Probably the weirdest and most unwelcoming bit of our new house (now a year new to us) was the strange long 'corridor' on the east side of the house that the previous occupant had decided to tile with what looks like, well, bits of ham, and certainly must have been a cheap deal from a DIY shed wanting to be shot of them.
We got a few quotes for retiling - terrifyingly expensive; or removing them and putting gravel down, or rather us removing them and lorry of gravel turning up, but then as a builder friend said - who know's what is underneath . . . and it's true, they are solid enough, drain water away on the slight slope and it would be an interesting challenge to make their appearance less hideous. So we went for the cheap option: me and a friend re-grouting them, rounding up of baths and containers from recycling places and kind donations from next door. The plants were the more expensive bit but as we'd saved thousands on redoing the tiles a couple of hundred seemed reasonable. Mark tuned up his creative woodworking skills by making surrounds for the plastic baths and training wires along for the rampaging vines which our neighbours have kindly allowed over our wall.
It's suddenly a really great place to sit, and the ham is fading to a slight recollection of the first February day when I saw the house on a freezing grey February day when it was impossible to imagine anything growing, and sitting outside would only be for if you had locked yourself out.
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