A few weeks ago all hell broke loose, and it’s taken me about that long to get over it.
It all began when we had to have this aging 60 foot Leylandii tree taken down as it was dying and was beginning to sway in a rather alarming manner.
A nice chap was hired who had promised that the job would be done cleanly and quickly with no damage to the fences or the garden. He was also going to take down two willow trees that had uprooted in the gales a few months ago.
Well, he arrived on time, with a rather grim looking sidekick, and got stuck in.
I arrived home the first day to find that he’d got a little carried away with his chainsaw, for as well as removing the willows, and the Leylandii, he’d cut down a lovely silver birch and a rowan, which, he said, were growing through the Leylandii, and were in his way, which to be fair they were. But still…..I LIKED those trees!!!
On day two I came home to discover that the phone and internet line had been cut, three fence panels smashed along with my old wooden bower at the back which was now lying broken and in bits. Mmmmmmmm…..now I know you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs but still…..so on top of his £800 bill we had to fork out £130 for a new phone line and £80 for new panels.
Also, I’d asked him to leave me a few logs for the chiminea…..imagine how startled I was to see this enormous log pile!!!
Being a positive type of a gal, I tried not to look at the state of the garden and immediately set about moving the gigantic log pile to the back of the garden so I could block the broken panels to stop the dogs escaping…a girl does has to start somewhere y’see!
So I got stuck in!
Now, I was being very meticulous about taking logs from the top of the pile, and some of them were heavy let me assure you, when suddenly there was a kind of a rumble, shortly followed by a log avalanche. It was terrifying!!! My left leg was immediately trapped by several logs and I couldn’t move. As I was frantically batting logs away it occurred to me that I could actually be buried beneath them, and death by log avalanche had never entered my head as a possibility before……you live and learn eh!
When the logs had finally settled around me I then had to move the damned things one by one to free myself or I’d have been there all day until hubs came home to dig me out. I can’t explain to you how sorry I felt for myself…battered and bruised I was…..
But though I was a little down I wasn’t quite beaten yet so I soldiered on and finally moved the bloomin’ things to the back of the garden. Then after a few cups of tea I took myself back out to the war zone and cleared the trampoline……oh yes, I forget to say that all the wildflowers on it had been bashed and broken by the chainsaw maniac, along with my mini orchard!
Then, as I was carefully carrying what was left of the wildflowers to another border I heard a buzzing noise….and in my hand was a queen bumble bee which automatically stung me…..So I put the poor thing in a quiet corner and hoped queen bees can sting more than once as I’d hate the bee to die.
Oh what a day!!! I toddled back in for more tea and to try and get my pecker back up…..
After nursing my stung hand, which was beginning to swell I hobbled determinedly out for the third time and began to clear the mess under the felled Leylandii….only to find it was more of a excavation site which quickly became an archaeological dig. Huge heavy stones and boulders were deeply buried and the more I dug the more I found. Obviously the house is sitting on Roman ruins or something. So..I downed tools and went in!!! Enough was enough! I was absolutely exhausted and every part of my body was now aching.
So, there you have the whole sorry tale. Two weeks later my bruises and cuts are fading, and the sting is finally going down. The odd thing is how I got a huge thorn right inside my left thumb nail which throbs endlessly….
Thankfully I had already decided to totally re-vamp the back garden, so I suppose I now have a blank canvas. If I’d have had a lovely back garden I would have been distraught….so there’s always a silver lining I suppose……
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It’s all been said in previous comments but just to say WHAT is it about men and tools??? This is the sort of unthinking, unbelievably stupid and ignorant behaviour that gives garden maintenance workers a bad name! I would have been following their every move at every hour until they were gone! (But then I generally distrust workmen anyway!) I think you deserve a hefty dose of good luck from here on in!
Lol….I love your outrage Caro….I couldn’t agree more, it’s so easy to smash things up but so hard to create and re-build….
Can I put you on his case???? I’m the same, I have an inbuilt fear of having jobs done as they never seem to get done properly!
I’ll accept the good luck with both hands, thanks Caro.xxxx
Oh my what a tall tale to tell – tall as in epic with near misses and a lot of mess. As you say you have a blank canvas to play with now, and probably a lot more light (and water) in your garden now!
