Our back lane has plenty of room for parking cars. Which is what most of my neighbours do. However, outside my house there is a hollow some 15 ft long, 5 ft wide and 1&1/2 to 2 ft deep. I have planned to fill it to make extra parking. Last week we had builders in to dig out footings for foundations for a conservatory. Just the opportunity I wanted so I spent nearly all of Saturday digging layers of the trench rubble into the hole, stamping down to firm it, another layer of rubble and more stamping, and so on until it was ready for a final layer of topsoil. More stamping and raking and it was level and ready for sowing with grass seed. A pretty good day's work I thought.
This morning Hilary was in the garden and saw a chap with a wheelbarrow coming along the lane. She went out to ask him his business. "Oh" says he "I am going to help myself to some of this topsoil for my garden". Apparently he then got rather snotty when she told him he couldn't have it. "Well you wouldn't miss a just a bit would you?".
To what is the world coming when you have to protect from soil bandits? Neighbourhood Watch is now on the case.