This is one of those rambling posts today about trivia and What I did This Week so be warned.
I mentioned that I had poked a hole in the plaster at the top of my kitchen window and it all came off didn't I? And I did this at nearly midnight one evening. I can never work out why I do this sort of thing at inconvenient hours. I mean, I have been looking at it for weeks and thinking I don't like the look of that and left it alone so why then? One of life's mysteries and destined never to be solved.
Well the plaster has been done and looks OK and I have left it to dry out. Noticed there was a bit of a hole in the corner so had a look and saw that it is quite hollow and goes back a few inches so polyfilla no good for that as it will just fall in and never set. So off I went to B&Q again, forget Prada or Yves St Laurent give me B&Q any day where the assistants are kind and helpful and take pity on aged ladies looking lost. I came away with a spray can of foam which you squirt into this hole and leave to expand and set. You then put more in if need be and it seems to promise miracles. This will do nicely thought I.
I am not very good at opening things, be it paint tins, blister packs, CDs, DVDs, etc which I usually end up tackling with a knife or a screwdriver. The other week I had a plastic bottle of olive oil and could I get the top off? No I damn well couldn't so ended up sawing off the top with my bread knife and tipping the oil in another container and just avoided cutting my fingers off on the edge of the plastic. May be cheaper but that is that. Olive oil in bottles in future.
Anyway this long witter is merely to prepare you for the fact that once I had got the top off this canister it seemed impossible to get it to squirt out no matter how I tried and the instructions were baffling to say the least. It really needed the top to be loosened a bit so out came my pliers and I turned the little whatsit and yes, you know what is going to happen, and it did. Suddenly there was a hissing sound and spray
whateveritwasinthecan shot out and went all over the kitchen window and walls and hung there looking like something out of The Blob. Scraped it off as quickly as I could and it was sticky and yucky and started dripping down and then I thought of The Alien.
Working on the premise that the top was now loose I climbed up onto the work surface and aimed the nozzle at the hole and pressed. Nothing. If I used the pliers again all was well but I could not get them to turn the knob in the right direction so I thought sod this for a game of soldiers and decided to use a tea spoon. An old one I hasten to add. I used that to shove the stuff in the hole as much as I could get in and then left it. My hands were covered in the stuff so decided to wash it off.
And here dear reader, comes the fun part. Lethal. Lethal, Lethal. I could not get this off and ended up sticking to everything I touched. In the end I used a scourer soaked in white spirit and scrubbed and scrubbed and then soaped and washed several times until it was all gone. I went back into the kitchen after anointing myself with masses of handcream and thought I must have a cup of tea, looked up at the hole I had filled and, yes the stuff had certainly expanded and was now hanging out of the hole and it looked like, well I hate to say this, but like an enormous Pile. So I climbed up again and managed to hoik the excrescence off the wall and all was well. BUT then I had to repeat the process to get the muck off my hands.
And to round up this catalogue of DIY I found the teaspon was stuck in a lump of the foam which had hardened and looked rather like an existentialist piece of sculpture and was unsalvageable so it went into the bin. I cleared up cursing and swearing about the entire thing and then discovered tucked neatly in the cap of the canister a little pair of gloves which I was told MUST be worn.......
In between all this I went up to London to see my darling girls and stayed the night to babysit. Florence now sleeps in the loft with me when I am there and Beatrice well away until 9pm when she woke up yelling the place down and standing up in her cot. She would not settle and as I was tired and my back was aching I took her into the master bedroom and laid down on the bed with her. She immediately snuggled up to me, held my finger and went fast asleep and so did I. Woke up an hour later with this child peacefully resting on my chest. Is there anything nicer? No is the answer. And then later on when I was in bed Florence snuck in with me and all was cosy and warm. Bliss.
And, finally, to round off this post which I am sure is keeping you on the edge of
your seats, I dropped in at a book fair on the way home. It is held in aid of the NSPCC and is always packed out. Came away with a good haul and realised as I drove home that Florence is now the same age as her mother was when I took her and her big sister to this book sale. Has been going for years and the sense of continuity is wonderful.
Here is Wot I Got and could not resist these wonderful battered old editions of two Agatha Christie stories.
I a now on the sofa with feet up and writing this. Plaster has been sealed and the first coat of paint is on and I managed to do that without mishap and all is well. The hatches are battened down so if the projected storm comes anywhere near me I am safe and warm inside and hope all of my UK friends who live in the country and near the coast are all keeping safe as well.
Au reservoir.
