
attention.
Just visible from my daily seat, I could glimpse the far end of a large stack of bricks that had accumulated and grown over the years and had become an increasingly irksome sight. I've always found it difficult to throw good stuff away. Frankly, the thought of sending potentially useful building materials off to landfill, only to find myself one day purchasing new bricks, is anathema. The bricks themselves are over a hundred years old, made from the local Wealden clay, formed and fashioned by the once esteemed High Brooms Brick Company, Tunbridge Wells, who manufactured their product about a mile and a half from where we live. The bricks were exported because of their high density and imperviousness to the ingress of water. Because of this they were used to construct the Aswan (Low) Dam in Egypt (completed 1902).
As we head into the Autumn, I knew this would be the very last chance I'd have this year to make those flippin' bricks disappear. I'd always had a plan up my sleeve for how to use them - it was just a matter of time, energy and willingness to put it into operation. The timing seemed ripe, because I also needed to get a bit of research time in on the book I'm currently engaged in writing. I've never been much of a multi-tasker, so wall-building and reading are more than enough to keep me occupied! And at the end of it all (soon I hope) we should end up with an attractively terraced new sitting area. Who knows, I may even complete it in time to enjoy its pleasant situation for a final bit of reading/research if we're lucky enough to get a few days of Indian Summer!