DIY Heavan

When you embark on a house refurbishment project, the first thing you should investigate is where you will hire a skip. house refurbishment always produces a lot of debris in its wake, bricks, mortar, bits of the ceiling that fall in on you when you destroy what you didn't realise was a load-bearing wall... so it's best to be prepared in advance.

My last house refurbishment project was not very successful, but I was determined to try again. There was a large wall out in the back garden. I intended to demolish it, and use the bricks and mortar to make a little patio in the back yard. I asked my stepfather, who is handy around the house, to have a look at it and let me know what he thought of my plans.

He told me that while the bricks could be recycled, I would have to chip the old mortar off them and use new mortar for my planned garden patio. He promised to help me mix the mortar, once I had cleaned all the bricks. The other problem he foresaw was that the wall was still quite solid, and it might take quite a bit of effort to tear it down. He thought my plan of taking a big sledgehammer and smashing it down would not work, and would only damage the bricks into the bargain.

Not dissuaded by his pessimistic assessment of the situation, I went out on Saturday morning and took a walk around the wall. I had my sledgehammer and a chisel, and I thought I could break down the mortar between the bricks so that I could then just knock the bricks off one at a time.

I had barely started when I heard a loud meowing sound, right by my feet. I glanced down, and saw a tiny kitten poking its head out of a small hole that went right under my wall. It was so small, it didn't even have its eyes open yet, but it was mewling and obviously disturbed by the noise I was making right over its home.

I knelt down and looked carefully into the little hole. There were four tiny kittens, all curled up together, still snug down in their nest, and this tiny little black-and-white fur ball mewling up at me from the opening. I didn't have the heart to disturb it further, so I settled it back down into the nest, and left as quietly as I could.

I started putting cat food out by my back porch, and that's how I ended up with a very grateful mother cat and five feisty and playful little kittens, and no patio in my back garden. And I wouldn't have it any other way.