In article .com,
Dundonald writes
Quick couple questions please.

1. I am having the front of my property block paved. The man hole on
the front of our property was previously one of those big concrete ones
(similar to the picture found here
http://www.pavingexpert.com/recess04.htm).

The small company doing the block paving is suggesting that a recessed
replacement man hole cover can't be used so instead he plans to use a
simple alloy cover.

Is he feeding me bull? I'm concerned about the continuity break up in
the appearance, and, the sheer ugliness of the cover.

2. Edging - the style of brick laying used is the basket hatch type.
The brick laying has just begun. Unfortunately I've returned home to
find no straight edging in place. The basket style placement has begun
and the edges look untidy due to the small cutouts to make bricks fit.
Am I correct in understanding the common method is to always use
straight edging (mitre'ing corners to look more professional) and then
inside the edging fill with appropriate style of laying?

Thanks, so far not a happy customer.

You should use the covers that takes the blocks in a recess, the blocks
are then cut to match the pattern and the whole thing becomes less
noticeable, done well these look great. The best way to do the edging is
to do them straight as a border and then infill with your other pattern,
TBH you should have sorted this out before the job was started...
--
David