Look what fell off the back of a Lorry! - D-Day Arives
After attending the BKKS Council Meeting on the Sunday it’s back to work and the final plans are put into place for the 21st. Delivery date and time is confirmed by the Dutch transport company and the crane is booked, after Brian of M & M Cranes came out to survey the site. I’m now getting very twitchy but am assured by Brian that they do this sort of thing every week – well maybe not a pond being lifted in but large objects being lifted over houses – and not to worry it will be fine! It’s the 15th, my birthday, and I’m off out to dinner with friends – Colin is working away!
The final piece of the planning is to lay a level base of sand for the pond to sit on and to dig out the holes for the bottom drains and pipes. We have had to get the measurements from Holland for this so it’s a bit hit and miss, but with the aid of our grand-daughters, Chloe, Jessica and Sophie - Colin and Mike manage to get the sand down and levelled on the Sunday while I am at the BKKS AGM – notice how I manage to miss all the exciting stuff!!
Do you know how many different scenarios of what can go wrong you can dream about overnight?? Well, let me tell you it’s a lot – I know this because I think I must have covered just about every eventuality of what could go wrong!
So now it’s D-Day and the crane arrives at 07:40. It’s now bacon sandwiches and tea/coffee for the crane driver and his mate. The pond was due to arrive at 08:00 but by 09:00 nothing has arrived and I’m now getting slightly twitchy. A call to the transport company in Holland and I get the drivers mobile number. It turns out that he came over to Harwich on the early ferry and is at Hemel Hempstead and should be with us within the hour. I arrange to meet him on the A329 – it’s funny the things that go through your mind whilst you’re waiting for someone. I suddenly had this awful thought that it could be a juggernaut – the roads to our house are quite narrow – now I really was getting twitchy! Suddenly there are all these lights flashing – yes you’ve guessed it – a Juggernaut! So I’m now leading him to the house, I know these things are flexible but believe me this guy knew what he was doing. The crane is now set up and waiting and we (sorry the guys) start to unload the pond. The plan was to lift the pond out of the lorry so we needed a roof that slid back – theory was great but we forgot about the skimmer that sat a bit proud of the actual pond side. Everyone wondered how they actually got it in there! Anyway with the roof off (after a bit of pushing and shoving) and the straps attached to the pond (through the light holes) they start the lift. I’m not sure what we would have done with out Mike that day – he’s a scaffolder who doesn’t mind heights and clambering around on lorries.
Slowly it starts to emerge from the lorry and we have to get it positioned onto some pallets so that we can fit the lights and also not damage the bottom drains. It’s then we start to get onlookers – the burning question …….. What is it????? The look on their faces when Colin explains it’s her Koi pond! Some people will never understand the fascination of Koi Carp or their needs and requirements.
After selling us some beer the lorry driver departs for the other drops on his trip and we now start to get ready for the lift over the garage. Did I say garage………..well that’s what we thought but the crane driver, Mark, had other ideas. Over the house it goes in all its majesty! And there’s me with video camera in one hand and the digital camera in the other – talk about multi-tasking!!! I’m now rushing through the house to get the pictures of the pond coming over the house and nearly tripping over in the process. In order to make sure the drains were ok the pond has to go into the hole and the lifted out again. Mike then goes underneath (God - I did hope the straps held) and dig out one of the holes a bit more. We had to do this twice as we were just slightly out with one of the holes. The final lift in and the pond is in place!!! That done its more tea and coffee and the crane departs for its next job – It’s 1.30pm – and we go for lunch at the pub!
The plan was to get the pond up and running for the fish to go in over the Easter weekend, so during the following week Colin starts to back-fill around the pond and Mike finishes it off on Good Friday. The pipe-work is plumbed in and by Saturday evening the deck frame is in place. Easter Sunday and the pond is being filled and by late afternoon the deck is complete and the pond is over half filled. We planned to use about 1,000 gallons from the vat so on Monday morning we start the transfer of water and by mid day all my beloved Koi are in their new home. We were a bit concerned about the temperature but decided to take the vat temperature down to 13 degrees for a couple of days prior to the move. This appears to have worked well and the pond is running at 12 degrees at the moment and they seem to be enjoying themselves.
The fascination seems to be with the window and a couple of them have tried to eat it! We still have to finish the deck and do the surround to the pond but all in all we are extremely pleased with it. We just have to put the Bakki shower in now and all the filtration will be complete. There will be an update to this once the garden is in better shape and the pond is finished ………well if that is ever the case, I’m sure I will be able to find the odd one or two things that I really can’t do without!! Our thanks go to Ma-Koi – for making it possible, the crane guys from M & M who’s patience was fantastic, my son Mike - because without his help we wouldn’t have got it all done, my husband Colin who put up with an awful lot to get this project completed (and paid out a lot as well!)... And of course thank you to you for taking the time to read this diatribe – I hope you enjoy the pictures!
