DIGGING

How much effort does it take to dig an 8 metre long trench, that is 1.5m deep and roughly 0.5m wide, armed only with a spade?

The short answer is; a lot. And I know, because I am currently doing exactly that. After bashing out the concrete floor of the barn, I am putting in a connection pipe between the drains on either side of the building, that take away rainwater from the guttering. This is the only part of the drainage system that wasn't renewed when we moved into the house in 2002. The sewage man said at the time that we shouldn't bother until such time as we wanted to do something with the barn. Since I am now busily building a garage in that part of the barn, I have to get digging.

Back in 1931 they didn't have long plastic pipes. So what they used instead was clay pipes, each about half a metre long. They didn't interlock, but were laid end to end. They are actually a real pain, since over time they move out of alignment and/or plants and roots get in between the cracks and/or they crumble. Which means in short that after 80 years, they are as good as useless, and the water simply seeps out into the ground.

Fortunately, I know this, since I also dug up most of the other old drains back in 2002. But it does mean that it's a hard job. The soil at the top - being protected by the barn roof - is bone dry. Even worse, as you get down below one metre, the soil turns to clay; and this clay is wet and heavy because of the seeping pipes below it. Standing one metre down in the trench, digging out the wet clay, and then throwing it over your shoulder onto a pile at the side is tough work for a 52-year old, particularly when so much of the gunk sticks to the spade.

Anyway, I have dug 1.5m down the inside wall and found the pipe where it comes in from the drain outside, That should make life easier from now on, since I can fit the first two metres of new pipe and then throw the muck from digging the next metres to cover it. It would of course be much easier if I had my own little mechanical digger, but where would be the satisfaction in that?

Walter Blotscher