A working break

I sometimes do decoration and renovation work. It's far more interesting than 'other stuff' and it's relatively free of work politics. This does not mean that I'm trendy designer extraordinaire, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen although its true that his nose is modelled after mine. No of course, I'm much more handsome :P

In reality, it's all just an excuse to exhibit my nice round builder's bum

This particular job was all the way down to London town to 'refresh' a flat for a friend. I was late starting out because of the previous night's insomnia. 8 army trucks, 2 pink Cadillacs, 7 ambulances and 4 serious (engine off) accidents later, a journey that should have taken 6 hours took 10 but thanks to my MP3 player, Laura Nyro, Morrissey, Enya and AC/DC, I stayed sane.

It is so strange going back, alone and unencumbered after a long break. I have history with London. It's where I was brought into this life, within the sound of Bow Bells in fact, making me a C-Co-Coc-Cock... erm from the East end. It's also been my Nemesis, twice now. The last time I should have died. I'm living on borrowed time.

But you're from 'up North', how can you have been born down there?? Erm ... time warp ... rupture in the time-space continuum ... shhhht or I'll never get back across the border post!!

The place has changed a little. A new sparkly big bookshop up the road and some whizzy high street renovation, but other than that, the same leafy suburb. I arrived late after the driving marathon and by the time I'd unloaded my kit, I was knackered.

I spent two and a bit days fixing, decorating and gardening, oh and shopping for bits. I'm not sure why this always takes so long in London. By the time you've been to the rubbish tip, the DIY store, IKEA and the Internet café's that have gone out of business by the time you get there, you've lost a day. Luckily for me, PC World have a free internet café now and I found out that if you smile nicely and make house buying noises, a property agent might just lend you his desk and PC for half an hour.

Last morning was spent in the kitchen with a suspicious musty smell that I had been noticing and that I traced to the washing machine. Opened the powder drawer and I kid you not, black slime and things crawling. Now this is a nice shiny spaceship kind of washing machine on the outside. If I washed my sweaty t-shirts in here I'd have to throw them out afterwards.
?? How can people live like this ??
Disinfectant, grime remover and an hour's graft got rid of most of the nastiness.

I must remember that after fixing the hot water tap, if there's no water flow then there's no point in dismantling the entire mechanism and sticking a barbecue skewer down the pipe to find the blockage. It actually helps much more to remember to turn the stop cock back on. Oh yes, and it helps to turn it on after re-assembling the tap, not before. What a mess!

I won't bore you with the 'paint on my bits' experience. It was hot, I had to wear shorts and there were splashes, OK? Luckily it was emulsion.

Shifting across town a bit now ... just before I moved away the last time, I briefly got to know a couple of new neighbours, so a really nice surprise was meeting them again and being invited for dinner. They'd finished some work on their flat and it was looking grand and full of really interesting character, windows stripped back to original wood frames.

Well what a fascinating pair of ladies. One a Londoner and one German, a travel consultant and a biologist. Intriguing, challenging, interesting and contentious conversation. I won't repeat the discussion here, far too controversial and politically incorrect, but it bounced between current events in the middle east, Baader Meinhof and growing up in the late 60's and 70's. So interesting to hear an honest German perspective on Lebanon. Oh yes, very intelligent people and darned good looking too.

I was wondering if I'd nudged the evil love queen awake again, but irony of ironies, these girls were, how can I put it, 'partners'. AAAaaaaaargh!!! Fiddlesticks and frazzled carrots!

Yes I have to tell myself it's all for the best really :-/ Still, it was a small but valuable stitch to add to my little list of fascinating experiences on this world.

Listening to: Janis Joplin, "Combination of the Two"
Wishing: I was a Bunnygirl