Ever since being introduced to gardening by my wife many years ago I have been fascinated by solar domes. These geodesic structures not only look architectural but they also make the maximum use of the available light thereby helping to increase the length of the growing season in our fickle climate. (For anyone who may be interested this link to a Wikipedia article here will explain more). Jealousy would rear its ugly head when I scoured the Internet and was assailed by images of luscious green growth weighed down by plump fruit and veg all cocooned in the warm benign atmosphere of a solar dome. There was only one barrier to the dream - the cost – at least a few thousand pounds sterling for even the most basic model. Ah well, I resigned myself to a life of unfulfilled longing. Imagine my joy when the opportunity came along to acquire a cheap solar dome (about £200). I thought Christmas had come early.
One small problem was that the dome was situated in the back garden of a house that was being sold. The owner of the house said I could have the dome only if I was able to dismantle and remove it within a day due to the new buyers moving in. Being totally naive as to what was involved I readily agreed. Silly me!
Come the day and armed with lots of enthusiasm my son and I arrive at the house to begin the task of dismantling and removing the dome. This was the sight that greeted us:-
Without further ado we got down to it - the clock was ticking!
It was quite a task removing all the panes of glass without breaking any!
There were a few “Why did we start this” moments.
And just to add to the fun the rain clouds started to gather.
We finally finished after a very long – and wet – day. We had every reason to feel proud of ourselves. There were only a couple of glass panes broken and most of the nuts and bolts seemed to have found their way into our 'bits' bucket
Now for phase 2 - trying to erect the thing in our garden!
Part 2 will show the trials and tribulations involved in that task.
Till next time - thanks for reading and take care of yourselves.
If you wish to read some more of my musings please follow the links below.
Is social media a force for good?
Sunset over the North Yorkshire Moors
My first attempt at digital art
How too much news may not be good for us
Another one on how dogs can help us
A personal experience of Aspergers’ syndrome
A trip to the historic island of Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
Until next time - take care of yourselves....