The Repair Shop

I was out in the garden in my gardening clothes after breakfast before it got too hot, tackling a job I’ve been wanting to do for some time. 

Some of our garden beds are quite sloping, which causes the earth to slip down to unwanted places. The bed outside Smithers’ study window slopes down to the patio which over time has caused quite a lot of soil to accumulate underneath a large tub in the corner which sits at the foot of the steps up to the terrace. 

So, hoping Smithers wouldn’t catch me at it*, I lifted the big tub, shovelled up the soil and put it back on the flower bed from whence it came. I swept the patio and replaced the large tub, then I tackled the corner of the terrace above it, which you can see in my photo. This had become a bit messy, with various empty pots and bits and pieces, so I moved everything away, gave the terrace a good sweep and then replaced only the pots I want to keep there. By this time I was quite hot and tired, so I went inside to have my shower and get dressed in my day clothes.

Having sorted out the garden, I spent some time today doing a repair job for my daughter-in-law. Yesterday she had brought to show me a small bag with webbing straps which she likes to take on holiday, but which she had discovered had lost one of the black plastic side release buckles which are used to fasten it. 

Having ascertained that I couldn’t commandeer one of Smithers' Rohan belt buckles because they were slightly narrower, I ordered a new buckle on Amazon, which arrived today. I then unpicked the existing half of the buckle and sewed my two new halves on to the webbing. It was a bit tricky to work out which way round they went, but I managed it (having taken photos for reference!). I had been worried that my sewing machine wouldn't cope with sewing through three layers of webbing, but it passed the test with flying colours.

So it was a good day spent re-ordering and repairing, which was very satisfying.

*He did!