Squirrel to the rescue.

Seems rude to call him an eb but I was very glad he appeared. 

So garden project pt1 finished. Approx 2.5 tonnes of ground elder affected soil dug out. Ground elder pulled out of loose soil and incinerated, soil distributed into the dyke we're building between us and the hall as part of our flood defences.
1 tonne of hardcore added and then 1.5 tonnes of limestone chips. Fence erected as far as possible until phase 2 (removal of weaponised pyracantha).
Raised bed re raised and Lylandi trunk removed as far as possible.

Then a productive afternoon. Have broken the back of personal tax return (our accountant is incentivising customers to submit months ahead of deadline), two zooms re funding, one good one meh, and magazine interview arranged.
Now; beer, bath, bed.