Balthazart Comes to the Rescue!

If you're reading this blog, you will be aware that we have recently put up a pergola by the side of the house, in order to make that part of the grounds more attractive.

The whole of that side of the grounds was covered in concrete - the previous owner was a builder, and that was his "yard".  Therefore, we needed to put six holes in the concrete for the posts.  We came armed with a small angle grinder, electric hammer drill, bolster chisels,  mallets and a sledge hammer.  In reality, this was naive - it turned out the concrete was some four inches thick in places!

On failing to make little more than a dent in the first hole, I decided that I would have to hire a kango hammer.  Bill suggested that we should see if we could hire a man with a hammer rather than just the hammer, and mentioned that Mr Balthazart, our gardener, might know of such a man.  A brilliant idea, I headed straight over the Landerouat to ask him, even though it was Sunday.

Mr Balthazart asked if we wanted someone to do the kango'ing or just the use of a hammer - I replied that it didn't really matter.  He then headed to a large shelving unit, and, from a selection of large tool cases, pulled out a Bosch Professional Demolition Hammer with a chisel bit and a borer.  A quick demonstration later, I was heading back to La Matha full of optimism.

Using the hammer in the concrete was like putting a knife through butter - it really made light work of the concrete, and we had got the first three holes dug by the time our wives arrived from Bergerac Airport in the afternoon.  The final three were quickly finished on Monday morning.

We were really grateful to Mr Balthazart and his hammer - it meant that we could finish the pergola on Monday, and saved having to find a hire shop to rent one.