Another Lifetime to go

23rd August 2018

“I will be with you at 8.30 tomorrow morning” were Andy’s words to me, and that is why I worked like a dog to get the room prepared.

He then texted me to say that he would be with me at 11.30. I got on with fixing the plasterboard to the wall of the large bedroom.

At 12.00 I finished the wall, and still no Andy.

I was on a high from doing the wall, so I wasn’t that bothered, instead I went for lunch at Grounded.

I think I hit a turning point with the restoration, the last things now is the plastering, then I can finish everything off when I get back in November.

I never heard, or received a text from Andy at all, so I don’t know if he will be round tomorrow.

Kelli sent me pictures of her latest clutch of objects destined for Hudsonville. She certainly has a knack of finding unusual things.

22nd August Wednesday

I had a full days work to get the room ready for Andy to start plastering. I had my friend Rob over to strip the wallpaper in the large bedroom whilst I chipped away at the crap on the small bedroom ceiling. That was slow work, and I became impatient, and accidentally knocked a hole in the plaster. This meant I had to repair that on top of all the other things that had to be finished. Once the ceiling was done, I had to paint a sealer over it to help the plaster bond. This was a mixture of PVA and water, and as I was brushing it on, it was running down my hand, my arm, and my armpit, it was awful.

I had a shower, The went to the local Chinese for a takeaway. I decided to treat myself to a bottle of Tiger beer. As I was driving back, I realised I didn’t have a bottle opener. So I used my vast experience as a Boy Scout to take the top off. With the aid of a putty knife and a hammer I succeeded in snapping the neck of the bottle clean off, and with it most of the contents. I think I had about a egg cup left. I laughed out loud, then I remembered, I missed the Boy Scout training.

21st August 2018

Colin was determined to remove the laurel tree root he had started last week. It was a big bugger with roots down to Australia. He diligently chipped away at the compacted soil like a archeologist looking for treasure. I was busy trimming the bathroom doorway and adding the architrave. I must have walked ten miles or so marking, cutting, trimming, and trimming a bit more. I was so wrapped up in my work that I missed the final “crack!” as the root finally gave way.

There was a look of achievement, mixed with exhaustion as he slumped into a chair a shattered man.

20th August 2018

My usual list of chores to keep the cottage restoration going.

I started scraping the ceiling to remove Polytex, a shity product introduced in the eighties to cover bad ceilings, and I was the prize burk who bought it, and applied it. It was crap when it was done, and now it’s a pain in the arse to remove. Some bits comes off in sheets, others a small chip at a time, soul destroying job.

Kelli finally delivered the two matching bedside tables to the new grateful owner.

19th August 2018

My usual day of rest, where I catch up with my bill paying, and general paperwork.

Colin has been planning to build a water feature in the garden, and he had created some CAD drawings to show what it could look like.

This made me sad, he spent ages measuring, and trying to model a feature that is not regular shaped, and it never occurred to him to sketch something. We are losing the art of using hand drawings to communicate ideas. I recently came across all my boxes of pencils, crayons, and paints, these were my tools of imagination.

I found all my mechanical pencils from the time I used a drawing board, the leads hadn’t drawn a line twenty years. Very few people even use a pencil today, even art is created on computer, there is no texture, no deep drawn brush strokes, you can’t see the passion on the screen.

Sometimes you don’t need a technical specification for a water feature, you get some rocks, and bloody build something.

18th August 2018

There was a picnic in Sidney Gardens by the old Bath Art School coffee club. This time ten people turned up, which is a record so far. A few of those were not actually from my class, which was cheating a bit. There were two into their eighties, they looked really fit, and not wrinkled and doddery like some of my old class mates.

I think I passed totally un-noticed at school, as nobody remembered me. I am not totally surprised by this, but it’s a little disconcerting that even when I give them my name they just look blankly at me. I reconcile it as most of them are just plain crazy.

17th August 2018

I completed the plasterboarding and painted doors for the bathroom. My daily list of jobs were slowly getting whittled down.

I met up with my old school buddy for coffee in Bath, and finally got round to having a hair cut.