Thanks Claire, yes, I have lot’s more light and the plants will get more rain. My veggie patch is behind the fence where the tree was so that’s a huge bonus too as the tree took so much light of my veggies.xxxx
Loosing trees is always sad. What a shame about the damage to the fence panels and the phone line. I think he should have paid out of his wages since the damage done was due to his recklessness. How frightening it must have been to be buried in logs and I am sure the bee sting was no fun either. I hope the aches and pains go away and the garden recovers.
Thanks Jennifer, I was surprised at all the damage, especially as his spiel was all about not damaging anything. I was really alarmed when the logs started rolling, they could do someone a serious injury, but at least it’s taught me to be more careful around them. I really hope to get the garden straightish before the winter kicks in.
Oh you poor thing! I’d be fuming if someone cut down our Silver Birch. You deserved a nice cup of tea at the very least after all that. Hope all your aches and pains go away soon.
Lol….I did enjoy my tea but as you say silver birch are such pretty dainty trees so I was furious. Thankfully I still have one left in the back garden. Thanks Hannah.xxxx
Oh nooooo !!!
Your poor trees. I think that shoddy workers like that should be fined. I have employed a number of people like that in the past and it is so upsetting that they not only don’t give a damn, but they are expensive too. I can only hope they will get their comeuppance one of these days ! I am still getting problems from my shoddy bathroom makeover that was done about 3 years ago. They didn’t know what they were doing either. 🙁
Your queen bee didn’t want you to overlook her. I bet that’s why she stung you. LOL 😀 Let’s hope she goes off to start up a lovely bumble bee nest in your garden,then you can watch them flying in and out.
I hope that all your injuries are soon a thing of the past.
What a week !!
Hugs xxx
Oh Kegs, sorry to hear you’ve been on the receiving end of shoddy workmen too, it must be a right pain to have poor work done in the house, you can’t exactly get away from it can you….
Lol….I’m smiling at the queen bee comment, y’know she was huge and really gorgeous so I’m pleased to find out that she won’t die after stinging me, but wow….what a sting they deliver!!! It was infected for weeks. Thanks Kegs.xxxx
I would have been tempted to take the phone and internet damage costs out of his total payment. The log pile was a scary part of the story. So glad that you weren’t more hurt than just some bruises. A slice of raw onion on a sting helps to take the pain away and keeps some of the swelling down, we’ve found, when applied right away.
Oh that log pile, I’ve never had a run in with one before so am much more savvy about them now…it never occurred to me that they could be dangerous.
What a great tip re the onion, I’ve never heard of that before. If I ever get stung again I’ll certainly give that a try. Thanks Susanne.
I was surprised that I managed to bat the rolling logs away Arose, and managed to escape with nothing but a few cuts and bruises, and WOW…I tell you a log avalanche certainly has a kick!!!
Lol….the grim sidekick never spoke ONE word….just frowned all the time.
I am determined to have a lovely garden and hope to sort it by next spring. Sam does look bewildered doesn’t he, maybe he thought he was in a strange garden.
The thorn has gone now and the sting! Thanks Arose, especially for the big hugs….right back atcha!!!xxxx
Blimey what an exhausting nightmare and costly and very damaging to your poor body too… my heart goes out to you. The avalanche of logs must have been truly terrifying and well done you for batting them away as they rolled at you….
The whole thing doesn’t surprise me – the minute you said about the ‘grim sidekick’ I had a bad feeling…..:(
Am glad you survived in spite of it all and am sure you’ll get the garden lovely one day…. Sam is so funny and expressive – I can just imagine what he is thinking with his ears up and his posture all ready to leg it….!
Aww….. hope the splinter and bee sting go away very soon….. BIG HUGS!!!xxxx
Wow Dina…what a day of events. Cowboys came to mind, however as always you seem to turn a disaster into a new opportunity. I look forward to see your new ideas and planning for the garden unfold. 🙂
Thanks Karen, we can’t let a cowboy keep us down eh….I am having a wonderful time dreaming up ideas for the garden…..hopefully some of them will come off.xxxx
Well Dina, here am I just catching up with reading blogs and so what a shock to read this one! You and I methinks are very positive people, but I have to tell you that even my blood boiled at the shoddiness of work by the chainsaw massacre dude!!!!! I hope you have written him a note stating your displeasure and asking for a rebate.
