Seb Palmer

We had dinner in the garden yesterday evening. Lovely!

As the light started to fade, Teresa had an inspiration…

The moon was out, looking alien yet lovely. After dinner, some vintage Partridge. Lovely stuff. ‘Not my words, the words of Shakin’ Stevens.’

Went to bed about 10.30-‘ish. Slept very quickly. That in itself is unusual. Pooped from all the DIY, furniture and book/stuff moving, I reckon.

Butt… woke up at 2 am. It’s now 4.15 am. And I haven’t slept at all in that intervening two hours plus.

Arthritic pain in left hand first finger remains excruciating. Regular co-codamol only dampens it. It’s not reducing the inflammation

Mind is active. I’m thinking I’ll re-paint the drum room feature wall. The blue in there isn’t working. For starters there are two non-matching shades. I think I’ll go instead for a mustard yellow:

B&Q opens 7am. Think I’ll be awake till then. I’ll buy some Valspar French Mustard, and some masking tape.

Maybe just read until then?

LATER…

Well, I eventually fell asleep, around 5am. It’s now 9.45. So I got in a good shift of sleep after all.

Friday, and this promises to be the final day – day eleven!? – of this built-in storage build. It’s been fun!

This upper area is theoretically for suitcases, and suchlike. But having seen the enormity of some of Antonio’s cases, I think they might be better on the floor!

The lower area is subdivided, as can be seen above. Food related tech gubbins at right, clothing and other misc storage at left.

The picture directly below is how it looked during the touching up (paint) and masking tape removal stage, earlier today.

We can and probably will do more. In the fullness of time. Poss’ doors, maybe even another shelf, in the top part? And maybe doors and a little set of (shoe?) shelves in the lower left section?

And/or a curtain – poss in this vein? (above) – to draw a veil across the whole lot, should the tenant or guest(s) so desire.

After a short delivery shift, around lunch time, I stopped to read a bit in the environs of, and generally admire, Crowland, or ‘Croyland’ Abbey.

Really enjoying this latest book.

The main stained-glass window here is pretty spectacular.

I came out, into a beautiful sunny day, and sat under a tree, with this terrific view. And there I finished the chapter on St Paul’s, and the fires of 1666 and The Blitz.

I’m growing to love and appreciate graveyards better, as I visit more and more churches.

I took the above shot by accident, as I was putting my iPhone down. I went to delete it, and then thought… no, that’s actually rather lovely.

As is so often the case, a visit to an ecclesiastical building proves well worth the effort. Lifting the spirits.

Mixed up some ‘mud’, and started filling holes n’ cracks, etc. The biggest was the one in the coving, at top left in the above pic. Aside from that it was all little ‘uns (screw-hole recesses, etc).

Having filled in most (but not all of) the various holes, I got out the Frog Tape, and masked off everything. Ready for an undercoat.

Masking stuff off can be a bit time consuming. And it doesn’t even always work brilliantly. But it’s all part of the process. And there’s a certain satisfaction in doing a job right, step by step.

And then it was simply a matter of slapping down a coat of ‘brilliant white’. I love how paint transforms a project. It really looks so much better now (below). And almost finished.

As anticipated, both the coving and the framework of the storage unit look sooo much better, now they’re painted. And the various multi-segment sections don’t show as such.

I also did a few dabs of Dragon’s Lair blue, to tidy things up. The next (and almost final*) step, for now, will be a brilliant white gloss coat, on the wood only.

We may add a curtain, or doors, at some later point. But for now it’s just going to be an open structure.

* I still need to add the pole(s) or rail(s), for hanging clothes from. I’ll most likely do that tomorrow.

LAST THING…

Well, we went for a curry, to The Hippodrome. That’s an historic thing in itself. As we haven’t been there for over fourteen months.

On the way there I bought the metalwork parts for the clothes rail, from Screwfix. Teresa encouraged me to get this done, before calling it a night. One less job for the morrow.

I had to add a ‘thickening’ disc, to the partition wall. Otherwise the ply wouldn’t have been thick enough to mount the pole-holding fixtures. Having done one side like that, I opted for symmetry, and did the same on t’other side n’all.

The working space was uncomfortably tight. It was nice that Teresa helped me at this stage. And took a few action snaps!

And just to get a feel for how it’ll look/work, I put in a couple of coat hangers. Very little left to do now. Mostly tidying the room, in readiness for Antonio’s arrival, on Monday.

Crivens… sh*t’s gettin’ real!

I love Santana, and I love Alice (and John Coltrane). They’ve both made some truly sublime music. Mostly separately. But also together. ‘Going Home’, off 1973’s Welcome is a case in point.

I’ve finally acquired a hard copy of this, after many moons of only having it on mp3. Prompted primarily by a FB post on it, by my best buddy, Dan Ellis.

This is a Vocalion SACD reissue (poss 2017?). But today I listened to it in my car. Not ideal. But I was working. So needs must!

The stellar ensemble includes Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and Armando Peraza, as well as Santana, his keyboardist of that period, Tom Coster, and, on soprano sax and flute, Jules Broussard.

