Late, yesterday night, I saw a light shine

You can't make an omlette without breaking eggs

 

 

With more than a helping hand from my friend and building guru John, we dismantled the old rotten window

 

cleaned the rust from the guttering and painted it

 

 

and fitted this

 

 

Result!











As idle as a painted ship

 

and all the boards did shrink

 

After a day's exhausting digging  I finally managed to connect the water tank I'd previously cleared to the spring which was its source; digging out the old pot pipes and replacing with new plastic ones. It took a while to seal it at both ends but I felt great when it was done.

 

 

 

Sadly, after one of the wettest winters in recent years, the next morning I opened the tank to find it as dry as Gandhi's flip flop. So, one of the next purchases will be 300m of alcathene water pipe to connect to the stream on the other side of the road. Oh well!





No dark sarcasm in the classroom...

 

If you don't eat yer meat...

 

Well after nearly 43 years of carnivoring I was looking forward to my just desserts (or should that be: looking forward to Just Dessert). To the untrained eye it might look like random blockwork, but in terms of the manse, it's one of the last steps in the walls being wind and watertight and... all in all, it's more than just another brick in the wall.

 

 

 

 

...what do you see?
Smilin' faces all around rushin' through the busy town(!)

 

 

The other step was what finally convinced me to changecareer paths was a piece of joinery. I took this

 

 

and, restoring the original sashes, made this

 

which I then put here

 

 

so it looks like this now

 

 

 

and, much as I enjoyed my time in the classroom, nothing came near the feeling of achievement that I got when I fixed it into position.