Allotment Week - Greenhouse - Part 1

It's another cold day down the allotment. Temperatures hovering around 3C. Not the best time for handling cold metal.

Delivery was at 9am(ish). The driver could not get his truck (a big 26 ton thing) down the allotment road so had to drop off the greenhouse makings by the entrance. By the time I had managed to get it all in I felt like I had done a days work. Moving that lot in this cold air did not do my asthma any favours. But I managed to get it all in - mainly by raiding the equipment store again for a sack truck. This battle promised to be a tricky one and it seemed like the greenhouse was off to a 1-nil lead.

First things first. The position of the greenhouse is currently occupied by a whole load of sieved topsoil. So this needs to be moved and the place levelled properly.

Once that was done, I proceeded to lay out all the bits. Working in the cold with fiddly nuts and bolts meant I couldn't wear any gloves. (Maybe I should invest in some fingerless gloves...) But the hardest part was figuring out the instructions. Fortunately I have a black belt in Ikeajitsu so it wasn't too bad. The battle seemed to be pretty even at this point. Probably a 1-all draw.

I started with the sides so I could get an idea of how the thing all fits together. It's not so bad. The system is simple and consistent. Just a lot of fiddly bits.

By this time I realised that the greenhouse has played a flanking manoeuvre. The base units were put in the wrong way round and I had to undo them, flip the base and re-do them. 2-1 to the greenhouse. Once both side were sorted, I made a start on the end gable.

And finally the door gable.

Having successfully dealt with all the main bits I guess the battle stands at 2-apiece. By this time my fingers were numb so I decided that in this battle, retreat is the better course of action. The war will progress further tomorrow. I'm going home to sit in a nice hot bath.