Well it certainly feels in the air now, even if the ducks and swans were still practicing their ice skating technique at good old Blackford Pond. We’re expecting this army of frogs descending from Blackford Hill any day now, like bargain hunters in the January sales – hence the frantic work last week to finish this pesky path. And again the weather hadn’t helped us one bit. Wet wet wet. I expect one day we might actually finish all the ongoing work at this site. You never know. We need a sun dance. Kirsty, I know you’re pally with Ra… So it having rained all weekend, standing water plagued us. We avoided it Tuesday working at the dry-ish end, practicing our tamping technique with this new uber-tamper design (see pic – patent pending you copycats out there) on 8 tons of whin dust. Well without them we really would still be there. And all that walking with barrows gave free rein to the creative juices and the forming of some new Trade Unions. I particularly liked National Union of Manually Propelled Transport Infrastructure Executives (NUMPTIE) though i predict power struggles there if everyone in it is an executive. While they were all busy discussing pay and rights we made valuable use of their voluntary barrowing, raking and tamping. So good we didn’t need to use the compactor.
Wednesday was a different story. Overnight rain, standing water = carefully planned schedule @ bottom of Pond. Well we got 4 tons of dust down but the rest was all type 1 (hardcore to you non building supplies nerds). Fill those holes, soak up that water. And try and scrape off that mud without removing the existing layer of whin dust. Not easy. Anyone got a razor blade. Or maybe a sieve. Sarah’s film quiz at lunchtime brought out our competitiveness (ahem). Was it Owen or Luke Wilson. Ok ok Owen. Anyway, we’ll be back at BP, but not for a while now. But please let it be dry next time.
Thursday saw us venturing out of the city to a new site – Polkemmet Country Park in West Lothian. And we will be doing so for the foreseeable future as they obviously have a lot for us to do out there, starting with Rhodie bashing and firestarting. Meat and drink to us, as they say. Weird saying. What no greens? No greens! Conservation… ok I’ll shut up.
To view photos of past and present projects and our volunteers in action please click here