STALAG LUFT 33

My abdominal muscle tear or whatever it was is coming right. Doctor Google told me that with rest it would mend itself. I was planning to, as soon as I got better, continue excavating under the house just in case further plumbing problems arise. The Old Girl is off to a fancy schmancy restaurant today for lunch so I won't be able to go searching for suitable digging tools at the 'tradie 'warehouses. This is probably just as well as it forces me to rest up for a few more days.

I found that because of the extremely cramped space, normal digging tools - spade, pick, shovel etc were no use as there's no way to swing them. I used a Niwashi digidigi tool which was OK but took ages as it only has a narrow blade.

 It also hurt my hand from having to force it through the dirt with my palm.  It made me feel like a WW2 POW digging an escape tunnel.

I'm looking for a short handled spade with a cross piece at the bottom of the handle for grip. Something like this:

I also found this when looking for excavation tools on the internet:

This might do the job but it costs $500 and is supplied by ALI Express from China so I'm a bit dubious of it. I'd rather find a 'tradie' store that has things like this in stock so I can see and handle it before purchase.

Mind you, I could also just 'get a man in' as The Old Girl suggests which, if I get qualified excavators might avoid me undermining and collapsing the house.