In the evening I had been invited for dinner at Jeanine’s. I had been looking forward to this, and I even had some clean clothes to wear.

I was amused to see that her house was up a cliff, so the steep climb was something I was used to. Also invited was Jane Kendall Bush, and John Bright. It was so good to see them again. The wine, and the wonderful food was delicious, and the ambience was perfect. I never got a chance to work with Jane on anything. The one project we could have done, was canned, had it gone ahead it could have been wild, because some of her ideas were bold and, very imaginative.

This was the perfect end to the week, a fully ticked off list, a haircut, and a great evening with friends.

16th August 2018

This was the day when I planned to get the plasterboard on to the wall of the small bedroom. This was a test to see if my skill matched those of the professionals. I drove to Wickes and loaded the truck with sheets of the plasterboard, adhesive and timber for the bathroom door liner.

I again risked having a heart attack carrying the sheets up the slope, cursing with every breath that I thought the hard lifting was over, I could mince around looking all designery and cool. Instead I was all workmanlike and sweaty.

The process is called “Dob & Dab” and it is just as it sounds, you plodge dobs of adhesive on the wall, then place the board on the wall and pound it with your fist. Speaking of which, I read that HM has a new CEO. Andi Owen takes over towards the end of August. Apparently she was pretty high up in the GAP organisation. She will have her work cut out to win over all that deeply established male culture. In particular a certain English VP who has had problems with strong women who think. I will look forward to whatever Karma befalls him.

Kelli sent me pictures of her booth at Hudsonville, these included a pair of carved wooden figures of oriental origin that she found at the side of the road.

15th August 2018

Another gruelling ahead. The hounds woke me at 6.00am so breakfast all round. Watching them eat is fascinating, whole lumps of food disappear in a gulp, there is no finesse, it’s dog eats dog out there, literally.

As I arrived back at the cottage, and opened the door I heard a whooshing sound. I panicked, and rushed in to investigate. I discovered that the kitchen extractor was on.

There was no explanation, I had not used it since I had been back, but there it was sucking air.

I needed to go to Screwfix in melksham to purchase the router cutter, so cleverly, I thought I would load up the truck and dump it at the recycling place just round the corner. When I got there, I discovered they were closed on Wednesday, oh that sucks, so back to Trowbridge I had to go.

The new cutter certainly did a great job of depositing sawdust on to the lawn, or what was left of it. I completed the machining of the shelf, and then ended up vacuuming the grass.

Once the shelf is in place, no one will know the amount of work that went into it, it just looks like a slab of wood.

I settled down for my final evening of dog sitting. I gave them their dinner, and called Kelli.

Since I have been away she had done a brilliant job of finding stuff, and selling. There are some jobs that she doesn’t have confidence doing, one of them being cutting down a top. I have given her precise instructions on how to do it, but she’s not happy. He father doesn’t feel fit enough to do it for her, and with no one else to call on, she’s stuck.

14th August 2018

I was awake bright and early, now I had a working shower it was just like home. The coffee was brewing and the toast was browning. Andy was bright and early and ready to start. Nicola and Colin arrived mid morning and started on the garden. Today was rip anything out that didn’t belong day. Colin was pulling out some stalks when he let out a high-pitched squeal. There in front of him was a toad. I didn’t hear if the amphibian squeaked when he saw Colin, but Nicola dealt with the situation.

I managed to cut the window sill to fit, but could not start the bathroom shelf as I needed a long router bit, but a trip to Screwfix will solve that problem.

I went down to Ryan and Louise’s to be briefed on the dog feeding regime. That is a bit of a joke because Dexter roams around like a great white shark constantly looking for any form of food left unattended. The tuffs of hair on of his head just visible above the table top. He moves round and round, traversing back, and forth, you always have to be vigilant, you cannot let up for a moment.

Young Bobby, the young apprentice is just as bad. I had the little darlings for just two nights, I know I will regret it. At every opportunity they bark, one sets the other off, and the noise cuts through me. Kelli hears them down the phone, and can’t understand what they are barking at, or about. It’s no good asking me.