Brass monkeys and bank holidays

It's been a lovely long weekend. In fact, it isn't over yet, as I'm off tomorrow as well - although it is arguable whether going to the dentist means it's a proper day off.

Overall the weekend has been semi-successful: there's been a few things I haven't done (mostly because I don't want to, and am happy to find reasons to put them off), but I have managed to do the ceiling and the existing paintwork in the soon-to-be bedroom. And what a job the ceiling was. Someone kindly artexed a few years ago - nothing too fancy, just the blobby stuff designed to cover up the cracks in the 100+ year old plaster, but it's still a pain to do.

So I'd filled it all last weekend, painted the edges on Friday (before I realised it was going to be too late to do it all in one go), and then painted it on Saturday, hoping it would be the only one. Half way through I got a bit worried - it went rather dark, even though I'd calculated I had oodles of time. And painting white on white in the dark is pretty tricky. So I turned round to find a snowstorm - and big flakes it was too! Not that it lasted long ... ten minutes later the sun was out and destroying the evidence that we saw any snow. Not unusual around these parts - being sea dwellers ensure reasonably temperate (if windy) climes.

Anyway, heaven only knows I got absolutely covered in paint myself (not to mention my poor glasses - they took an awful lot of patience to de-speckle) but hey, it would be worth it, get it over and done with? Not so fast, cowboy! As it dried it became obvious that the off-white artex was rather more off-white than anticipated and, moreover, still taking a sneaky peek through the nice clean everwhite satin emulsion.

So Sunday morning saw second attempt. And it now looks very white. Lovely jubbly! A quick wizz round with the gloss to do the paintwork and sills, and hey presto, I've done all I can until we make mud pies and try and tackle the plastering. I'd post a pic but, lets face it, white ceilings are far from rivetting. Maybe I'll do compare and contrast with the pre-paint piccies I took, try and demonstrate that it does look better, but in isolation I wouldn't expect anyone to believe me!!

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Today was archery day. Off to sunny North Wales for a fun afternoon on the field, the first of the year. It was *&$£ing freezing! First there was the wind - nice and gusty, nothing too predictable, and with a nice cold bite. Then when you decided that you'd got used to that, and that it wasn't so bad, especially given the time of year, it decided to rain/sleet/hail/snow. Take your pick. I few minutes of whatever, brief interlude while the wind cut through your slightly damp clothes, then off it went again. Brrrr!! Only consolation was Mrs F's lunch (she spoils me!) and the Malteser easter egg I came home with. I've already donated the egg itself to himself, but the Maltesers are mine, all mine, I say!!! Mmmmm .....