I put off our sagging back fence for two summers. Then I read a piece on Yard Fixes about how most sag comes down to one tired post rather than the whole run, and it got me out of my chair.

Saturday morning I walked the line and pushed on every post. Most were solid. The one by the apple tree wobbled like a loose tooth, and that was the whole problem. The panels on either side were fine, so I left them up.

Here is the honest bit. I could not have got it out alone. The post was set in concrete and my spade was never going to win. I knocked on my neighbour's door, asked if he had a bar I could borrow, and he came over with it and stayed. Two people on a fence post is a different job entirely. He held, I dug, we argued about football, and eventually the old post came free with a wet sucking noise.

Tools were nothing special. A spade, a bar, a bucket, a level and a bag of post mix. No gadget, no app, no trip to a hire shop.

What I got wrong was rushing. I wanted it finished before lunch. Instead I set the new post, braced it, and left it alone for the rest of the weekend. Boring. Also correct, because when I hung the panels back on, the line came up straight and stayed straight.

That evening I kept looking out of the kitchen window at it. Silly, but a straight fence changes the whole garden.