Lessons to learn

The first lesson of the day: sell-by dates really do mean something sometimes. I used a bag of bread mix today in my bread maker, with a date of sometime in 2007 - it produced a right lump of a loaf due to the yeast not rising much. I did eat a bit of it, just out of principle (and because I forgot to get any more bread from the supermarket for lunch), but it wasn't very nice. It might come in handy when I have to tamp down the sub-base layer (ooh, get me with my building terms) for my patio tomorrow.

The second lesson - I have no idea how much weight I can put in my car without doing any damage. I went to Wickes and got 5 bags of sub-base material - about 125kg in total, I think. I tried to read the manual to see if that would be ok, but I couldn't make head nor tail of the quoted "kerb weight", "rear axle weight" etc. I wish they'd write it in layman's terms.

Anyway, I got home, with some trepidation, and the car seems ok. Maybe I could've put in 10 bags without it being a problem - who knows, but I didn't want to take the risk, so no doubt I will be back there tomorrow for the rest. Still haven't decided what to do about the edging stones though - I waver between just laying them on sand or putting them in mortar. I need to get them sorted before I put the base layer in so I would like to make a decision tonight.

It's all so complicated and I feel very out of my depth, but I'm determined to do this myself. I'm sure I'm capable. I expect whatever I decide will be fine, I just need to decide one way or the other.


Well, this has made a change from my recent short postings. Normal service will (might?) resume tomorrow.