Okay, so the patio was looking absolutely grim. Seriously, years of dirt, green stuff growing in the corners, spilled barbecue sauce probably. Every time I sat out there, it just bugged me. My neighbor, Dave, has his place looking spotless, makes me look bad, you know? Enough was enough.

I remembered I had that pressure cleaner thing I bought ages ago tucked away in the back of the garage. Had to move a bunch of junk just to get to it. Thing was covered in dust. Dragged it out onto the driveway. Felt heavier than I remembered.

Hooking it up is always a bit fiddly. Got the garden hose connected, made sure it wasn't kinked up. Then attached the high-pressure hose and the spray gun thing. Plugged the electric cord in, making sure the connection was away from any puddles. Didn't want any nasty shocks. Grabbed a nozzle that looked sort of medium-strength, figured I'd start there.

Time to Actually Clean

Turned on the water, squeezed the trigger on the gun. Heard the motor kick in. Pointed it at a really dirty paving stone. Whoosh! Man, the kickback nearly surprised me. But wow, you could see the dirt just blasting away instantly. It was actually pretty satisfying to watch, like erasing the grime.

So, I started making stripes across the patio, back and forth, nice and slow. You really have to overlap your passes, otherwise, you get these weird clean lines next to dirty lines. Looks ridiculous.

It wasn't all smooth sailing, though. Definitely got my shoes and trousers soaked from the spray bouncing back. And it splashed dirty water all over the bottom of the house walls. Made a bit of a mess, honestly. Something else to clean later, I guess.

• Started with the main patio area.
• Then I tackled the stone walkway leading up to it.
• Even did the plastic garden chairs – they came up great.

Took me a good couple of hours, maybe more. My arm was aching a bit from holding that trigger down. And my back knew about it too. It's not exactly effortless work, despite what the ads look like.

But looking at it now? Huge difference. The stone looks bright again. You can see the proper colour. It actually looks clean, like someone cares about the place. Way better than getting down there with a scrubbing brush, that would have taken all day and probably wouldn't look this good.

Learned a couple of things. Gotta keep that nozzle moving. If you hold it in one spot too long, especially on wood or softer stuff, it can chew it right up. Nearly took a chunk out of the fence post when I wasn't paying attention. And yeah, it definitely uses a fair bit of water.

Packed it all up, drained the hoses, coiled everything away. Back into the garage it goes. Probably won't see the light of day until next year, or whenever the dirt gets bad enough to annoy me again. But yeah, job done. Feels good to sit out here now without staring at all that muck. Worth the sore arm, I reckon.