Roger Hayter wrote:

Absorbent bricks (any except the hardest engineering bricks) should be
damp, but there should be no visible water left on the surface.

That was exactly the situation and I still managed to make an
only-just-about-acceptable hash of the job: bricklaying and me simply don't
go together. For anything other than a single topping-off course I would
never have attempted it (and in fact even for such a simple project
contemplated having it done by a professional). I'm happy to acknowledge my
limits.