............to create a quiet corner.

Enjoy your weekend Nana.

That's sad

Have a relaxing weekend everyone. I'll be in Oxford tomorrow and Bourton-on-the-Water in Sunday with the visitors. Will look for the aforementioned (on another thread) AstroTurf .

Greatnan

Nanadogsbody Our last caravan was anchored to the ground very close to the road. Whenever large vehicles passed, it would rock alarmingly. The bedroom was piled high with stuff that we needed. We slept on the side seats...no room to turn over! The Ascot heater couldn't handle the water piped in from the burn. The peat clogged it and it ceased to function. We showered in cold, brown water. Occasionally, our pals offered us use of their bathroom. Having a hot bath was a bonus! A peacock came from out of the woods and took up residence on the plot. It got along well with the builders. They would share lunch with it. It would follow me around, and park itself on the bonnet of mr soop's car. We called him Boc...because that's the sound he made. The neighbour remembers Boc visiting his garden as a chick. The mother bird introduced it to him. At the time he came into our lives, Boc was approx 20 years old. At the end of the build, on a bitterly cold Dec night, he left us and never returned.

Well I've finished the landing now, but I'll keep that in mind for next time.

greatnan

My daughter and her husband lived in a very private house, and they painted their ceilings stark naked, with just plastic shower caps to protect their hair. As they are a very loving couple, I am not sure how many breaks they took!

A friend did a self build * soop* They lived in a caravan in, what eventually became, their front garden, for 18 months. It was worth it in the end she said, but there were times she despaired. Hope today goes well and try not to worry about the abseil.

Back up the ladder... think I should have done this job before getting the new carpet. Actually talking of lampshades....

Greatnan that story is even funnier than some of you witty jokes.

Nana do take care when negotiating the ladder. Don't want you having a dizzy turn. The thing about decorating is, that once you start and see what a positive difference a coat of paint makes, it's difficult to clean your brushes and leave the rest. When our home was being constructed, Mr soop and I wore black dustbin-liner-overalls and primed and painted every length of timber. The task seemed never ending. No sooner had we dealt with one lorry load of timber, than Jewson would deliver another. The liners protected us from rain as well as paint. I was responsible for decorating our present home once the build had finished and the plaster dried. It was a mammoth task, especially the ceilings. That was nine years ago. If and when we build the orchard plot cottage, I'm afraid that we'll need to pay someone to do some of the work. I'm not as fit as I used to be.
Well done. Enjoy your before returning to the task.

My sister once changed her lampshade, decided it clashed with her cushion covers, the new cushions didn't go with the carpet........she ended up with a new suite as well.

Me too soop.

Just climbed off the ladder. Painting the spare room for our visitors, but it sort of morphed into painting the upstairs landing too. Wish I'd never started this, so come to the quiet place for a relax with a coffee. Could do with something stronger but sun still too high in sky, and besides I'd fall off the ladder.

I have your back soop xxxxxx

Nellie I suspect that I'm becoming more abnormal with the passing of time. However, with pals like you, I'll cope.

Thats ok then was scared you was "normal",couldn't cope with that

Short-sighted and a tad batty!

What you like

Screaming with laughter! I misread Bag's message. Sorry to disappoint you Nellie...I'll just swap my specs. Seem to be wearing an out of date pair. Well, that's my excuse.

soop darling I was getting all excited and then saw bags had written firelighters. And now I am all sad and disappointed might have to pop in see lil

Don't let Nellie hear you mention firefighters, Bags...she'll be round in a trice

Or, in our case, where the wind blows over the hill behind the house and straight down the "chimbly". Still does that even with a so-called anti-down draught cowl on top of the chimney (which blew off during the hurricane last winter anyway; it's somewhere in the shed now). So we have to use about half a dozen firelighters, or greasy kitchen roll, or dust out of the tumble dryer, or all three, to light the stove when the wind's from that direction. Very satisfying to get it right and not have to de-smoke the room

They had a "plate" that dropped down to keep the cold air back. When there was no fire, of course! Our (sixties) fireplace hasn't got that. I used to shove newspaper up to keep the cold back but, of course, used to forget it when I lit the fire! Rooms fill very quickly with smoke when the chimney is blocked!

I remember the ice patterns on the windows.

We are so lucky now. (Quite right too!)

Those bedroom fireplaces must have let a lot of cold air in too. I don't ever remember having a fire in one.

We certainly weren't posh though, we had hardly any furniture downstairs!

I used to tip my yuckky medicine into our bedroom hearth.