Bounced out of bed at five this morning in the vain hope of beating the frost to the pipes. Turned on a few hot taps in the hopes they would produce water, but apparently forgot to turn one off before heading out for the day. Fortunately the plug was not in, but sadly the newly harvested water is all down the drain (and I have about 18 inches left in the bottom of the tank....) No hot water here today, sadly. Showers forecast for Wednesday and if they don't eventuate I guess I will have to buy in some water... bother - I hate town water. Luckily the chap up the road will deliver 4000 liters for $50 so it should not be too costly. But it was a good day = full sunshine and a hard frost (but not quite so hard as yesterday, it only being minus 3 overnight) and a very chilly start to the day. We continued to build the polytunnel which seems to suffer from a lack of organisational skills on the part of the organisers, so today all we managed was laying the sleepers for the path (but only fixing two in position) and building the framing for the door and window. We did get the door hung, and the more energetic volunteers turned over a few of the beds and carted weeds from the rest of the garden area. Pictures, they say, paint a thousand words, and since I have now found the cable for the camera, I will let them tell the story:

The closeups show the spot welding at the joins between the sheets, and the polypipe that has been added on the ends to protect the plastic. More polypipe will be arched over the joins as well. We are re-convening next Saturday to (hopefully) finish the job. We need another frame midway down the tunnel to brace it yet, and then there is the shadecloth and plastic sheeting to go. The local Rotary was to supply lunch for us today (last week it was the community medical centre that did the job). By 12 we were wondering where they had got to so phoned someone in Rotary. Apparently the decided not to do it, but did not feel it necessary to let us know. So at noon we had frozen meat in an eski, the makings of lunch but no plates, cutlery, means of defrosting or serving. Good old country ingenuity saved the day and one of us even had barbecue tongs, sauce and oil in the boot of her car (forgotten to take them out after Wednesday footy) so we were set and ate well and long. Irish Stew for dinner tonight!