Fenced in at last

One year and five months after buying the plot of land adjacent to my działka, I have finally completed the Anschluss, namely the two plots are now one. Five months after the geodeta ('sworn' or 'legal surveyor', who delineates the land in the eyes of the law) solemnly marked out the boundary between my land and the forest next door, I have one fence around the entire property, slightly less that one acre (3,850m², where an acre =4,047m²) of land.

It was three days' (nine man-days) or work for Pan Mariusz and his ekipa; the first day of which involved a small excavator. The work involved digging out 50 concrete posts which constituted the old boundary, and moving them - and the chain link fence they supported, some 25m further east, digging holes and putting the posts into concrete bases, then stretching the fence back onto the posts in their new location. And putting new fencing across the front of the new plot (around 23m). All in all, 171m of fencing either moved or erected. Cost - including materials - worked out four to five times cheaper than buying new fencing. The old stuff was good, said Pan Mariusz, saying the 5mm-gauge fencing was far more robust than what's on the market today, having already withstood 30 years of weather. And the same for the posts - not a single one cracked or broke while being transplanted.

What's more the job was done with such forethought and precision that at no time was my house vulnerable to opportunist break-in (rare though such crimes are in these parts). Below: the new boundary from the front of the plot. The forest to the left seems to have no owner; my neighbour at the back has lived here for 45 years and has never seen anyone on or in the forest plot. The four apple trees to the left will have to go to make way for the drive.

Left: view of my house from the new boundary. Had I taken this photo a week ago, the fence would have run across it just behind the leafless apple trees in the middle distance. 

Below: looking down the new boundary from the back of the plot. Note the medium-tension electricity cables that run across it. If any tree should fall onto the power line - and the forest has plenty of fallen tree-trunks on its floor - Grobice would be deprived of electricity. Pan Mariusz advises me to call the electricity company, PGE Obrót, who will come and remove any trees threatening power lines.

I'm delighted that the work has been completed so quickly and thoroughly, and at a reasonable price. Next task - between now and the summer - will be to give some kind of shape to the landscape, leaving some fruit trees and lots of meadow, but having some lawn and a drive (which will probably go up the east side of the plot (to the right of the forest in the photo above), before turning just before the electricity pylon.

It gets dark so early now. Below: bonus shot - the 16:09 from Chynów to W-wa Wschodnia passes the end of my street.

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