We have not really done too much work since I last reported - kind of semi-days-off. On Thursday we went shopping - Sainsbury-type and Builders Merchant-type. We had run out of plasterboard and used most of our bag of plaster and we needed to get some trowels, etc for our new skimming hobby. Then in the afternoon we did some of the fiddly bits of plasterboard - round the little draft-hole windows, rooflight and the cubby-hole above the bread oven - they all take much longer than they should do of course. Bob also did some of the beading around the windows. Modern plaster generally has very square corners which we didn't really want. Our plastering guru, Phil, told us that traditionally wooden dowel was fixed on outside cornersand then skimmed over which just gives a slightly rounded corner - good idea!
On Friday while waiting for the promised early morning plasterboard delivery I made a cake and gave the caravan a really good clean and Bob started insulating the lean-to where the hot water tank will be housed. The plasterboard finally arrived at about 1pm - just as we sat down for a sandwich (isn't it always the way?). So we then had to carry all that through to store it in the 'lounge'. We then collected another trailer full of woodchips from Phil and Anne, had a leisurely cup of tea in their garden and then came home to spread the chips. Some on the path to keep the mud at bay and some in the bottom of the hedge to keep the weeds at bay. After that, we couldn't muster the enthusiasm to do anything else and so the only solution was to sit on the bench and have a beer . . . . it's a hard life sometimes!
Yesterday Carol and Graham (my sister and brother-in-law) came for a visit - hence the cake-making and cleaning - and we had a really lovely day. Graham had a works 'do' in the evening which meant they had to leave at about 4pm, so they got up really early and arrived at about 9am - in time for bacon and egg baps. I have to admit I was feeling a little delicate (the beer on the bench led to more than one bottle of wine and was rounded off by a tidying up session of the sloe gin and blackcurrant vodka bottles). The bacon butty helped though and after a tour of the house we went for a walk along the other side of the valley. The weather was just fantastic and we sat looking at the view back across to our house with a homemade pasty for lunch and got back with just enough time for a cuppa and a piece of cake - all very civilised.
As we knew in advance that Carol and Graham would be leaving early, last week we booked tickets to see The Stranglers play in Birmingham - it sounded like a good idea at the time! After lugging the plasterboard up awkward steps on Friday and then the up-and-downy walk during the day, our legs were quite tired and achy. I don't think I'd drunk enough water either and so had a splitting headache. Now, that doesn't bode well for an enjoyable evening standing watching a very loud concert. When the first support act came on the music was so loud you could feel it thumping through your whole body . . . . and I still had a headache! Really weirdly though my headache disappeared straightaway. It must have been thumped out of my head, through my ears and got trampled on the floor! We ended up really enjoying it. The Stranglers still sound like they used to (not like old men trying to thump out the hits they had 30 years ago) and the second support act - Wilko Johnson from Dr Feelgood - was just as good as when we saw him before we moved. It then took us a whole hour to get out of Birmingham city centre - roadworks meant it was just gridlocked . . . . . at 11.30pm! How can it be that busy?!
Today we didn't actually get up until 11.30am - absolutely disgraceful, I know! But it is ages since we've done that and we did get the paper read in bed, so it's not as if we were wasting time or anything!
We're creeping toward the double-figure mark with blog-followers! One more and we're there. So, hello to Andrew who I am pretty sure is Phil and Ann's son, their name on here is Panda - so, a baby Panda . . . well hardly a baby actually!
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