{"id":1784,"date":"2012-08-31T09:10:09","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T09:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/?p=1784"},"modified":"2012-08-31T09:28:13","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T09:28:13","slug":"a-great-sense-of-achievement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/?p=1784","title":{"rendered":"A great sense of achievement"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve got a\u00a0stiff back, dry hands, bruised thumbs\u00a0and aching arms, but I really feel as though I have achieved something.<\/p>\n

After twenty years of sitting at a desk, tapping on a keyboard, and making phone calls I decided it was time to get myself a decent and honest trade. I needed to learn a skill, one which would be of use to me in my future life in Galicia, one which I could use to barter with others\u00a0and remove the need for some cash transactions, and one which would be rewarding. I needed to use my hands and be creative.<\/p>\n

As we start to prepare our Yorkshire house\u00a0for sale (at some point in the future\u00a0yet undetermined) I called on a tradesman mate to quote me to re-render a twelve metre long wall which runs next to the house, and holds back the several hundred tons of soil which separate us from the next door neighbours.<\/p>\n

Within an hour of starting work he called me to tell me it wasn’t that straightforward. The existing wall was actually\u00a0eighty year old poured concrete and the soil behind it had rotted it, turning it to dust. The whole thing would have to come down and be re-built. He quoted me a ‘mates rate’ of \u00a31,400 plus materials. ‘Blimey, that’s the price\u00a0of a nice wood burner’<\/em> I thought to myself. ‘I’ll think about it’<\/em>, I told him.<\/p>\n

In the depths of my mind\u00a0a plan started to form. What if I was to learn bricklaying? It’s a decent honest\u00a0trade, I can use it in Galicia, and I can rebuild the wall myself, saving the price of a nice wood burner.<\/p>\n

After a quick look around the internet I settled on The DIY School<\/a> in Stockport and booked a four day course for the princely sum of \u00a3299.00 (including VAT and summer discount).<\/p>\n

A colleague told me it would be, ‘\u200eTwo days tea drinking,\u00a0a day fag rolling,\u00a0half a\u00a0day hod carrying,\u00a0and half a day\u00a0paper reading. Doddle.’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t, it was hard but rewarding work.<\/p>\n

Yesterday was my last day and I have to say it was brilliant. I never knew that there was so much to bricklaying, so many ‘bonding’ patterns, so much\u00a0complex planning\u00a0to ensure everything is tied in properly, getting the correct mortar consistency, and how to constantly measure to ensure straightness in all dimensions.<\/p>\n

Over the four days we learnt about tools, techniques, skills and checking. Lots and lots of checking. I built three small walls (see below) and now feel fully equipped to tackle my little project at home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

First Attempt<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wall Two<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Pinnacle – so far<\/p><\/div>\n

I have\u00a0now got a number of friends and relatives offering me their gardens, falling down walls, and porches to practice on. But more importantly I am starting to think about the many options that I have for landscaping, steps, barbecues and raised beds\u00a0at the property in Galicia.<\/p>\n

Pass me that mug of tea,\u00a0woodbine, and copy of ‘The Sun’!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve got a\u00a0stiff back, dry hands, bruised thumbs\u00a0and aching arms, but I really feel as though I have achieved something. After twenty years of sitting at a desk, tapping on a keyboard, and making phone calls I decided it was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[63],"tags":[47],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1784"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1793,"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1784\/revisions\/1793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.visitgalicia.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}