Recent work

[dig dug dan]

I can see a 5mm dip half way up

[lutonlagerlout]

luton's St Patrick's day parade

the Leitrim contingent


the mayor taking photies


spotted in a pub toilet


so so true

LLL

[Tony McC]

I shall spend my St Pat's Day gloating about the Rugby win (I know less than buggerall about Rugby Onion, being raised in a Ruggerby League Town) and the sweet demolition of the Mancs yesterday afternoon.

And then I shall take out my daughters and grandkids for a proper meal of bacon and cabbage.

[dig dug dan]

Can someone explain why everyone by goes mad for saint paticks day, getting drunk and being stupid, yet when its saint georges day, it goes un noticed?

[mickg]

because the Irish know how to have a good time

[lutonlagerlout]

mick is bang on the money

I don't do st pat's day drinking personally as I drink in Irish bars and clubs all year round,a lot of Irish lads avoid it as its a PITA day
pubs are full of English wannabe paddys in ginger wigs,Guinness hats etc
but the Irish in general can have a good drink and laugh

however.....

23 rd april comes and we have had st georges do's in luton

they mainly end up with horseplay and high jinks the police describe as rioting and arson
there have been a couple of not too bad ones but even at these lads got glassed when it kicked off around 8 at night

back to Ireland its not that big a deal in Ireland as it is here,its a bank holiday but my outlaws used to go to mass on st pats day

its the Americans that started the big thing off same with halloween

LLL

[Tony McC]

In Ireland, St Pat's day is more or less exclusively "celebrated" by tourists. For the indigenous population, life carries on pretty much as normal, although some businesses close for the day (it's a bank holiday), and many will have a self-congratulatory drink in the evening.

In the rural areas, the wearing of the green continues (in the form of real shamrock and not the stupid leprechaun outfits, over-size cuddly shamrocks, guinness hats or t-shirts with fanciful claims regarding possible alcohol intake) and many familes will attend church (but even that is declining). As a memeber of the disapora meself, I do feel that it's us who are absent from the owld sod that make more of a thing of the day than do those who remained at home. You only have to look at the ridiculous shenanigans in the USA for evidence of that.

And why is St Pat's Day such a big thing while St George's day is an afterthought? For too many years, St Pat's was the only native celebration of any significance in what many perceived to be an occupied country. The Scots and the Welsh, and even the Cornish, feel similarly proud of their own saints' days, but perhaps not quite as visibly. The English, never having been subjugated by a neighbour, didn't seem to develop the need to express their own identity via their patron saint.

And it's a classic example of bloody good marketing by Bord Failte - the Irish Tourism Board.

[sy76uk]

Here's a couple of my sort of recent jobs.

The first one is my next door neighbours drive way.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120775437@N06/13248380715/

It was originally tarmac and there was a 200mm cross fall from the garden wall into the bungalow. That wasn't a problem until he brought that big caravan you can see in the background lol. Because of the steep cross fall the caravan was leaning on too much of an angle for him to get down the side so he had to doctor the over hang on his gables and I installed the drive way so his the van sat flat at the bottom of the ramp and he had a 20mm fall away from the building so he can squeeze the caravan down there. There was also 4 manholes to build up in a 50m2 driveway.

The second one is my own patio.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120775437@N06/13248517753/
The circle is second hand and was destined for the skip but we didn't have a patio and this is a rented place so rather than bin it I cleaned it up and laid it in the garden. My OH's happy with me now.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120775437@N06/13248723544/
This is also in my garden. The pond liner was already there but had been filled with pea gravel and had crazy paving around it. The slate was dug up out of the ground on a site I was on last year and the circle was cut from roofing slate. I still haven't got round to buying the pump and filter and putting fish in it.

I did a nice drive last week. I'll post pics up at the weekend some time.

[lutonlagerlout]

tidy looking work there sy
who is paul bryan?

the circle looks fab,was it you that spoke a while back about dying a circle?
what is the border, blue staffs or pavers?

the landlord will be chuffed,wish i had tenants like you
LLL

[sy76uk]

Thanks Tony,

I'm Paul Bryan. My middle name is Simon and that's what I've always been known as, confuses everyone.

Yeah it was me that posted about trying to re colour the slabs. They're a lot lighter when they're dry. The turf was only laid on Saturday and they're wet because I took the photo whilst I had the sprinkler was on. There just left over charcoal paviors round the border. I laid it on a wet bed and hand pointed it using a 3-1 mix of 1 sharp, 1 yellow, 1 red and 1 white cement. I use that mix for pointing and rendering quite a lot. I find the sharp gives it substance, the yellow texture and the red body and coulour. Comes out a light peachy type colour.

I think the landlord will e chuffed when he see's it. He's only a young lad and he inherited it from his nan. From what I have gathered she loved looking after her garden and he's glad were looking after it. I built a nice big brick BBQ too.

The whole garden including the turf stands me at less than £100

[lutonlagerlout]

patio this week held up due to thames water



full bed



LLL

[sy76uk]

Tidy work there Tony.

How do you get your pictures into your post?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120775437@N06/13295450604/

[lutonlagerlout]

in photobucket there is an image tag
not sure about flickr
nice drive
LLL

[KLS]

Good to see you can finally get on with that job Tony. Is that the contemporary gray sawn sandstone from London stone? Iv just had an enquiry for a 65m2 patio in it.

[mike builder/landscaper]

Looks neat tony, for some reason it looks like the paving is higher than the door threshold.