Turf war.

Neither Paul nor Frances are naturally competitive, but faced with a strip of turf that needed to be prepped to become a flower bed, they chose to start at opposite ends and work their way in so they could keep tabs on the other's progress and comment on the relative quality of the digging. Frances chose the sunny, muddy damp patch and consequently did most of the back-breaking tough digging and clearing. Paul's section, it can't be denied, looked far smarter at the end, but the author thinks this must be because it was an easier stretch of earth to work with. Regardless of the rivalry, the two came together to tidy up and carry the mountain of bags out the front, and Mrs J was delighted with the progress made on such a cold morning.