Chores done together

 It had been an exhausting week, with two field trips, which are exhausting enough on their own, but of course also get in the way of the day-to-day work that piles up while you’re out traipsing through the landscape. And I had managed to not let all of it get in the way of my usual running activities. By Friday I was knackered. And Neil was coming over. When I got home I cut down a Buddleia that was growing over the pavement. In my street, the pavement is sometimes used for parking, as it is a dead end street anyway. With the buddleia gone two cars could fit there. Neil had been eyeing up that space, especially as Neuadd Ogwen had had a skip placed by the back entrance again. I wanted to get rid of that shrub before he got to my place. There was no time for getting rid of the branches.

I also showered and cooked and was just about ready when he appeared. And we had dinner together, and a quiet evening.

Normally, when we have a weekend day together, we do some kind of adventure, like traipsing through Cwm Pennant. But this time I asked if it was ok to do some chores first. And he was ok with that. And the first thing that needed doing was get rid of these buddleia branches. That was quickly done. 

One of the other things I wanted to get done was tidy the front of the house. I have a legal obligation to do that! And I had let it slide. Neil wanted to start with that (there were more chores) so I handed him my garden shears. He vanished around the corner. 

He blasted the front of the house and then continued to the side. I had been intending to tidy that up for ages, but it had never reached the top of my to do list. So I never had! But now Neil was blasting it like a tornado. I just took it upon myself to remove the waste he was rapidly producing. He was so quick I never had the chance of taking a "before" picture! So I can't show just how spectacular it was. And the neighbour came out to see what was going on.

Smarter than it has looked in a long time 

It’s not as if all the work is done now! Neil uncovered the trench drains, but I'll have to muck them out for them to fully work. And I want to pull out all the grass and weeds and put actual intended plants in. I'm not sure if this is the season for that. But it already looks so smart! And it also makes it less daunting to now keep going.

We were only doing this until lunch. But so much progress was made! I was quite chuffed. Although it did mean we were not doing something spectacular like climbing a mountain or something. But I suppose that I need to keep on top of my life. Sometimes it just takes time. And then we can either do it together, or we spend less time together. I think this was by far the most pleasant solution!