When Kate, our neighbour, told us how long she’d spent cleaning roof tiles to reuse them, I must confess that I did wonder if the poor girl had ever so slightly taken leave of her senses. Until yesterday, that is, when I saw the state of the tiles Nick had taken off the cabanon roof; they were totally encrusted with decades worth of moss and lichen. So we set to, to scrape and scrub them clean(ish).I

It was another hot day, 30ºC in the shade, not that there was a lot of shade where we were working; but there was rain forecast for the night, so we decided to push on till we finished. We would both clean several heaps of tiles,  pile them onto the scaffolding tower, then I would pass them from there to Nick, on the roof, who’d put them in place.

By 9o’clock, shortly before the sun disappeared behind the trees, we finished;, having worked a straight 12 hours. We were filthy, hungry, mozzie-bitten and exhausted, but with a tremendous sense of achievement. I just hope the promise of good food, good wine and job satisfaction is enough for those two mad – sorry, I mean brave – souls who have offered to help us replace the main roof this summer!