of the pond, deposited a fine spray of evil-smelling,
muddy water pretty much all over. Ah
well, I suppose “you can’t be half a gangster”.
After
tea-break, the hay rakers, having finished their task for today, set themselves
to cut back vegetation encroaching on the boardwalk. The construction team puzzled over how best
to re-lay the boards on the re-constructed boardwalk frame:
The
preferred solution was one which favoured the functional (the stability of the
walkway) over the aesthetic (the precise alignment of board-ends where pathway
turns a corner). After all, users are
supposed to be safely on, not under the boardwalk.
Well before session end, the chicken-wire
(anti-slip fixture) had been refastened, and the full length of boardway was
once more in use:
 |
| “Who’s that walking on MY bridge?” |
Further along the pathway, there could be no
doubting a) where Green Gym had been today, and b) that it is a pond area:
 |
| Before |
 |
| After |
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