Bricky-tape

The profession which Ricey Bob denied working in had been quiet lately. In times of recession, his finely-honed skills were seen as an unneccessary expense when a falling piano or an exploding telephone could be arranged for next to nothing. Time lay heavy on his hands as he waited for the next call, and waited, and waited.

Mrs. Bob, however, had plenty of jobs awaiting his attention. Foremost amongst these was the construction of a brick wall dividing the formal part of the garden from the more utilitarian kitchen garden.

Ricey Bob was no bricklayer, and had not looked forward to the task. Of course, he was familiar with cement, but that was a very different matter. Very different indeed, he thought, smiling to himself as he recalled a few of the interesting characters he had worked with, albeit briefly, over the years. Bouyant Barry - now, that had been a fun day....

The arrival of the delivery van snapped him out of his reverie, and he went to sign the delivery note and help the driver unload the heavy coils of material and lay them next to the palletts of bricks, followed by two boxes of Ends. Thank goodness, he thought, for Bricky-tape, and for those wonderful people at MaxConstruction.

After making himself a cup of strong, sweet tea and connecting the garden hose, Ricey Bob made a start on the job at hand. He removed the plastic wrapping from the first roll of Bricky-tape, revealing the large coil of half-inch thick, 3.5-inch wide grey foam rubber. As he unrolled a 25-foot length, it shed a small cloud of the dry cement and sand with which it had been heavily impregnated, but most of it remained trapped within. It was surprisingly heavy, and dragging it into position along the concrete foundation strip was a bit like handling a dead anaconda.

With the Bricky-tape in position, Ricey Bob filled his watering can and started to walk along the length of the soon-to-be wall, pouring on the recommended litre of water for each metre of Bricky-tape.

Now for the fun part. He laid the first brick squarely on the Bricky- tape at one end, and tapped it down gently with his mallet (his Special Mallet, as it happened - how times changed!). Reaching into the box, he picked up one of the Bricky-tape Ends - a neatly cut rectangle of the same Bricky-tape, of the same size and shape as the end of a brick. A quick dunk in a bucket of fresh water, and then he slapped it up against the end of the first brick. A second brick was then placed adjacent to the first, and two quick mallet-taps brought it soundly up against the Bricky-tape End and then bedded it down securely onto the tape beneath it. Another End, another brick, tap- tap...dunk, brick, tap-tap...dunk, brick, tap-tap. There was a simple satisfaction in this routine.

It took about six minutes to finish laying the first course of bricks. Already, the mortar in the Bricky-tape was beginning to set, and would soon be firm enough for him to start on the second course. By tea-time, Mrs. Bob would be impressed.