Convenience

I'll be hedgelaying along the road again this year, so appearance matters a little more. And at the same time I've pretty much run out of all the odd offcuts I've been using to hold it all together. Privet was good -- it grows into hard straight rods -- but it's all gone now.

I've asked all over but asking for "posts for hedgelaying" draws a blank -- you get offered fencing pales at eighteen shillings each. It's overkill and at two per yard it runs into expense.

It doesn't look like I'll ever find the canonical Hazel rods, so I'm falling back on plan B. I rang up one of the woodsmen in the Wealden Advertiser -- Brede Valley Fencing -- and asked him to make me the same pales used for cleft chestnut wire fencing, but five foot long and without the wire. He quoted me five shillings each and I bought four hundred which will keep me going for a while. They filled up the back of the Galaxy and I drove cautiously home, delighted by the smell of the fresh green wood.

Here they are in the shed. It's a weight off my mind. I feel I can set to work without worrying about running out.

Benders? No need -- I've got Willow wands coming out of my ears, and that certainly gets attention on the commuter train.