Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Trip two


I mentioned the wood yard scenario to the chap down the road who is planning to build his own house and we went along there today. He got a load of stuff that looked pretty useful to me and broached the subject of buying a few bundles of timber for pillars, which looked like a bargain. This time around there were a load of planks that had emerged from under the junk around the big saw, so I latched on there. I suppose I could have got away without paying again, but I dropped a 10,000 yen note in the kitty as there were a couple of planks that looked like they were worth at least that on their own. The largest were only pine, but I quite like anything that has an attractive grain pattern.
It is a bit hairy unloading these big things on my own. Most are just about stoppable, but there are a few, which must be left to their own devices once they have Isac newton on their tail. I tuck knees in tight against the guard rail and hook my toes over the top of the wall to get a good grip and avoid getting sucked over the rail with them. The edge of the truck makes a nice rail to find a balance point, then if the wood is light I slide it down on to the guard rail and keep a sliding grip on it all the way down. With the heavy stuff I just try and steer it a bit as it touches the guard rail and begins to slide into the void.
I was done by about oneish, so the early start paid off.
I popped the truck back after lunch and ended the day with a bit of work on the shop and preparations for a trip to make an adjustment to the table delivered last week.
The weirdest bit of these excursions is getting back in the little truck to drive off after a day driving the big one. It is odd to find oneself so huge in a tiny space with a tiny little steering wheel. The stupidest notion today was thinking, "Where is the bloody light truck gone" when I got home with the load of timber. It took me a moment to figure through to the point where I remembered I had left it at the yard where I picked up the big truck. You can see that my mental energies are on the brink here, so it is not surprising that the mental margarine for blogging is getting spread a bit thin.