On a brighter side, all I can say is ‘this too shall pass’ and clearly it is.
Sending you beautiful, loving hummingbirds.xxxxxxxxx
Thanks Janet, for your comment and those wonderful hummingbirds. Yes, this too has passed and I’ve moved on from the whole nightmare. Now I dream of beautiful bee and butterfly plants and green green grass….sighs….but I shall get there.xxxx
Flippin’ ‘eck duck, is your leg okay? And your pride, what about your pride? I’d sort that cowboy out. Silver birch & rowan are both beautiful trees. I’d tell him to get them back up again exactly as they were or give you a million quid as compo. Are you sure he didn’t work for Hammersmith Council or something ‘cos they chop owt down that’s not made of concrete. Is that your dog cocking his leg up in the first photo by the way? Seriously though, it makes me angry when idiots like him, with absolutely no common whatsoever, make decisions off their own bat.
Hahahahahaha….my pride is SERIOUSLY dented Mick, being stuck in a pile of logs aint my idea of fun!!!!
I have no doubt this lunatic “worked” for some council or another…..and yes, that’d be me dog showing his displeasure, lol.
I can’t get over the cheek of the guy, I wouldn’t dream of just hacking somebodies trees down because it made the job a little harder!!! Thanks Mick.xxxx
What a disaster! I really admire your positive attitude, but these boys sound like the chainsaw maniacs from Texas! A danger to the public. What a mess. I get so upset when a beautiful tree is cut down needlessly. I’m so sorry you had to go through this. And the part about the logs falling on you really sounds like ‘insult and injury’
They certainly were chainsaw maniacs of the worst type. It infuriates me to see healthy trees cut down too….but I had to accept it as there was nothing else to do. Lol, the log avalanche was the final straw!!! Thanks Shimon.xxxx
Oh my, what a mess! I’m glad that you’re okay though
A mess indeed Debb…..at least I wasn’t badly hurt. Thanks xxxx
Oooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, dear D. 😀 Hi. How’s it going? Good u didn’t hurt yourself. that was terrible. hope u r fine now. missed u so much. Take care good friend. By the way I’m gonna send u a picture of the Princess in near future.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Vahid!!! Lovely to hear from you and FANTASTIC to hear about your princess, she is absolutely adorable! Good luck to you both. I have missed you too but lovely that you can pop in every now and then. Take good care of yourself and your Princess.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What a terrible, horrible, very bad, no-good day! Except for the ruins; they sound neat! 🙂 I’m sorry you were stung and bruised and that your tree-cutter was such a thorough putz, but–as you say–the blank canvas awaits your gardening genius! Glad the healing is proceeding well: joy to your week’s end and garden dreams! 🙂
Lol….I am unearthing some lovely sandstone rocks so they will form a lovely rockery….yes!
Putz, what a wonderful word, I haven’t heard it before but it sounds perfect to describe the maniac!!!!
Now….if only I had a little gardening genius…..she says diving straight back into a gardening book….thanks Kitty.xxxx
I’m so sorry to hear about your terrible experience and now I understand your comment on my blog post today! Those cowboys are a disgrace firstly
doing all that damage to the fence and the pot plants, cutting down perfectly healthy trees without permission and then stacking the logs dangerously. I’m so glad you didn’t hurt yourself really seriously. Do take care.
Yes, they were cowboys Linda, and it’s so sad to see the needless damage, but at least now the tree is down and I didn’t have a lawn for them to wreck…..Thanks Linda.xxxx
Crikey…carnage, indeed. I’m sorry to hear about your poor garden and those damaged areas like your trees and wildflowers and the orchard. These tree surgeons are a disgrace for all sorts of reasons. And the log avalanche does sound terrifying. I can just imagine it, as we have large log piles here that shift and rumble a bit at times.
Ouch to your sting. But don’t worry about the queen, she’ll be all right – it’s honeybees that die after stinging. Hope your thumb heals soon.
