Cast

My property is located just a few hundred metres from the site of a railway station and turntable, which closed down in 1959. There is little evidence left of the presence of trains. The name Railway Street is a giveaway. And the remnants of the station platform is occasionally visible when sheep have grazed down the rampant grass that smothers it most of the year.

Also within a few hundred metres of Chez Mima there used to be a coal mine, which closed in the 1930s. The hillside in which the mine entrance is located is covered with gorse. The entrance was imploded and blocked when it shut down. Old air vents were also blocked, although some of them have allegedly caved in. The gorse hides everything.

So it comes as no surprise that whenever I stick a spade in the ground at Chez Mima I tend to unearth something of the history of the area. Most often it is old wire, but from time to time I dig up wheel rims, entire wheels, cogs, and unidentifiable lumps of metal. All cast iron.

They are now odd garden sculptures and objets d’art, but mostly they weigh down tarps and hold up fences.

At the weekend I found this hammer head buried beneath one of the raised beds which I was deep-digging. I cleaned the earth off it and left it out to dry while I decided what use it will fulfil (I have three hammers already).

In a moment of sunshine this morning I saw the shadow it cast is shoe-like.

Then I realised it was the perfect weight and size to hold down a small corner of the hen netting which was the final place those starlings were finding a way to get at the chook food.

Excellent. Job done.