Herewith our Monday update, but without any pictures. On no.... ! What happened?

Cameras don't like the dusty environment at Broadway and CRC2, and eventually your blogger's refused to function, with dust/grit inside the lens mechanism. At great personal expense a new one was acquired. Today was to be its second day of use, and it rewarded us with a short message - battery empty ! This is a bit of a puzzle, as it normally lasts several picture sessions, and this time only one. Possibly this is a bluetooth issue, we will find out, but next time we will have to check that it is indeed still fully charged before leaving home.

Another problem today was the closure of Hyde lane for resurfacing. All participants coming from the north (at least 3 of us) reported long delays round Bishops Cleeve, arriving up to half an hour later than intended.

At least the delay meant that once we had all arrived and started work, the almost freezing temperature of 0.5C at the start of the day had risen enough to permit some brick laying. Six regulars set to work on the 140, 150 and 160m sections. John O once again made vast quantities of brown mix, enabling our expert block layer - yes, Peter Q had heeded the call, God bless him - to lay a full line of 90 blocks on the 160m section, behind the two rows of blues laid at the front the previous week.

At the rear, Tony was busy laying reds and at the front Bob, our sole blues expert today, laid a double row of blues on each of the 140 and 150m sections. Both of these are now only two rows away from corbelling. So good progress today, and we have been very lucky with the weather, which so far has offered little hinderance. The sun shone gloriously all day, and we even took our tea outside of the cabin.

Fairview then appeared with fresh supplies. We unloaded and stored 20 sacks of cement, and placed a pallet of blocks straight on to the trolley, which we wheeled down to the 170m section. Although it has not yet been set out, we agreed that unloading could proceed straight on to the working area in one long line, so that they can be tipped straight into place once we move into this section.

All the time this was happening, we were treated to some cheesy Christmas music through a loudspeaker.... luckily we kept our milk in a refrigerator in the cabin, so that it did not curdle.

Later in the morning some contractors came and sprayed the newly graded cutting side with instant grass seed. We think. At least the area is now covered in something green. Maybe it will fool some people.

As we have no pictures today, here is one from the archives, and a puzzle for our readers:

Where was your blogger standing in the picture above? It wasn't taken recently, as you might surmise from that flat tummy and plentiful head of hair. Yes, it was taken in ...1977! Happy days.