Why do things break when the owner is away?

Monday 8 July 

We had a break today, actually it was 3 breakages that were counted while we had the wash-up on the way back to base. First off, an operative broke the old mallet shaft, next Roger's trusty flask sprang a leak and lastly the major catastrophe - the concrete mixer broke 😒 Alastair warned us before he went on holiday that we should look after it. 

Other news, the contractors started on the gabion baskets this morning, the face of the site will be changing rapidly over the next couple of weeks.  

Most of the action was on the up side today, with the gabions and the north wall rebuild. 

Sorting things out before starting work 

Dave and Nigel sorting bricks for Roger to rebuild the north wall 

On the down side, the taper bricks removed on Saturday waiting for someone to clean them off. 

Down side cleaning station 

It was Nigel's turn for mixing today, all was going swimmingly until... 

Nigel mixing the first batch 

Snapped drum drive belt 

It just happens we have a new mixer in the store at Winchcombe, a quick trip down saw a new belt appear. That wasn't the answer, the engine drive sprocket has moved and this causes the belt to keep coming off. The new mixer will be commissioned for Thursday while spares are found for the old one. It's done 3 years hard labour, so it hasn't done too badly. 

The pipes for the down side cess extension arrived this morning. The delivery was planned for a non-running day so that they could be unloaded near to where they will be installed. A second check was made this morning to ensure there would be no rail traffic today. 

3 x 450 Twinwall Pipes arrive on site 

Pipes offloaded in one swift move 

While digging out for the gabions to go in the old leaning gatepost was removed, surprisingly it has a substantial concrete base. It's amazing that the water flow around it managed to destabilise such a hefty piece of kit. 

One concrete gatepost 

Concrete gabion base going in 

Gabion base down 

In between other jobs, Roger put some tapers into the gap between the wall and the brick arch. Next job will be to construct a former so that the arch can be rebuilt. 

First couple of taper bricks going on 

That's the start on the arch 

Despite a few setbacks, there was some progress by the end of the day. 

Up side, 2 Gabion baskets in place 

Header course going on the north wall 

Gully drain pipe refitted 

Down side cess extension pipes waiting to go in 

Just before we left Steve started the trench for the Culvert 11B connector pipe to go in. The outlet end needs to fit through the gabion, hence going across the farmer's track at the same time. 

Excavating for the Culvert 11B connector pipe 

Almost forgot to mention of the weather today, cloudy start, sunny middle and cloudy finish. Normal summers day 🙂