Helping, sort of

[davidgillon]

I took in a parcel for Les next door on Friday, and when he picked it up he mentioned that he'd had to hop over the fence on Thursday to save Arthur (other side next door)'s fence, which was in the process of blowing down and destroying itself (it was a wee bit windy). I had actually looked out onto the garden that morning, but this time I went and put my glasses on before doing it. Welp, three panels gone out of  10 or 11, and by 'gone' I mean 3x3" fence poles snapped off, not just panels popped. Hey, new open plan garden! (Fortunately for my wallet Arthur's fence, mine is the one on Les's side).

 

So Saturday there's a lot of banging as Les and Arthur set about fixing it, and ultimately deciding they need to replace almost every fence pole as they're completely rotted through. I kibitzed a bit and we decided they'd probably been in about 8 years (two owners back), but they'd just concreted posts into the ground, rather than raising them up out of the ground on a metal post holder, which would have protected them from rot to a degree (Les and I went for concrete posts when we replaced the one between us). So they went off to get posts and I went off to get lunch in town (which is a story in its own right, see below).

When I got back they were hard at it. They'd decided they could just re-use the existing concrete holes, and drop the new posts in, but the existing holes were full of old post, so cue an excitingly new innovative use of power tools (Les really likes his high-end power tools) - they were basically using them like an egg-beater, stirring a two foot long, inch thick masonry drill through the semi-rotted wood to break it up so they could scoop it out of the holes with a wrecking bar.

While we were chatting, I finally realised where the 8 foot tall holly lurking behind my cherry tree had come from. I'd wondered how it had shot up so tall so suddenly, turned out it had infiltrated under the (now missing) fence, from a large stump on Arthur's side (probably cut down by neighbours-1), so had a large existing root network to draw on. As both stump and offshoot were going to be in the way we removed them with extreme prejudice (If it hadn't been quite so close to the cherry I might have said let it stay, but they were literally a foot apart and it was outgrowing the cherry). Having put in a quarter of an hour chatting (and also being in imminent danger of falling over, even with crutches), I left them to it, came back into the warm, and promptly fell asleep on the couch for 8 hours* - hard work this fence-building!

This morning they were at it again and I went out for the last few minutes of work; how many men does it take to saw off a fence pole to the right height? Answer: 3, one to hold the fence, one to use the saw, and me to reach over the top so that I can hold the top bit of pole so it doesn't drop on Arthur when it comes free. And now it's done, and probably straighter than when it was put in in the first place. There's a satisfaction in a job well done, even if you were only watching ;)

* I think I'd had 8 hours sleep in the preceding three days.

 

Lunch in Town

So, as I said, I went into town to have lunch, for only the second time this year, I think - this blasted cold has been really limiting. So I had a nice plate of fish and chips in my usual place, and when I'd finished, went to get my wallet out of my bag to pay for my meal.

Look into bag, notice there's no sign of my house keys.
Check pockets, not there.
Empty bag onto table, not there.
Check pockets again, still not there.
Check bag again, still not there.
Crap, they're probably either still in the front door, or dropped onto the ground beside the car when I got the chair out.
So I hurry back to the car, open my bag to get the car keys out, first thing I see is the house keys.
I emptied the blasted bag onto the table, how could I miss them!

Currently Reading

Planetside, Michael Mammay

Like me, Mike's one of the Pitchwars 2015 alumni, though unlike me his novel got picked up and has been out for a few months (IIRC Locus said it was the best selling SF paperback of the month back in September). I've been meaning to read it for ages, but never got around to it until he mentioned the sequel in the PW2015 group the other day. I was wanting something new to read, so I popped over to Amazon to order it, and it's really good.

Carl Butler is a colonel in SpaceCommand (and self-professed asshole), and on the edge of retirement, so close that he's been attached to Student Command because by the time he's been shipped in cryo to any operational deployment he'd have passed retirement age.  But then he gets a call from General Serata, second in command of SpaceCom and a long time friend. A politician's son and SpaceCom Lieutenant has gone MIA out on a planet Carl has history with, and it's not a straightforward MIA - he was put on a medevac flight up to the orbiting base after a firefight, but wasn't on it when it arrived. In return for a few favours (relocating Carl's family home to his wife's home planet) he wants Carl to head out and investigate.

So a rather grumpily put-upon Carl (like he says, he's an asshole), picks up an aide (Serata's, who needs some front-line time), and a personal protection officer, and heads off (stuffed in cryo) to Cappa. Problems start even before they arrive, because they drop into the system four days out, not the normal two, almost like someone wanted extra time to be ready for them. Arriving on the orbiting base, Carl finds a less than friendly welcome. Colonel Stirling, the SpaceCom commander, sees him as a rival/in a position to damage his career, Colonel Elliot, the MedCom commander, won't even let him into the hospital wing, and Colonel Karikov, the Special Forces commander (who missing politician's son had been seconded to), is down on the planet and hasn't been up to the station in institutional memory. Things deteriorate from there.

The deeper Carl digs, the more disturbing things become, because there's something more than just a missing Lt going on, and it's clear Serata's sent Carl to fix it, whatever it may be, and whatever it may take. Worse, Carl doesn't know who to trust, including the usefully competent major who may be reporting to Stirling,and the journalist who clearly knows something's amiss. Things soon escalate, witnesses disappear, Carl's attacked (which at least gets him into the hospital), and a trip down to try and see the SF commander turns into a Cappan ambush which leaves his aide hospitalised (which again is a useful way into the hospital). Ultimately Carl digs deep enough to realised just what an utter disaster is unfolding, and then he's faced with the question of how far he's prepared to go to fix it.

It's not a book that takes a deep look at the opposition, the Cappans are very much hostile ciphers, nor is it really conventional SF milfic, because there's actually very little combat, one short sequence, and then a somewhat larger one that acts as an Oh Shit! ex machina. Thematically it has much more in common with thrillers set against a military background, such as The General's Daughter, or even A Few Good Men, and with works about being in the military, such as Heartbreak Ridge. If there's a more combat-oriented story that does get a nod, then it's Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness. But it is a story that clearly resonates with Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's a book that absolutely nails the life in the military side, which perhaps has something to do with with Mike Mammay being ex-Colonel Mammay, US Army, with a resume going all the way back to Somalia and Desert Storm.

Up next: Knife Children, Lois McMaster Bujold - a stand-alone novella in the Sharing Knife world.

Currently Playing

I'm not saying Wednesday's Ark session was an utter disaster, or even the same utter disaster repeated three times, but there's a reason I rolled back to Tuesday's back-up.

Comments

[yhlee]

I need to get a hold of the Mammay. Someday!

[alatefeline]

You tell anecdotes about daily life and book reviews both in a vary compelling way. Thank you. I feel triumphant on behalf of you and your neighbors regarding the new fence. Holly stumps are perniciously stubborn and tough; one going right under a chain link fence ate my community garden plot a few years back to the point where the garden manager took that plot out of circulation once I gave it up.

[davidgillon]

Thanks!