Good luck with all your new plans for the garden.
Thanks Wendy, I was upset about the trees and my little orchard, there was nothing left of them at all. That’s my first experience of a large log pile, yours sound like they could be scary too!
Thanks for letting me know about the queen, it’s good to hear that she will be all right, I’ve never seen a queen bumble before, she was HUGE!
I’m determined to get the garden sorted….if only it would stop raining.xxxx
Still trying to pick my chin up off the floor after reading this – what an horrific experience for you. Thank goodness you were able to escape and not more badly injured, it doesn’t bear thinking about. Yes, you MUST get that thub checked out – pronto.
As for the nice chap…I’m afraid he wouldn’t have been paid the full amount by me, I would have deducted the cost of the damage at least.
Sending you a {{hug}}
Rose H
xx
Thanks for the hug Rose, I wish I hadn’t paid him before he’d finished but I did, and now I can’t see him ever giving a refund. I sorted the thumb, a good clipping and a pair of tweezers did the trick but, goodness it was sore. I do seem to be quite lucky in scrapes and thankfully didn’t break anything. He sure did leave a lot of logs though!!!!xxxx
Good gracious, what a nightmare – those loggers sound seriously unsafe. They should certainly be named and shamed somehow. I’m sure there are proper ways of stacking logs – you could have been much worse injured! I know you don’t mind in theory the queen bee sting … but OUCH 8| … and your poor thumb! Definitely get it checked out – I am the expert on thumbnails, you know. Crumpets. Have a hug … or two!!
I think I lead a kind of charmed life Gilly, I always seem to come out of these scrapes in fairly good nick….says I touching wood!
It was a nightmare though, and the bee sting was so painful, it was a horrid infected lump for ages, it’s finally gone down now. And my thumb is now fine too, I clipped the nail and got the thorn out with tweezers, so all is well. Thanks for the hugs, sending one right back!xxxx
Oh no what a nightmare a real combination of horror stories, I’m amazed that you have come out of it all with a positive outlook but maybe if you’d written the post earlier you may not have!
Get stuck in to planning your new garden and take your mind off it all.
Thanks Annie, I am deep in gardening books as we speak. I SHALL have a nice garden…..yes.xxxx
Priority…check thumbnail, avoid an infection starting there. Delighted to hear that no lasting damage has been done, especially, to you and your haven.
Now I understand the references to service centres for your phone line. I really do share your annoyances and frustrations, mega time.
TAKE CARE! xx
After reading your comment I went off to sort my thumb, I clipped the nail painfully short and managed to get the darn thorn out with a pair of tweezers….it’s now wrapped up with a large dose of antiseptic, so thanks for that. The rest of me is yellowing up nicely so I’m back to fight another day!
Omg….trying to explain to the woman on the phone in India that a line had been cut took HOURS!!!! And on premium rates on a mobile….she ignored me completely and kept telling me to turn my computer off and start it up again, and there’s me looking at the dangling wire! I could have wept!!!.
Thanks Menhir.xxxx
Wow! At first sight, I thought you had been sgtruck by a hurricane… 🙄
Plenty firewood there….Winter’s here!
:yes: You can now do some serious planning….. Should be ‘right up your street.’ Hugs! :)xx
Lol….it does look we’ve been struck by something!!!
Oh yes…..I’ve enough wood for a lifetime!!! I will enjoy starting over, once I’ve cleared the mess and dug all those darnded boulders out. Thanks Bushka.xxxx
How traumatic …… a chainsaw massacre!!!!
Hahahahaha….you best sleep with one eye open Mrs!xxxx
Oh my word! What a very dramatic day you had, I’m glad you are on the road to recovery & you can spend the cold months to come planning a lovely new garden.
They say it never rains but it pours. Such a shame about those beautiful trees. I’m afraid I wouldn’t have paid up without deducting the cost of the damage, though they may have wielded the chainsaw some more then. I bet there’s a lot more light now, I don’t think you notice it being blocked out until the trees are no longer there. Hope you’re feeling a bit better now after the log avalanche, and I know just how sore a nail is when something gets down it, very painful.
I’d already paid them Jo…..I have learnt a lesson there too!!! I am still annoyed about the way he hacked healthy trees down though….a shame for sure.
