Progress

Two weeks of almost no rain, and what did fall came during the hours of darkness. The man on the weather report said it was the first dominating high pressure system since early June and I can well believe him. So, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth,* and despite the constant pain in my arm, I've been mostly painting for the last two weeks.

look, no scaffolding

Well, I say mostly painting, but really I've been moving scaffolding from one place to another, washing walls, filling cracks with fresh mortar, that sort of stuff. The secret to a good finish is in the preparation, apparently. Which means my walls must have a very good finish to them.

 ahh, there it is

Yesterday afternoon, I put the last white coat on the window edges on the back, south-facing wall and then dismantled the scaffolding to take it round the front. That's two walls done, out of four, but I can confidently say I'm more than halfway through, as the front of the house is only two storeys high, compared to the three a the back. The colour is Dulux Weathershield Cornish Cream, with the guttering and facia boards in lovely gloss black - far nicer than the mixture of dirty white, algae green and faded pornstar red, I think you'll agree.

what it used to look like

The only problem is that I estimated I'd need six pots of paint to finish. So far I've used five and a quarter. At least the shop's still doing their buy two get one free offer. It makes a big difference.

Progress today has come to a grinding halt, not because of a change in the weather (although it is a bit driech), but because the new windows have arrived and are being fitted as I type. Away rattly old rotting wooden sashes, hello new ultra-efficient UPVC sashes. OK, so UPVC isn't the most environmentally friendly material in the world, but I reckon their carbon footprint will be washed away in one winter of saved gas bills. Or at least I hope so. They don't need to be painted either, which is a big bonus.

Tomorrow the scaffolding goes up at the front. Time to wash down, fill and generally ensmarten the whole. Just a pity that once I'm done I'll have to start on the railings. Oh, and the inside which needs to be decorated before the Horse Doctor's mum and sister come to stay at the end of October.

And somewhere in amongst all that I've got to get on with writing. A couple of thousand words a week is not going to get the thing done by the end of the year. Not unless it's really short.

Remind me again why I ever thought restoring an old house was a good idea?

* or any horse for that matter, not if I can help it. Have you ever smelled a horse's breath? And they bite, you know.