A proper cup of tea

I awoke feeling a bit stiff and sore from yesterday's exertions but after a good stretch of the muscles and a cup of coffee or two everything settled down to it's normal level of acheyness and twinging.

I wondered why it was quite dark until I stuck my head out of the window and realised that it was really very foggy - a quite unusual occurence round here - I couldn't even see to the square at the bottom of the hill which is only a few hundred metres ( I typed yards there first before realising how much of an old colonial that made me sound - still, that was my first instinct - can we bring back the imperial system; it was so wonderfully irreverent and confusing for everyone and I can imagine it would wind up the French no end if we proposed it for all Europe at the EU)

This morning I used up the last of the clunch emulsion which covers all our ceilings and, as predicted, I ran out before being able to finish the full ceiling in the studio. How very frustrating - I scraped every last drop from the tin. I went round the room making sure that all the edges where the clunch would meet other colours had some paint on so that I could make a decent join with them and be able to slap the clunch on when we bring another tin down from the UK with us just before Christmas.

By lunchtime the sun had burned away the fog and it turned into a decent day - well actually, an exceptionally good day for December - I was wearing a T-shirt and not feeling at all cold. I decided to make the most of the dry and sunny day and headed to the discount carpet store for the flooring that we needed for the studio living space and bedroom. I knew they had it in store because I checked it with Debrah on Monday before she went back to London. I didn't want to wait for two weeks until we can lay it because I know from experience that there will be a national shortage of that sisal flooring at that time. The only trouble with my plan was that I was on my own.

No problem at the store. One piece at 4 x 5 metres and one piece at 4 x 6 metres and a 20kg tub of adhesive - all in stock and a very willing helper to get it all loaded into the topless Audi. I couldn't see out of the back, of course, and actually I couldn't see to the right because of the other piece on the passenger seat which was a tricky at junctions and also hampered my gear-changing a little bit - not very safe or, probably, legal but I got home OK. Then I realised that what had seemed fairly manageable with two people was extremely awkward and damn heavy to move on my own - just getting the sisal out of the seat spaces was a huge effort. By the time I had got each piece onto my back and shoulders and carried them through the front doors, up the stairs and into the apartment, I was absolutely covered in sweat. Furthermore, as I wasn't going to lay them immediately, I knew that they had to be rolled rather than folded and crumpled, as they were for the journey home and the lugging inside - so I had to drag them into the empty office space where there is enough room to unfold and roll up a piece of carpet of that size - sounds easy - it most definitely wasn't.

Since we ran out of teabags at the weekend, I have taken to making a pot of tea with proper loose tea from a tin (bought as Christmas gifts last year but not given to anyone). I boil the kettle and warm the teapot with hot water and make the tea and pour it through a strainer into a (the) china cup and scoff a load of biscuits. I definitely am regressing into an old colonial. But you know, it all makes a lot of sense. It means I stop work for ten to fifteen minutes whilst I prepare it which gives me a bit of a rest. The tea is incredibly refreshing when your throat is dry and full of paint fumes and the biscuits perk me up just when my energy is beginning to flag and take me through to whatever time I finish. An afternoon tea break, about 4pm - I highly recommend it.

So it was that after sorting the sisal carpet, I stopped for tea and resolved to carry on with some oil eggshell painting of woodwork and suddenly it was 8.30pm and I had to stop because I was tired and hungry and my right hand was really sore.

I was so glad for the left over spaghetti bolognese - minimum preparation for supper - and now I am going to put my weary self to bed.