Last weekend we dug out a couple of big beds. I blogged about it. I showed a nice neat picture of what our new beds looked like, and where we were leaving lawn.

What I should perhaps have mentioned is that where I stopped, near the back fence in front of the compost heap, I had just found something buried. Something that felt large, and that needed digging up. But it was getting a bit cold and dark by that point, so I left it. I figured it was an old sheet of something.

During the week, when she got home early enough, GG has been having a go at digging it out. I think she likes digging. Anyway, it was bigger than we thought. And not obvious what it was at all. But taking quite a lot of digging.

It being the weekend again, GG was determined to remove the item. So out she went again...

This is what she had by the time I got out there. We were starting to get a bit worried, because amongst the other stuff that had come up were these:

Not great. Thinking an entire buried car at this point. That section was going to be my veg patch. Now this really is pretty deep digging!

Eventually, with both of us digging by now, we got it to this stage. Can you tell what it is yet?

How about now?

Yes, that's right, it's a scooter. I know we're on the outskirts of Brighton, I know it's very trendy and all, but really now. A buried scooter? GG reckons it would go better with wheels...

Anyhoo, it still had the headbadge attached.

I've done a bit of research, and based on little things like the type of seat, the position of the headlamp etc, I think we've found a lambretta li series 1. If we could find a frame number, we could probably age this sucker. It's pretty impressive (and surreal - a scooter. Really!).

So, that's had a slight effect on our nice neat photo from last week. Lask weekend, that end of the garden looked like this:

Now?

And all of that rubbish on the concrete came out of that end patch. So the soil level may be a little low! Still. We found a scooter! That bed shall henceforth be known as the scooter bed. Even if I am still planning to grow my veggies in it!

Just a bit of a warning, there are a few photos in this one!

The back garden when we moved in was extremely exciting.

It was full of what is known as potential. Oh yes. So all we have to do is a little bit of work to unlock that! I've been plotting what I want to grow and where, looking at the shady areas, seeing which bits get damp... And coming up with some bed shapes and things. Today we nearly got them all dug.

A little more exciting, no? No? Hmmm... Well, it'll get there. We've moved the compost bin from top left to top right, in an effort to concentrate all the shed and compost nastiness into one big blob. I'll put something in front of it too - thinking dogwood at the moment, with lovely red stems. They will go in the one bed we've still got to dig. The big, old, tired-looking shrub thing was finally defeated by GG today, and we've got rid of most of the flagstones. (They will be reused in a different way.)

My parents came to visit yesterday and we had a little trip to the garden centre as part of my birthday present (birthday next Tuesday), so we do have a few plants in there. For later reference as much as anything, they are a skimmia rubella (bottom left corner), one very little green euonymus next to it, a choisya sundance in the top left where the compost used to be, and a pyracantha coccinea 'Red Column' against the back fence. There's also a variagated euonymus that I've grown in a pot since buying it last Christmas with Grandad's Christmas money!

In sweeping up all the leaves into one corner, I was trying to encourage some wildlife. I was thinking aybe a hedgehog, because we do have lots of slugs and snails, and it'd be really handy. But I seem to have created the perfect cat bed...

You can just see the tips of the black cat's ears here... right in the middle. The white thing sloping over is an internal door that we've removed, making the perfect roof for the cat bed!

And to round off a lovely day, this was the view from the study window tonight.

Not bad for bonfire night...

An eventful (and beautifully sunny) morning.

I'm working in Brighton today, rather than Burgess Hill. Nice, because I got to leave an hour later than normal. Nasty because I'm not in my normal office, so I don't know anyone or where anything is! Still, have a desk, have had a wander at lunchtime and seen the sea, so it's not all bad.

I was, however, hit by a car on my way in. I cycled, had just turned up Edward Street and started climbing a hill (so was going quite slowly), went past the end of a road with a car turning out of it. He'd stopped, was checking the road, and pulled out into me. It was nice and sunny, I was wearing a big purple sweater, quite visible especially since I was right between his headlights when he hit me. Fortunately because he was just starting up and I was going slowly, I anticipated and leant into the car so he just pushed me upright across the road. I didn't fall off. He also pulled over and checked I was ok, and 3 separate pedestrians stopped, checked I was ok and offered to witness for me. One has written it all down and given me his phone number just in case. I'm fine, was a little shaken and have since stiffened up a little bit down my left side. Nothing too noticeable, and should wear off by tomorrow from the way it feels. But that's the first time I've ever been hit. At least I got to shout at the driver a bit to vent my feelings.

Fortunately I was really close to work at that point, so I walked up the road (after checking the bike for damage of course!).

Also, the gas man came back to try to sort out which of our three gas appliances have caused the leak. There was a sliding scale of potential outcomes from this:

1. It was the boiler causing the leak. Potential refit costs around £2000. No heating until fixed.
   
2. It was the hob causing the leak. Potential refit costs around £250. May mean use of camping stove for a while.
   
3. It wasn't the appliances at all, it was the iron pipes set in concrete in the floor of the house that had corroded and were leaking. Potential refit costs that I don't even want to think about and too hideous for words inconvenience-wise.

Paticularly pleasing, it has proven to be option 2. Hooray! We can turn the heating back on! Oh happy, warmer day! Of course, it's taken £100 to nail it down to the hob... Still, financially and hassle-wise, by far and away the best result.

Now, all I have to do is get home without incident. Please?

Being a grown up means not curling up into a small ball with fingers in ears going "la la lalala" when you are told that you have a gas leak and the gas supply will have to be turned off until you have an engineer come and find the leak and fix it. Which means no heating. As the temperature plummets for the first time this autumn. And having just got new double-glazing we really don't have the money to replace the boiler, which is what we suspect may need to happen.

Being a grown up means not taking a baseball bat to the car just because its exhaust has chosen just the same moment to fall apart and need replacing. Fortunately that isn't going to be quite as expensive as a new boiler. It's just the fantastic timing that hurts.

Being a grown up means that even though the shed roof leaks like a sieve and you really don't have the cash to get it fixed properly and you'd really much rather spend what money you do have on more wool or some spring bulbs or cds or something, you bite the bullet and try and get the thing fixed. Because bikes shouldn't really live in the kitchen. Even if it is easy and convenient.

Being a grown up is not really much fun, is it?