The brick scene

Regular readers will know that my on-site exercise mostly takes the form of walking up down the garden, systematically moving a pile of bricks about 25 yards in order both to give the brain something to do and to keep count, quite hard to do otherwise. Of the sixteen bricks used for this purpose, some are a little the worse for wear. For which see reference 2.

As luck would have it, a lump of masonry had been spotted on the Ruxley Lane anti-clockwise, at the bottom of a cable box and conveniently signposted by the giant weed noticed at reference 1.

A couple of days ago, I took hammer, chisel and sturdy bag out with me and chopped the first two bricks out of the lump of masonry. No-one saw fit to bother me, or inquire what I was up to, and in reasonably short order they were in the trusty Karrimor and I was on my way to the butcher for a spot of pork.

Half way through cleaning operations, before I punched the plugs out of the holes. Oddly, eight of the holes were round, while two were square, the same on both bricks. Why the difference? And how was the brick mould made so that it included the holes? Were the holes just intended to provide a bit of key, were they into saving materials or what?

Note also the lines on the brick top right in the first snap. Possibly face decoration, but more likely intended to provide a bit of key for a cement rendering.

The two new-to-me bricks then took their place in the line, with two of the weaker bricks, visible at the bottom of the snap, now retired to the heap under the leylandii which help block access to the back of the house.

The other two bricks were recovered yesterday. For some reason they were a lot harder to clean than the first two. Now assigned to the reserve, also under the aforementioned leylandii.

Update on the giant weed of reference 1. It seems to fit the bit of Wikipedia which says: 'flowering starting at the bottom of the spike and progressing irregularly upward; each flower opens for part of a day and only a few open at the same time around the stem'.

PS: Monday lunchtime: the pork mentioned above was finished for lunch today, its second outing. To make a bit of variety during lockdown, we have reinstated the custom of Sunday lunch, in abeyance for more than a decade now, and have learned once again the pleasures (and convenience) of cold meat the day after. Served on this occasion with a variation of bubble and squeak involving starting with a large chopped onion fried in rape seed oil. Plus salad.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/06/giant-weed.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-brick-scene-revisited.html.

Reference 3: https://www.karrimor.com/. Just a brand these days, rather than a company?

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/06/wellingtonia-5.html. Where the Karrimor is to be seen. Perhaps forty years old now: bought from a serious cycle shop on a parade on the western side of the Hills Road in Cambridge, somewhere in vicinity the Catholic Church, but now seemingly vanished under the rising tide of student eateries.