…Which pretty much sums up all we’ve been up to in TCV Edinburgh-land this week.
Tuesday
Not really sure what happened today as I forgot to ask my Tuesday Spy if she’d mind providing a full report, however I believe the group tootled off to Corstorphine way, where a fun and exciting time was had by all doing some Himalayan Balsam bashing. Sadly, today was also Amy’s last day 🙁 Amy has been with TCV for the last few months on a job fund placement, and is going off to spend the next couple of months leading conservation holidays in Iceland. We wish Amy all the very best for the future and hope she’ll come and visit us when she gets back. Especially if she’s just done some baking.
Wednesday
Today, we headed back to the Hermitage to work on various odds and ends. Although the weather was pretty wet and ‘orrible, Team TCV cracked on regardless.
Derek and Alan continued with the drainage system, making up covers for the silt traps. However, they’ve been working on these drains for so long now, that I’m beginning to suspect they may actually be constructing a secret nuclear command bunker down there.
Meanwhile, Euan, David, Douglas and me spent the morning weeding the steps, showing those weeds no mercy with mattocks and hoes.Tommy, who appears to be a real glutton for punishment spent the day barrowing pebbles and hard-core around to fix any slight imperfections in the path.
Now, whilst we at TCV don’t mind working in the rain, we’re not so keen on eating in it, so to prevent the raging rain ruining our rolls, or the perilous precipitation pouring into our pasta, the rangers very kindly let us eat inside their house slash office.
After lunch, the drainage duo continued with their top secret work, while me Euan and David started work on putting a step in between the path and the entrance to one of the terraces. This was already quite sheer to start with, and the recent rain had made it somewhat precarious, requiring the skills of a mountain goat to negotiate.
Once Dave had waved his magic wand and made some timber appear, Euan got to work measuring and cutting to size, whilst me and David sat ourselves down on the ends, to “help him with the sawing”. However, a flaw in this plan quickly became apparent, as as soon as Euan had sawn all the way through the timber, we found ourselves sitting slightly further down that originally anticipated. Once this was done, the step was positioned and some skillful mattocking was done to ensure that it laid flat. After a brief moment of confusion as to the best way to attach it, and another one as we realized we’d left the drills in the van, the step was soon in place, rivaling the Forth Rail Bridge in its engineering prowess.
Thursday
Back to The Hermitage today; with the task of hanging gates on the terraces.
Mutiny was only narrowly avoided, before we had even started working, as Euan failed to find the teabags for the morning brew. The Thursday team showed typical spirit in the face of adversity though, and with only coffee to fuel them (Dave had re-filled the tea-bags, Euan’s just blind) set about the task in hand.
A small but capable team cut the large supporting posts for the gates of the upper two tiers, and began to assemble the jigsaw that was the gate.
The terraced gardens are looking fantastic now, and after all the hard work that everyone has put into getting them to this stage, it made sense to take the time to ensure that the gates matched the quality of their surroundings. By lunchtime the first one was more or less completed, and even the rain was drying up. Could the spell perpetual rain on Thursdays finally be broken?
After a very refined (well, by TCV standards) lunch in the dungeons of Hermitage of Braid visitor centre (with all the tea we could drink), we returned to work.
A winning combination of brain-power and skillful drill work ensured that the first gate was completed quickly and looked great. The second was hung to perfection, but we’ll have to wait for another day to complete all the fittings that go with it.
To see a selection of photos from past and present projects, click here