Dig deeper

It may be the last visit I make for a while to the motherland of Staffordshire, although I don't come with the regularity that I should even when living in the UK.

I always like seeing my old school pals when I am home. Today I visited Helen who has a five-week old baby. We admired his chubby cheeks whilst eating a bacon butty and drinking a brew.

Then to Nicola and Tom's where the barn conversion is still in full swing. This is Tom digging some trenches to create a ground source heating system. This pair are very practical.

Across the field Nicola had me erecting a fence with her, to block off a gap in the hedge. With their three sons ages 3, 6 and 7, and Nic's sister's two daughters also at knee height, there was a lot of childminding to do whilst bashing in fence posts. At some point someone had wisely dumped a load of rubble under the hedge, which made whacking in posts almost impossible. Sweaty, blister-inducing work.