After months of renovations, @tim-beck and I can now see the finish line. The marigolds and pelargonium (pelargonia?) are telling us that everything will be okay.

The Darling Buds of, er, December

Marigold happy now it's back in place

Equally delighted pelargonium

They've been back in their place on the wall since just before Christmas and are starting to settle in.

Some of the other plants didn't make it, and others (like my beloved bay leaf plant) struggled so much they lost their leaves...which the gardener discarded...did I mention they were bay leaves? You dry them and keep them for months and put into sauces as necessary, so no need to throw away leaves that are dead on the plant - but I digress.

The Wall's Tale

In the short tale I told about three months ago, I shared how our boundary wall was gradually being pushed over by our neighbours' tree. This is what was happening:

Our neighbours had already cut the tree down in hopes of arresting the wall failure, but it kept moving and we realised we'd have to rebuild the wall or wait for it to fall into our kitchen. We got our indomitable contractors, who'd already survived our bathroom and cupboard renovations, to demolish the impendingly offending section of wall.

And demolish it they did!

But first, a temporary relocation for the wall residents.

We moved all these plants to a safe haven in the back of the garden

Good fences make good neighbours

Apparently walls are all the rage these days, at least in the United States. And we suddenly found ourselves wall-less.

For a brief period, there was a break in the wall, yet peace prevailed, for it's not only good fences that make good neighbours. It's good neighbours that make good neighbours.

But hark, what do we see here?

The root of the problem, mayhap?

Aye, there's the root

Before we could rebuild a more robust rampart to reinforce our unrivalled relations, the destruction of the stump was a top priority.

For whatever reason, our neighbours decided to use a different contractor to destump.

With the wall demolished, we could see the tree root

Since it took our contractors only four days to demolish our apparently indestructible bathroom (they thought it would take them two days - South African construction was clearly stronger 15 years ago than what they're used to now!), we whispered to each other in hushed tones, barely audible over the thump of the axe and the bad guitar of the chainsaw, that perhaps they should have used "our guys".

It took the "other guys" over a week of constant 150 decibel ("11" to Spinal Tap fans) effort to remove that which was clearly well-rooted in place.

Eventually, though, the demon root was vanquished and the post-root reconstruction could begin.

We can rebuild it - better, stronger, faster

And the great project of rebuilding the neighbourly barrier kicked into high gear.

In two days, we had perestroika'd and eliminated our temporary glasnost.

The crowning touch

A panache of plaster, a dash of paint, and the Great Barrier Wall was once more in place, with one important detail outstanding.

Just before leaving on Christmas break, the contractors reinstalled the pot hanger so we could rehome the plants which had survived the horrific change in the environment twenty metres from where they were used to living.

They're baaaaaack

They have a way to go to achieve their former glory, but they're strong and hardy - and really like their old home on the wall.

There you have it, a finished wall

And not a single government employee was furloughed. We remain available for consultancy to certain Heads of State for reasonably exorbitant rates.

The End

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