Another lesson learned

 I really should have known better.  

For weeks it seems Ash and I have been battling over the use of the chainsaw.  I didn't think he should be using it and he saw no reason why he shouldn't.  I tried, uselessly of course, to point out the difficulties, my stomach churned every time we needed more wood for the fire and on a regular basis he would shout at me because I was taking yet another job away from him.

In the end I caved in.  I couldn't cope with one more heated discussion on the subject so held my hands up and said 'ok'.  There were several false starts but eventually we came to a compromise, the main one being that he used my lightweight chainsaw rather than his petrol one which I can't even lift from the shelf.  This made me feel a little better and, when I saw how careful he was with it, I relaxed.  I did however make sure it was a joint effort.  I placed each log in the contraption which keeps it steady then put my hand on the end of it (far away from chainsaw) to hold it still before Ash moved forward to slice it into pieces.

Three times over the last couple of weeks we've worked on the firewood together and each time we got quicker and more efficient.  Today I said we needed more and he came with me to collect it but when I went to hand him the chainsaw he just said 'you're all right, you do it' and suddenly the problem had disappeared.  All I had to do was take away the barriers and things would work themselves out.

I used to work with children so you'd think I'd have known this was the way forward.  Unfortunately when something is happening right in front of you all those common sense techniques seem to disappear and you're left with so much white noise you can't focus on anything else.

Now all I have to do is remember for next time.

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