How to build a pergola

This is a little off the subject of what to do in Kenya. But if you find yourself unemployed and have a lot of time to spare then this is suggestiion of what you can do.

First you have to decide where to put a pergola (and that you want one in the first place). Somewhere flat is a good idea. Then you have to make a design. I didn't bother drawing anything, I just had an idea of what I wanted to do.

Now once you have worked out the scheme of things, you need to go and suss out the local shops. I reckoned that I needed 6 long poles, 6 slightly smaller and lots smaller than that. I think that doing it as a hexagon was a good idea as it is fairly stable without having to be too well put together. As a basic principle triangles are good squares are difficult.

Chosing your shop is a tricky situation. People think a small white girl must only be buying stuff for someone else to do the work. So you are slightly treated as a mad woman the minute you ask for advice or tell them what you are up to. Perhaps boys would fare better. It's worth looking around for shops that are friendly and cheap. People will tell you that you can't buy what you want in Kenya but really it is only a matter of finding out what the Kenyans call whatever it is that you want. Roofing felt was tricky and I can't remember what it was called but in the end I found it.

So I started with the roof. It was the trickiest bit so I did it first. I started with a frame, I made a hexagon with some of my bits of wood, using angles drawn on a piece of cardboard to check that it was a proper hexagon. I then had to start making it 3 dimential which was more difficult. Getting the angles right to make a pitch just took time and energy since I had to cut angles in the wood and I only had a hand saw but hey I got there.

I then started on the boarding to cover my frame. I couldn't find boards big enough to cover the whole lot so I had to cut mad angles and try to fit them all together. Then came the really exciting bit. Gunging it all up with roofing felt gunge was very difficult and hot and not much fun.

Eventually it all stuck though once I had completely covered myself and most of my clothes in it. I had one nasty moment when I had to go for a job interview in the Chilean embassy and had left it too late to get properly clean so I just had to put on long clothes and scrub my hands and face.

The roofing felt was a complete pain but I do think it was the best option since wriggley tin would have been a nightmare. Some helpfull people suggested that I should do the roof with wooden slats which would have been very pretty but well I was unemployed, not unemployable so I did want to finish at some point.

So eventually I had a roof. Which was great, but I didn't have a pergola as it would have been a sad tea party crouching under the roof with no walls. This was when I started needing help. Luckily I had some. Our brilliant gardener Moses took some time away from his roses to help and the two gardeners from next door came too. They'd all been laughing at me for working too hard so they were pleased to help I think. Moses found me digging holes for the posts and thankfully realised that I am not good at digging holes. He was a real star and not only dug the holes but he also put the posts in and filled in the concrete too. This would have taken me forever so I am very grateful.

Then it was a case of all hands on to lift the roof on to the poles and bash in some huge nails to keep it there. Again hexagons are good as it stood up to being pulled about without falling apart. Then with a few finishing touches (I'll admit to some more help from Moses here) it was done. We creosoted it and stuck on some fascias and painted them too. Moses then planted some creepers and I stuck the furniture in. And then it was all very pretty.