Can you dig it?

Weathered they may be, but Toby’s trowels are still very useful, helping protect his plants from weather extremes

IN 1947, when my uncles Bob and Jim were demobbed from the armed forces, they were given builders’ trowels and told to learn how to lay bricks. This they duly did until the 1990s, when they packed up their cement mixer and retired.

I’ve had the trowels ever since. Although a little worn on the handles, they’re still fit for purpose and a pleasure to use – especially as they conjure happy childhood memories of helping Bob and Jim on building sites.

One of those sites is the house I live in now. I only found out they’d worked on it after we’d put in an offer, and although Jim said he ‘wouldn’t touch the place with a barge pole’ we bought it anyway, and added an extension. It’s because of the extension (or, more specifically, where the added gutters flow) that I’ve had to put Bob and Jim’s trowels to work.