pumpkinstrokemarrow

After that moved into a bit of computing DIY, moving one of our PCs from Vista to Windows 7, a move precipitated by a desire to try out the new version of MS Office. Off to our small Staples where a helpful chap with title 'General Manager' made sure that I knew the difference between an upgrade and a clean install and gave me a quick tutorial on the pros and cons of going to 64 bit, which I think is an option on the PC in question. Despite my being a fairly heavy Excel user, he persuaded me that it was not worth the bother just yet. Reasonable risk that I would hit problems which would cost me money - in the form of a support engineer - to fix. Maybe in years to come when it has matured a bit or if one has an IT department to bail one out of trouble. Box now sitting on desk waiting for action. Shall I buy a few shares in Microsoft to make me feel better? Their site says they come at about $25 a pop so it will really have to be just a few.

Then after a short break for a cup that cheered, onto woodworking DIY. Time for a new lid to the compost bin or we might be having some rats take up permanent residence. The current one was made out of the door - tongue and groove affair - which came with our shed twenty years ago but has sagged badly following reinforcement last year. Start off with a sheet of WBP plywood from our helpful Travis Perkins at Blenheim Road. Said to be weather and boil proof whatever that might mean. £25 which seemed enough for a compost bin lid. Wasn't going to go as far as marine ply. Turns out to be a middle grade ply which looks to have been made of some sort of rain forest, rather than the birch ply I grew up with. Reasonable number of voids visible on the sawn edges. Cut to size. Attach a length of three by two along the long way to stop the thing sagging. Re-purpose a massive steel handle - heavy thing, maybe eight inches long. Re-purpose some mahogany from North London. Attach the handle to the leading edge of the lid with a mahogany sandwich and a couple of coach bolts. Didn't think that attaching the handle direct to the ply would last very long. And I have always rather liked the massive approach to fittings.

But what about paint? The stuff might be water proof and boil proof, but might it not be an idea to put some gloss on a lid which is going to spend its life horizontal, collecting water? Despite the drain holes that I will put in tomorrow. Settled for painting just the top and edges, and will leave the underside to the slugs. So now spent another few pounds worth on Dulux Weathershield Undercoat. Good stuff though. Will spend another few pounds worth on Dulux Weathershield Gloss (white). Total cost, not counting recycled material and my time, maybe as much as £40. How much would have it cost me to get someone else to do it? Then how much more to do it to my specification and under my supervision? Would certainly have taken a lot longer.

And then one ought to take the ecological temperature of this operation. Nice new lid will keep the heat in and this will mean that the compost will rot down good and fast. Plenty of oxygen sucked out of the atmosphere, plenty of carbon dioxide and heat pumped back in. New lid made out of tropical rain forest and glue. Glue and paint probably made out of oil. Upside, modest amount of crumbly brown compost to spread around the roses. Maybe the planet would have done better had I entrusted all the food and veg. which went into it to our local council for them to recycle properly?

Compost must be fairly warm already. Spread some grass clippings - which generate heat at a good clip - on it yesterday with the result that the bin was warm enough that a number of red worms had to come up for air. Alternatively they are breeding so fast that the bin is getting crowded and lesser mortals have to take their chances on the surface. A surface which might, just for the moment, involve rats. At least, at night. Non residents.