The Cliff in Clifton...

What keeps us awake at night:

Thursday, 3am - I'm feeling wired. Been quite a day - can't sleep.

The tree planting exercise was scheduled to start today at 10am. Then an anticlimax: the road closure is delayed, crane counterweights are missing in action... lots of waiting. The crane is eventually set up by 2pm, then the cops arrive... transpires the road closure permit is only for one lane until 3pm. Irate neighbours complaining. So the crane (which blocks the whole road) is dismantled again - which takes an hour. We get a new road closure permit from 6pm until 6am - we'll be working through the night.

So the crane is set up again and the first tree sails into the air at 8pm - a magnificent 8m assegaai tree, silhouetted against a perfect sunset. It is windstill, one can hear the ocean, no traffic on the road, just the sjjjjjuuut of the hydraulics of the telescopic crane. And a soft calm voice issuing directions to KK the crane operator down below - "lift, 5m to the right, stop, half a meter to the mountain, lower, ....." while a tree bag weighing several tons is coaxed into position. Then in the last fading light we plant a 5m waterberry tree in a suspended planter - 8m above the ground. There is not much margin for error.

Afterwards we're working on the main lawn terrace which is safe and level. We add a 7m wild peach tree to the tall assegaai, then a Nuxia, a wild camphor, 2 tree fuschias, 2 wild olives, another Nuxia and a few tons of soil. Each tree is a character which we introduce onto our garden stage, and they fit together perfectly. By 11.30pm there is a beautiful layered and textured palette of trees. I can't believe the client is missing this magical process.

Time to fit the jib (a 25m extension to the crane) to plant trees in the top part of the property. This usually takes half an hour. But the road is narrow, and there's a conifer tree in the way, and there are mechancal issues, so it takes over 2 hours.

The star of the show is KK - the driver of the crane who has been left with zero support staff and is single-handedly rigging the jib. By 2am Bruce and I decided to go, leaving Dag Willems and his staff to position the last 8 trees - the furthest 60m away from the road. The crane bends like a fishing rod under its load. I feel tense - concerned about the safety of the people working so late, in the dark, on a steep site. May everyone have the clarity of mind to work safely and complete the exercise.