Close call.

Song of the day: There were two for a change. “Forever” by Chris Brown and “I know what I know” by Paul Simon...oh my, it’s been a while since I last heard any Paul Simon that was a decent as his Graceland CD.

Okay, let’s get down to the day, ‘cause I wanna watch Blood Diamond and it’s already past ten. Hah.

So yeah, five minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, my phone rings, pulling me from a deep sleep. Our friend Danni has a flat with her moped and asks if I can come and pick her up near the village, or else she needs to walk home. I do of course, offering to drive her to town, because she was on her way there when the moped broke down, and get the groceries she needs.

This means that I’m away a solid two hours before I get home, have a quick dip in the pool and then start on the day’s edit. We hack our way through several pages in the hours that follow, it goes pretty well however, so I don’t really mind - a good scene too, excellent dialogue that relatively needs little rewriting, or even editing. What with the difficult scenes these past few days, it is a rather nice change.

Four hours into the edit, my brain is rapidly turning to mush again, requiring a change of scenery for sure. Time to go outside…right after another dip in the pool. The temperatures are still relatively low and since we made preparations yesterday, it is time to start pouring the concrete in what soon will be our tool area in the carport.

I start making the concrete while big brother evens out the ground on which it has to be laid. Soon we’re pouring in the loads, with me working the mixer, little brother hauling in wheelbarrows of sand, and little sister changing shifts with me. In the mean time, middle sister is laying the last few rocks on the plant container on the wide path.

Okay, a bit of disturbing news: Apparently, I was close to death while I was making concrete. You see, the power line somehow got stuck between the mixer and motor, and they were completely bare before grandpa noticed what was going on. Phew. If I had wrapped my hands around the wheel to empty the mixer...well, can ya say medium rare? Gawd. Stupid, stupid, stupid, that's a fact. Should have paid better attention, I guess.

The dogs don’t like today’s work at all, especially not since they are not allowed inside the carport because they’ll walk on the new concrete every chance they get. I don’t know what it is with the pack and freshly laid concrete, really, but for some reason they must and shall walk on it, come hell or high water. So yeah, they need to be held at bay, and it isn’t easy at all to go back and forth through the gate, especially not when I need to take the wheelbarrow along. We manage, however; with the dogs looking pitifully at us through the fence.

Seeing as the small floor is soon laid, and big brother needs to head up to prepare for pouring the border on our tenant’s bungalow, I join middle sister so we can continue on the border wall that needs to run by the dog fence. We toil for several hours, and when the sun begins to set we finish what is left of the cement, and I head up to help big brother pour the last batch in the cast he has set up.

It is around dusk when we help our tenant down to the terrace in her wheelchair, she has been telling her caretaker that she wants to see all that has been done for days now; so seeing as we’re not going out today, big brother and grandpa carefully wheel her back and forth.

In the last half hour of daylight, we haul old banister pillars from the small garden in the courtyard and plant the two jasmine bushes and the small spruce we still had in a pot. They’re all looking quite good, and the garden is becoming quite civilized, all things considered.

And with a final dip in the pool to wash off the grime, and the hanging of a big batch of laundry, I finish up today’s work to head inside for dinner. Mom’s prepared us baguettes, so I pretty much stuffed my face with the meal. Nothing tastes better than a couple of tasty, crispy pizza rolls. Hah.

Next there’s today’s blog of course, and as soon as I can I’m going to head up to my cabin and see if I can fit in another hour or two on the edit, without falling asleep at the table. Hah.