Easter

Well, what can I say? I have neglected you all for far too long.

Easter holidays, see. Thanks to the lateness of Easter,the hormones of the Heir to the Throne and to socialists the world around, we have three public holidays in quick succession, allowing some of us 12 consecutive days away from the drudgery of earning our daily crust, for the expense of only 31/2 days annual leave. Thanks then, are due to God, the Monarchy and Karl Marx. How's that for three in an odd pair?

We decided, of course, to waste Thursday. Just bimble around doing as little as humanly possible: getting over the over indulgence of the previous night's quiz courtesy jfs  (where were you all? Come to the next one), reading, watching telly, dozing and playing around on the computers a little. Marvellous.

Since then it's been rather different. We have, you see, decided to decorate the Gin Palace. Oh Man. Some jobs should just not be started. We are restricting our activities to the living room and stair well/landing. All day Friday, all day Saturday and all day today. It's still not finished, though the end is in sight. Furtle's folks arrived to help today and help they did. Furtle and Furtle Ma went to Home Base for paints and came back with garden furniture (and paint). Furtle Ma then devastated the garden while Furtle Pa helped with the painting. He having more experience in the field than we, immediately doubled the job by including items we had been prepared to let go. But since he was helping and working exceedingly hard, it would have been most churlish to gainsay him.  So it is that we have yet to finish the job and will be launching into it again tomorrow. The problem, my dears, is that we have taken a liking to the white undercoat we applied at such length the first two days. This means that we have now added a white top coat (overcoat?). Unfortunately, while it makes the place look much bigger and airier, white does not like obliterating the colours that were there beforehand. You begin to understand why it has taken so long. Oh well.

What happened to Sunday, I hear you ask - yes, you, the smelly boy at the back. I'm sure I heard you ask? Well yes, I did rather skip over that, didn't I?

We took the day off, that's what happened. We slept in and then, in the esteemed company of jfs, ingenue_the and harold_chasen ellefurtle and I caught the bus to Walthamstow for lunch and drinks with westernind and forbinproject and a mighty fine time was had by all. Sadly, that fun is now in the past and we return tomorrow - after a suitable lie in - to the subtle art of applying recalcitrant paint to unwilling surfaces buy means of unwieldy rollers and brushes. 

A tip for the unwary: pay someone else to do your decorating for you.

Easter

Well, what can I say? I have neglected you all for far too long.

Easter holidays, see. Thanks to the lateness of Easter,the hormones of the Heir to the Throne and to socialists the world around, we have three public holidays in quick succession, allowing some of us 12 consecutive days away from the drudgery of earning our daily crust, for the expense of only 31/2 days annual leave. Thanks then, are due to God, the Monarchy and Karl Marx. How's that for three in an odd pair?

We decided, of course, to waste Thursday. Just bimble around doing as little as humanly possible: getting over the over indulgence of the previous night's quiz courtesy jfs  (where were you all? Come to the next one), reading, watching telly, dozing and playing around on the computers a little. Marvellous.

Since then it's been rather different. We have, you see, decided to decorate the Gin Palace. Oh Man. Some jobs should just not be started. We are restricting our activities to the living room and stair well/landing. All day Friday, all day Saturday and all day today. It's still not finished, though the end is in sight. Furtle's folks arrived to help today and help they did. Furtle and Furtle Ma went to Home Base for paints and came back with garden furniture (and paint). Furtle Ma then devastated the garden while Furtle Pa helped with the painting. He having more experience in the field than we, immediately doubled the job by including items we had been prepared to let go. But since he was helping and working exceedingly hard, it would have been most churlish to gainsay him.  So it is that we have yet to finish the job and will be launching into it again tomorrow. The problem, my dears, is that we have taken a liking to the white undercoat we applied at such length the first two days. This means that we have now added a white top coat (overcoat?). Unfortunately, while it makes the place look much bigger and airier, white does not like obliterating the colours that were there beforehand. You begin to understand why it has taken so long. Oh well.

What happened to Sunday, I hear you ask - yes, you, the smelly boy at the back. I'm sure I heard you ask? Well yes, I did rather skip over that, didn't I?

We took the day off, that's what happened. We slept in and then, in the esteemed company of jfs, ingenue_the and harold_chasen ellefurtle and I caught the bus to Walthamstow for lunch and drinks with westernind and forbinproject and a mighty fine time was had by all. Sadly, that fun is now in the past and we return tomorrow - after a suitable lie in - to the subtle art of applying recalcitrant paint to unwilling surfaces buy means of unwieldy rollers and brushes. 

A tip for the unwary: pay someone else to do your decorating for you.