Chapter 14
It was a few weeks after Nina had met Birdie and Nancy in the pub. Nina stood on the back patio just behind her house and looked up at the trees swaying in the wind. She sighed to herself as she looked around. The small patio area behind the property was an absolute eyesore. There was no other word for it. Plus, it was embarrassing. She’d put up with it long enough and was ready for it to change. She’d marked the weekend to turn the place around so that when she arrived back home from Thailand and walked in, she would not be disappointed.
Now, as she was faced with the reality of the work involved, she wondered whether or not to about-turn on her plans. Could she really be bothered? She stood for a second with squinted eyes, analysing what was around her. A shed stood in the far right corner, in front of it an old-fashioned chair on its side had seen better days, and an old nautical weathervane on the top of the shed swung around in the wind. The patio area was a mix of ugly stones, broken pavers and gravel and to the right of the lawn area flower beds were in need of a good weeding and a whole lot of love. A couple of steps up led to a tiny patch of grass, topped with a lopsided archway with one lone rambling rose snaking over the top.
Nina felt a bit half-hearted about what she could do to turn the area around. She knew what she wanted; somewhere she and Robby could sit with a nice drink at the end of the day and somewhere to settle down and read a book at the weekends. As she stood in contemplation, it didn”t feel as if that was ever going to happen as a right old mess looked back at her.
She’d been planning the patio makeover for a month or so and at first in the planning stage she had felt both quite inspired and ambitious at the same time. Now, not so much. As she’d scoured Facebook Marketplace and similar places to gather things for the makeover, she’d been full of hope that the area would scrub up well. Her finds were stacked just to the left of the patio area, waiting to be put to good use. Two huge terracotta pots that had come from someone on the Lovely Bay community page sat beside two Adirondack chairs acquired from Colin from the riverboat”s sister, who was having a clear-out. She’d bought eight black solar lanterns from BQ, and a load of white stones had been delivered from the back of a tipper truck. Along with that, her goodies included three recycled raised beds via someone Birdie knew from the chemist, loads of pots of herbs, lavender and rosemary bushes, and a couple of climbing roses to go over the arch.
The job for the day was to cover the original scrubby patio area with the stones, put the plant pots filled with soil in place, and spruce up the patio chairs. The plan for the raised beds was to use the bags she had delivered to fill them with new soil, plant the herbs and lavender, and pop in a few new plants she’d bought the week before from the garden centre.
Thinking she’d rather be reading a book with a coffee, she cracked on and hoped that by the end of the weekend, the patio area would look a lot better. Just as she was pulling on her welly boots and looking at the vast job of shovelling the white stones from the huge pile onto the patio itself, Robby came in through the back gate with his arms full of plants.
‘Hey, how are you? Ready to crack on?’
‘Yep, good,’ Nina replied, gesturing towards the big pile of white stones. ‘I’m wondering now if this was a good idea or not. Best laid plans and all that. What were we thinking?’
Robby laughed as he looked at the huge pile of white stones. ‘Too late now! We need to put our money where our mouth is.’
‘Wow, it’s such a lot of work.’
‘I did tell you that when you started talking about doing all this before we went away. Did you listen?’
‘I know! Do you think we’ll get it done by tomorrow evening?’ Nina asked and winced.
‘I can’t see why not. Yeah, it’s worse than it looks.’
‘It’s going to look good when it’s done, I suppose. I need to keep that in mind as I shovel those stones around.’
‘So, what’s the plan then?’
‘I thought you were in charge,’ Nina said jokingly.
‘You just need to tell me what to do. I will be at your command for the day.’
‘Okay, this is the way I’m thinking. First things first, we lay these stones over this whole area, meaning the cracked pavers and all that grotty bit there will no longer be on show. Then we fill up the pots with soil and put the lovely new palms in them. We pop them on either side of the chairs. Then you spend some time sprucing up that shed while I get going on the raised beds,” Nina directed. ‘What do you think?’
‘Sounds good.’ Robby looked around. ‘Just tidying it up will make a difference, don’t you think?’
‘For sure. We should’ve done this ages ago,’ Nina mused, walking over to the two steps by the gate, which were a bit mossy. ‘We should’ve done it when we moved in, and then maybe I wouldn’t have fallen down on my wedding day in a huge white dress.’
‘Oh well, it made it a day to remember, that’s for sure.’
‘It just keeps getting put to the bottom of the pile.’
‘A couple of days and it will be done.’
‘At least we didn’t do it before that storm.’
‘True.’
By lunchtime, most of the white stones were covering the old cracked patio slabs. Almost instantly, as soon as they were down, the area was transformed. Nina had been in two minds about which stone to use and had spent way too much time overthinking and comparing what was called “sea pebble white” with “ocean grey”. Now, she was pleased with what she’d plumped for. She’d chosen the white and it had instantly brightened and sanitised the area just as she’d hoped.
Robby had filled the two huge terracotta pots with soil and planted the palms and put them and the chairs on the right-hand side, tucked in the spot where they’d worked out the sun liked to be. The two Adirondack coastal chairs had been jet-washed and spruced up, and the pots were now on either side. Nina stood with her hands in the small of her back and stretched her neck. ‘Wow, those stones did the job. It looks better already! I am so pleased I didn’t get the grey ones.’
‘You”re not wrong,’ Robby replied as he pulled off his gardening gloves. ‘However, I, for one, need a sandwich and a tea break. I’m cream-crackered.’
‘Definitely works for me. I do, too.’
About ten minutes later, they were sitting on the chairs with a sandwich and a cup of tea, paying tribute to their work. After chatting about what they were going to do next, Robby turned the conversation to his work coming up in Singapore and the fact that after his job they were going away on holiday to Thailand.
‘I can’t wait to visit all the things we’ve read about in Bangkok,’ Robby said as he tucked into his sandwich.
‘Same here. There’s so much I want to see. The temples, the markets, and the landscapes. It’s going to be quite the adventure. I can’t wait.’
Robby nodded enthusiastically. ‘Definitely! I’m so looking forward to it.’
‘I’d love to visit those night markets we read about. The ones with lanterns, street performers and local crafts. I love a good market.’
‘Yeah, the night markets are supposed to be legendary. I think I read we’ll be there during a festival, so the streets will be buzzing.’
Nina’s eyes sparkled. ‘I’ve been reading about the Thai massages and the hotel spa. After all this work, I think we’ll both need a good massage by the time we get there.’
Robby laughed. ‘You read my mind. It’s going to be absolute bliss.’
‘We need to try as much local food as we can. The street food is meant to be out of this world.’
‘Absolutely. On the list.’
Nina smiled, leaning back in her chair, imagining Thailand. ‘It all sounds so good. I can’t wait. It’s going to be the trip of a lifetime.’
Robby tapped her leg. ‘If you want this to be finished when we get back, we’d better get a move on then.’
Nina heaved herself up off the chair. ‘Yep, let’s do this thing. I want to get back from Thailand to my own oasis right here in Lovely.’