Hello everyone. Its sort of back to normal for a while, Judith's Mum is recovering well and has some mobility in her new hip. Her Dad is still in Oxford and may take a bit longer to get as far in his recovery. So we are both carrying on with the renovation/decoration of the last bedroom. We ran out of money for the Decorator James, so are finishing off ourselves. I actually quite like painting and being 'handy' but I could easily have wept after 3 unsuccessful attempts to put up another ceiling rose/chandelier combination, sodding thing kept on pulling loose from the paint and had to resort to some very Heath Robinson tactics including step ladders, extending paint pole and no more nails. Oh yes, and hacking the rose to bits and re-engineering (that's bodging) the light fitting. Well, its up now and I will be happy never to do another one in my life. This is in the 'dual aspect' room that James painted for us. You may notice the photos have got a bit more detail, that's mainly thanks to the new wide angle lens I have bought. 'All the better to see you with, cried the wolf'
So this is the 'green room' so named by us because the previous owners had this as a kids room, complete with bright green woodwork , animal stencils in primary colours etc. It took 3 or 4 coats of special white undercoat and gloss to cover it all up. The new coving makes this room/en suite look like it was always there.
Same room but from different angle. Looks ok, no? The carpets come on Thursday for all the rooms and stairs/landing. Just a bit more in here, skirting needs another coat of gloss, the new easy (it says here) light fixture and some shelves/ rails in the new cupboard and that's all the decorating done, Hooooray!!!!
Because we have been waiting six weeks for the roofer to appear we got advice from another roofer who told us the roof vents that the project manager had ordered were for tiles, not slates so completely unfit for purpose. Judith did some research and the ones we really needed came from a firm in west Lakes called Burlington Slate. So off I trot to Kirby-in -Furness via Lancaster using the sat nav. This takes me up, up into the wilder parts of the lake district and through the gates of the Quarry . I reported to the site office, donned my hi-viz jacket and was told to report to the weigh bridge, collect tiles and return with chitty and pay before I left.
Weigh bridge and our little car
So, I return to the office , chitty in hand and Misty the border Collie takes the paperwork out of my hand and gives it to her owner the administrator. She then takes my credit card and returns everything to me ,only slightly damp.
It made a long trip almost worth while.
You know in the last post I said the Salmon should be running about now? Well they aren't, or at least we cant see them yet. The Ribble is either very high or too low. I now have a spy who is going to call me if there are any signs. John Reid one of my Fellow operatic singers lives just next to the weir. He was a time served woodworker who was apprenticed to the Mill and used to work on lathes powered by the mill wheel, right up until it closed in 1965.
The high flow does not deter some hardy folk from trying their luck
just up-stream of the weir.
The rehearsals for Calam are stepping up now, two evenings and Sunday afternoon for the next five weeks until Showtime. My beard is quite full now and doesn't itch quite so much. Wardrobe mistress wants to put me in an old army coat with pots and pans hanging from my belt, I said ok, as long as I can wear a coonskin cap......
Judith will be waiting in the wings on the last night with beard removal equipment.
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