Mega bonfire

Blimey, doesn't time fly?!  When I last reported in, we had just laid a bit of hedge and had a huge pile of brash to burn.  Well, right after that we all got really horrible colds (I even had a day off work which is very rare) and we had to postpone Bob's stepmum's visit.  So, bonfires weren't a good idea with tickly coughs really, but on Sunday Ben and I finally got round to having a mega-huge bonfire.  It took a little while to get going properly because it has rained quite a bit here so it was a bit soggy.  Once we got it going though it was brilliant.  It took three hours solid of both of us piling branches on to get rid of it all!  We got quite a routine going piling on loads of branches then weighting them down with ivy-covered logs or holly.  That green stuff burns surprisingly well - it does nothing but crackle for a few minutes while it dries out and then whoosh, up it goes.  There wasn't any breeze so when the holly whooshed you could see the holly-leaf-shaped bits of ash shooting straight up about 20' in the air.  Oh, I do like a good bonfire.  We were left with a very sizeable pile of ashes at the end - about waist high!

As well as all the hedge, we got rid of two massive bags of
wood chips from Bob's workshop.  You can only put a bit on at a
time or it smothers the fire . . . . 

. . . . but just a handful produces an impressive flare.
Fun, fun, fun!

As well as the hedge and two bags of chips, we also put the
last bits of the caravan on.  We had saved some of the thin wood
to cut up for kindling, but to be honest it's a pain as it has so many
staples and nails in it and Bob produces a plentiful supply of kindling.
So, onto the bonfire with it.  This, then, is the very last bit of our caravan
going on - oh, except the kitchen unit we're still using . . . forgot that!

So, what else has been happening?  Well, Ben now has a job as a Christmas temp at M&S, lucky lad!  He's been given plenty of hours which is good and works mostly backstage in the warehouse.  Trouble is, none of his hours match mine . . . ever.  We have to have a nightly transport meeting to sort out who has which car or who needs a lift if Bob needs a car.

Here's Graham's rocker finished and
polished and getting plenty of use.  I
think they can be proud of that between
them, don't you?

Bob had a show at one of the museums at Ironbridge at the weekend.  It was a Christmas craft and food fair in one of the old engine houses and had a really nice atmosphere.  Bob did quite well and sold everything except four pieces of furniture!  That includes the child's chair we've been trugging around shows for the last ten years.  Can you believe it that the very next day someone else e-mailed to ask if they could buy it having seen it at another show a few weeks ago!  Weird.  So, Bob will now have to make some new stock I think.  He just has one more market stall in  a couple of weeks and then that's it until the Spring, so hopefully he'll get chance to come up with some nice new things. 

Just look at this picture Ben took on
his phone.  Can you see the steam
shooting out of the end of one of the
branches? Fascinating!