We now have three skips on site: one for scrap metal, one for tyres, and one for general rubbish.  The metal one is undersized.  2 metre sheets of corrugated iron (of which I have quite a few) won’t lie flat on the bottom.  I can saw them up with the angle grinder, but it’s a laborious business.  We have collected up about 40 tyres, most on wheels, that were lying around the barns and fields, including three tractor rear wheels.  I have to pay to get these taken away.

One confusing thing when you try and ring round and compare prices is that sometimes two apparently separate companies are actually the same.  The rubbish skips come from Hav-a-skip, and the others from Sussex Waste Management.  But when they arrived we had a very confused conversation because I had no idea that actually SWM had acquired Hav-a-Skip some time ago.  Hav-a-Skip’s web site has disappeared, which should have been a clue.

We ordered genuine hand-made clay tiles for the roof repairs, from a local company, Aldershaw.  We placed the order sometime in January, but they said they couldn’t make them until May, because their clay pit was flooded as a result of the bad weather.  I must give them a chase up.