Sonia and I had a bizarre conversation last night. It all stemed from the fact that we planted a couple of new apple trees on Sunday. After a good hour or so of digging we had two respectable apple tree holes. And that got me thinking…

In movies and television, characters sometimes need to dig a grave and/or dig up a grave. This is usually done in the dead of night. Sometimes drunk. Often with one or two standard shovels. In the matter of a couple of hours they have a near perfect square hole that is six feet deep, give or take a few feet.

Now I know the ground in Sooke is pretty nasty. Down a few inches you hit the hard clay and rocks that require you to get out a pick-axe and whack away. But even your fictional coffin were burried in the finest top soil, I seriously doubt that you’d ever be able to dig such a perfect hole so fast.

Or maybe I just need to hire some burly actors the next time I want to plant trees.