Alice Coltrane not only plays harp and keys, but supplies one composition (?), and handles the fantastic string arrangements. And her Wurlitzer solo on (?)? Bonkers!

Phew! This is, I think, astonishing. Musical perfection. Beautiful chords, on what sounds like a Rhodes. A triangle. And a beautiful half-time shuffle, with fab roto-tom fills.

T-shirt du jour:

A Chinese lady in Waterside Antiques had this groovy bag. Trying to find one to buy in the UK isn’t proving easy! Apparently it’s based on illustrations by one Alison Oliver, for BabyLit, a series of books that render classic literature in a form for babies!

This morning I reinstalled the coving, forward of its old position.

I purchased the above, from Screwfix. I have to confess that the plastic mitre guide didn’t really work as well as I’d hoped. It did get me most of the way there. But I had to finesse it (hardly the right word for my amateurish bodging!).

The pic atop this post is how it looks now. I just need to fill in this annoying gap (above). The following images show how I got there.

I just used the mitre guide, without thinking too hard, to make the first cut – above – and thought ‘fab, that was easy!’ But I soon discovered all was not as intended.

I managed the join a little better on the second go.

This pic reveals the shortcomings of the first cut. Still, never mind. Live and learn, etc.

Rather than buy new coving, as I’m poorer than the proverbial church mouse, I’m re-using what I took down. That broke into shorter sections, during removal. So this final span required three pieces.

I’m takin a short rest break. After which I’ll may try and fill in the aforementioned irritating gap. It’ll need a lick of paint, to refresh it. Not sure if we have any ‘flat white’?

Another perhaps more pressing step is to measure up for the vertical dividing panel. I was going to get that at West End DIY, this art’noon. But Simon, the only one there who can cut stuff to order, was’nae in.

So I bought the ply at Ridgeons, now known as Huws Gray.

I did get some white paint at West End DIY, for undercoating this unit, and tarting up certain other areas, such as the coving that I shifted forward.

This still needs another vertical at the back, to secure the dividing panel along all edges.

I might pop out to Wickes this evening? To get the last bit(s) of timber, and – more or less (structurally, at any rate) – finish this project off. Then it’ll be time to start filling, sanding, and painting.

Final phase for today…

I did pop to Wickes. And bought two more roof battens. They’re ideal for this job. I added a length to the rear of the vertical partition. So that’s now secured on all four edges. The whole thing feels incredibly solid.

Certain steps were quite fiddly. Like cutting the skirting profile into the bottom of this final upright. But patience and persistence got me there in the end.

Antonio and Sofi visited this afternoon, dropping off some of Antonio’s stuff. He’s going back to Spain (again!), for a brief work do, over the weekend. He moves in on Monday… Crikey!

The day after yesterday, aka today… Just back from a long early morning delivery shift. Pooped!

Prob’ do some more work on this project today. But before that, some chill time. Meanwhile a couple of pics:

And the new socket box. I need to install a grommet. And sand and paint the surround. Then I’ll probably temporarily cap it off with the face, for now.

Some time later…

So… sanded and painted the new socket surround. I’ll mount the plastic face-plate (soon as I find it!).

Meanwhile, I bought a sheet of 3-ply, and I’ve been trimming it to the irregular size and shape of the shelf-frame. Nearly there:

Having another little workman’s tea break, now. Once this shelving part is done, I’ll return to vertical elements, including the space-dividing wall, and clothes-hanging poles/rails.

Found the face-plate, and got that on. It’s not wired in yet. That’s partly ‘cause I’m not sure if I ought to come off the plug at left, or – if poss’? – directly off the ring main.

This’ll be handy when it is wired in: it’s lower profile that the older ones. Plus it has two USB ports.

After some fiddling, I got the plywood shelf to more or less fit. As can be seen below, it needed planing and chiselling a bit to get it flush along the front edge. I went old school, with hand tools, for that part. Fun!

This will probably be hidden anyway, with a cross-member.

I’m hoping – and I firmly believe – that this will support the weight of any stuff guests or tenants need to store.

Time to stop for dinner.

And lastly… after dinner I did a little bit more: I fixed a bar from the back wall across the floor, to secure the middle vertical, which divides the fridge area from where clothes can be hung.

There will also be another ply panel, this time vertically aligned, dividing these areas as well. As I need both left and right planes on which to fix whatever will support any clothes rails or poles.

I also put a second and wider beam across the lower front of the shelf. This hides the Joni between supporting structure and plywood, adds a little lip to the shelf – to stop stuff rolling or falling out – strengthens the overall structure, and brings that horizontal flush with all the front verticals.

I had to do it with two pieces, as I didn’t have any leftovers that’d bridge that particular span in one go. But once planed, sanded, and with filler and paint added, I reckon it’ll look fine.

One little conundrum: how am I going to deal with that little void, due to the concave bowing of the wall, at left? I have several ideas. But I’ll save that till towards the end of this project.

Another issue, that kind of sorted itself out, was the right hand side vertical. Rather than doing it floor to ceiling, as I had on the left, I just did it from the shelf to the ceiling. This obviates the difficulties posed by the position of the power sockets.

I’m only on page five of Peter Ross’ Steeple Chasing, and I already love it.