Oh goodness, there is so much more light now, and my veggie patch is on the other side of the fence where the Leylandii blocked the light and rain so that’s another silver lining.
Oh my poor nail, as you say it don’t ‘arf hurt! Thanks Jo.xxxx
Such an ordeal! I suppose the silver lining was also that you didn’t have to spend all morning with the crazy guy who came to fix the internet cable too! x
Lol…..I have to admit to being rather pleased to have missed the phone maniac….so sorry! Thanks Scarlett.xxxx
A somewhat alarming post! I’m relieved to see that you are okay as you could so easily have had a major mishap.
It’s a shame about the silver birch and rowan trees. xx
Alarming indeedy….sighs….I could have come off worse so shouldn’t complain. Yes, I’m sad about those lovely healthy trees coming down. Thanks Flighty.xxxx
You should name and shame the chain saw maniac. I guess you didn’t dare deduct money from his bill for all the unwanted damage!
Being silly I paid them before I went Sue…..I should name and shame, as well as all this damage lots of pots and flags were smashed. I’m surprised the greenhouse is still standing! Thanks Sue.xxxx
Oh lord what a saga. Just glad you are on the mend. We were planning to have some more trees down too this winter. But..
Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOO……lol….beware the chainsaw maniacs……and stay home if you do get them in. Thanks Rusty duck.xxxx
Lordy lordy lordy – you woz robbed. They sound like a couple of cowboys to me – you should have knocked a couple of hundred off the bill to compensate for all the damage. I would have been furious and possibly tearful. Hope you are now recovering from all the mishaps afterwards. It wasn’t your week was it. p.s. when my neighbours Leylandii was taken down a few weeks ago they were only charged £300, no damage to anything else either – I don’t mean to rub it in. What a stressful time for you – I know you were dreading it. Well it’s done now and you can start planning your new back garden – good luck.
Aye, I have to agree with you about being robbed, stupidly I paid them before I went out on the second day so I doubt they would have given me anything back.
Arggggghhhhh….I’m SO jealous of your neighbour, I remembered your post which is why I was so confident.
Yes….at least I can plan ahead now…..says I knee deep in gardening catalogs! Thanks Elaine.xxxx
Oh, I’m so sad about those trees. That was rather an expensive silver lining in addition to your bills! No wonder it’s taken you a few weeks to recover. I think the lesson I learned from your experience is to be around when such a big project is underway. I’m so glad you weren’t more injured by the log avalanche!
Thanks Nikki, I wish I could have been around too, and it was a sharp lesson for me! I was really cross about the birch and the rowan as I think both are such lovely trees….sighs….and I think something was looking out for me for sure as all I had was cues and bruises and there I was shoulder deep in logs!xxxx
Just remember, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! You should be very strong by now! Taking down a big tree can be a perilous undertaking. Sorry tHere was so much collateral damage.
Lol….I thought it was sooooo surreal having hundreds of logs rolling on me….but as you say what doesn’t kill you certainly makes you stronger….I’ll be back out there sorting it before you can blink as I’m the never say die kinda gal. I would really dread having another big tree down….fingers crossed we won’t need to. Thanks Jason.xxxx
Good god, what a chain of events! An expensive chain of events too. Glad you are getting to be ok though, that’s the most important thing. x
It certainly did cost a pretty packet Suzy….ah well. I’m fighting fit again at least. Thanks Suzy.xxxx
Oh my goodness! What a terrible experience all around, especially having to pay so much and end up wounded in the process. What a frightening feeling to be in the midst of a log avalanche… being stung by a bee..and then having a painful thorn ~ to say nothing of the trees that were removed that you wanted to save. Well, as you say, a positive attitude is called for and you do indeed have a much blanker canvas. Glad to hear you are recovering well. Your dog looks a bit shocked by the whole open view!
Lol, thanks Glo, the dogs were amazed at the change in the garden. I kid you not when I say log avalanches are terrifying, I’m so glad they came down in front of me rather than behind as I was pinned so quickly. I’m so much better now that the stiffness is wearing off….and looking forward to a wonderful garden some day….well…a gal can hope eh? xxxx