21st October 2025
If any reader gets the reference in that title they are a serious progressive rock fan. For the uninitiated, indulge me: it’s the title of the lengthy and intricate piece which takes up the entirety of side one of Yes’s 1974 cult classic album ‘Relayer’. (For God’s sake get a move on – Ed.)
Right! When we moved in here on 1st October last year, our immediate challenge was getting through the front gates. They were locked and we had no key. We managed to prise open a narrow gap between them, through which I squeezed what Nicola not unreasonably described as my ‘skinny arse’ (‘Key day’, 3rd October last year). We quickly discovered that pretty much everything about these gates was shot – the electric arms didn’t work, the manual backup keys for them were long gone, and basically anyone who fancied breaking and entering didn’t have to do a great deal of breaking – just swivel the dilapidated key handles through 180 degrees, open the gates and enter. Oh – and the gates opened outwards 🙄. And the ironmongery had seen better days:
Needless to say we swiftly procured a hefty padlock and chain from our favourite local hardware store…
…and we have been content since then, but overhauling the gates was a project we wanted to tackle at some stage for additional security, and to ensure that the property looks well maintained and we present our best face to the world.
As I mentioned in ‘A week is a long time in Pol….s’ on 28th September, among our many visitors that week was the gate welder. Peter. What a great guy. Lives just down the road. Overhaul the gates? Errr…not really. Condemn and replace, more like. Bring in the famous ‘Gateman Bobby’ (David) to supply and fit new electric arms, and Team Gate is assembled. Here they are in action:
And with team assembled, so now are the gates themselves:
Never mind prog rock. That’s some serious heavy metal. We are delirious!
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