* unlike Terry Wogan's single "listener", I genuinely believe that I have only the one reader.
So to rectify the situation, here's a brief summary of what I've been doing this week. Or at least the interesting part of the week when I wasn't working for a living.
Lauren wanted a climbing frame for her birthday (which was at the start of August). Now I'm not the sort of chap to wander down to Argos with fifty pounds in my pocket for some tubular steel rubbish, when a few hours' research on the 'net will allow me to spend a whole order of magnitude more.
Very quickly, it seemed that wooden was the way to go. Especially in the "spend unfeasibly large amounts of money" stakes - if you're insistent upon emptying the bank account really quickly there can be no better route. Of course, I justified it to myself on the grounds that we'd not really had much of a family holiday this summer, and a good quality climbing frame would be used by not only Lauren but sprog number 2 (due at the start of October).
After looking at a great many climbing frames (far more than can possibly be healthy), I decided on a Jungle Gym Cabin with optional Monkey Bars (from which two swings can be hung) and a Rock Module (a sort of climbing wall for tots).
I bought it from http://www.activegarden.co.uk/ - based mostly on the fact that they had everything in stock, answered my emails promptly, and looked to be bona fide experts on the subject of climbing frames.
The kit arrives in a series of brightly packaged boxes (containing accessories, nuts, bolts, drill bits and instructions), the slide, and a whole lot of wood. Although the wood was already pressure-treated (to stand up to the rigours of being outside 24/7), we decided to paint everything before - or sometimes during - assembly. Partly to give it extra longevity, partly to make it blend in with our fence, and mostly because it looks good.
The main tower is supposed to take two people two days to assemble. Well, we spent all of the Bank Holiday weekend building it and then some - Friday evening, all day Saturday (starting at 9am, an ungodly hour for a weekend), all day Sunday, much of Monday, several hours during the week of an evening, and some of a second Saturday.
But Lauren thinks that the results are well worth it.
post scriptum: the next camera that I buy simply MUST have some guidelines in the viewfinder. I seem to have real trouble keeping the horizon horizontal :(
2 comments:
Looks suspiciously like a german sentry tower to me... is this a ruse to fool Jan? I reckon you've got a searchlight and an airsoft machine gun stashed in the loft, ready to 'retro-fit' when she's not looking.
No searchlight, but there is a telescope. Does that count?
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