At Least That's One Saga At An End.

https://twitterwithbraincells.blogspot.com/2026/04/do-you-like-my-new-gate.html

It turns out I had just enough wood preserver while the long-reach screwdriver is for something else entirely. I did need to buy some more screws though. Meaning that if that delivery ever does turn up I'll have something like 100+ really specific screws and nothing to do with them.

The real problem was the neighbour's wall. It's three aerated concrete (breeze/cinder) blocks tall and we assume that once upon a time it must have had a brick pier or pillar at the end, that is the standard design for garden walls. However far longer ago then anyone can remember that pier collapsed. Leaving a very jagged edge of pockmarked grey concrete, not unlike those pictures of the Moon Artemis II was so interested in. 

So I needed to render over it to create an even surface the wooden batten could sit flush to. A big reason why the batten for the chain kept falling over was that it didn't sit flush, it was only meant to be a short-term temporary measure.

For the most part this was really easy. The part damaged during the 12 day war took all of 30 minutes and a single coat of render. The bit right at the bottom of the face was a real problem though. I eventually worked out this would take 5-6 coats of render. With you having to wait 12 hours between coats that's a task that could have dragged on for eternity. So I shuttered it up with plywood and just poured the rendering mortar into it. It's not quite those famous; "Concrete Steps" but it's the same process, only vertically. Basically I made half a concrete block in situ. Which is only slightly easier than just building a new wall. Something I was tempted to do, only the neighbour was out of the country at the time.

One thing I was happy to leave was a large triangular section missing from the top corner, which looked not unlike a rocky mountainside leading down into a valley. What I was planning to do was mount a batten of wood to the top of the wall and then fasten it to the vertical batten. Making it resemble half of a miniature suspension bridge over a valley, up to the first stanchion. However I discovered that the wall is not as straight as the wood. So I didn't bother.

Creating another reason why you're all denied a picture of a crashed MH-6 helicopter laying wrecked on a mountainside under a suspension bridge. 

I suppose I could do a picture of the MH-6 crashed into the mountainside without the bridge. Not that I'd be able to show it to anyone.