The Greenhouse

The greenhouse arrived just before we went on holiday. I can't say I was pleased to see it, it looked like trouble to me! Thankfully, Husband ignored it for a while but the other weekend he summoned the strength to begin erecting it.

It bites this greenhouse. Bites and scratches too. It didn't come with a warning. It didn't come with much at all come to that. Imagine Greenhouse of the Ikea kind and you'll be close.

I have to say Husband has surpassed my limited expectations. He has 'kept at it' despite injuries and set backs. I have not heard him swear once, though I must say I have kept well out earshot!
Bits of greenhouse have spent the last 10 days lying on the lawn, the ends lovingly wrapped in rags to stop it biting anyone who unsuspectingly wanders past. However last night, after work, it became almost greenhouse shaped!

I looked out of the kitchen window to see 3 sides vertical, with help from the garden bench and the washing line, but even so I had the idea we had arrived at the summit and it would be down hill all the way from here. Alas it was not to be. I went upstairs to make sure Small Sprog washed in his bath rather than just 'marinated' and while I was up there a dejected Husband shuffled in.

"How's it going then?" I asked cheerily.

"It's not!" He muttered

"But it was nearly up just now."

"Well, I bolted 3 corners together and then I couldn't find anymore bolts, so I took it all down again" He really did look deflated. His Greenhouse, the one he'd been coveting for years, was almost a reality, only to be dashed at the last hurdle.

"Oh dear" was all I could manage. Small Sprog was swishing backwards and forwards in the bath and the water was dangerously close to spilling out and through the kitchen ceiling.

"Will you have to go back to the garden centre to get some more?"

"No I've found them"

"But you've taken it all apart again" I say, stating the obvious which probably didn't help.

"I know, after I'd taken the last bolt out I picked up a bit of plastic bag and there they were inside." I resisted the urge to laugh! How could he have gone to all that trouble for nothing? Poor Husband, and he was bleeding again, his arm this time.

He came home briefly this morning. The petrol situation means he's staying close to home. He'd been to the garden centre to get some extra bolts anyway, 'just in case'.

"I saw that nice bloke again"

"Which nice bloke" I ask, puzzled.

"The one who sold me the greenhouse"

"Oh" Is always a safe reply, but I was thinking "If he was that nice he would have kept it in the shop!"

Husband continued "I told him I was having a bit of trouble and he said he had someone in last week who'd been trying to put one together for 6 months now!"

Great! Roll on Christmas I say!