Four years, one squeaky wheelbarrow, and the treat that replaced it

I was fond of that old barrow, for all its faults. The squeak only stopped if you leaned a little to the right — which of course sent you veering off in a gentle right-hand curve, so you'd be forever correcting your line on the way up the path. The handles had come off long before it reached me, leaving bare metal to grip. But it was free, and it did the one big job that mattered: it moved the whole first delivery of soil, barrow-load by barrow-load, to fill every one of my beds. Four faithful years.

When I finally decided to treat myself, I did a proper bit of research — and Reddit, as it often does, pointed the way. The Haemmerlin kept coming up. I went for the green one with the bright wheel, mostly because I liked the look of it, and I've not regretted it for a moment.

It doesn't squeak. The handles are proper handles, comfortable to hold. And the puncture-free wheel means no slow flat halfway through a job — which, given my last one had a literal nail through it, feels like a small luxury. I've used it to barrow woodchip up to line the paths and to wheel up bag after bag of soil, and it takes it all in its stride.

A wheelbarrow isn't a glamorous purchase. But it's one of those quiet, everyday tools you reach for constantly, and a good one makes the heavy days lighter. After four years of leaning right, I'm happy to wheel a straight line. And come winter, it'll be tucked away in the shed, out of the weather, to keep it in tip-top condition for what I hope will be many years to come.