(very) Small pleasures of laying concrete

Put down the final layer on the first slab today. The small pleasures in question were:

1. having enough cement, sand and gravel before I started
   
2. having enough time
3. shovelling straight from the piles of sand and gravel into the mixer, and tipping the mixer straight into the shuttering
4. working out how to get the mixer on its stand without a well-muscled helper
5. finishing without getting my gloves wet, as a result of turning on the tap just enough to fill the watering can between mixer-loads (adjusting the tap means wet gloves)
   
6. getting the surface nice and flat
7. finishing before 11.30 (in the morning)

So tomorrow it will be down to Chausson for another couple of loads of material, with a view to getting another slab laid on Sunday before the weather breaks (it's rain forecast for the whole of next week). However, today was bright and very sunny: by the end of the afternoon it was actually hot. I was working in a t-shirt for the first time this year, and our daffodils are just coming out. Spring maybe?