Miscellaneous – Page 54

Home Improvement

August 18, 2019

Our driveway was in bad condition, cracked and uneven. It was 25+ years old and past time for a new one. Last week that’s exactly what happened!

Many large trucks and a small army of men turned up to work. They started by removing the old asphalt with a bulldozer:

Then dumping the gravel substrate:

Which was flattened by a roller:

Then came the new asphalt, edges first:

Then the main portion layed down by a machine:

And flattened again with a different roller:

Lastly a final liquid asphalt coat:

And after a total of about 2.5 hours, it was done:

We haven’t used it yet since it’s halfway through a weeklong drying/setting process, but it looks good 🙂

It was hellishly expensive, but what home improvement job isn’t? It should last longer than we are in this house though, and what more could we ask!

$1.38

August 10, 2019

Ever seen those penny-squasher devices? You put two quarters and a penny in, turn a crank, and out comes a penny that has been squashed in a press and now has a souvenir design on it.

Bernard’s got a collection:

He’s got 138 of them in total, from all over the world. Most of them are pennies but there’s a few euro cents, British pennies and even pressed blanks as well.

That’s a selection, showing pennies squashed in (from top left) England, Tokyo, Hawaii, Ireland, Australia and Scotland. Some of these Bernard did himself; the others came from me. In fact whenever I see a machine I always press him at least one.

That one I got him in Wales at the now closed Dr Who experience. I imagine it’s worth a lot of money now ;P

This one is a bit of a mystery. It’s a euro coin, which means either we (KLS and I) did it in Ireland or B got it in Germany back when we visited. But I’m not sure what it actually is? Any ideas?

Here’s a very rare double-sided penny that we pressed at – can you guess? – The London Eye. It’s got the usual souvenir picture on the front and this nice little impression on the back. This one must be a prize in his collection!

The pennies store in these nifty folders of which he has four. These guys are much rarer than the squashers themselves, so if you’re planning a collection of your own be sure to grab one when you see it!

And if you’re ever somewhere weird and see a squasher, why not press a penny yourself? Even if you don’t want it, you can send it to Bernard 🙂