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On Monday morning there were three “Drookit” shedders, in Jan, Ali 2Sheds and myself. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favour when we made a start to improving the under build of our patio. Some of you may have seen the pictures I posted on What’s App showing the improved design and put into action by Jan and 2Sheds. When you see what has been built I feel sure you will appreciate the advantage of not needing to build a retaining wall to hold back the hardcore from pouring down the slope. It took us a while on Monday to get the design right, so progress was a bit slower, but with some help on Friday we should be able to build faster, now that we have worked out the details. It would be good if there were some willing bodies to help push this job on, under Jan’s supervision. My thoughts were maybe a few helping Jan continue with the retaining wall, someone else helping Jim lay some slabs, plus some of the used slabs need the concrete removed from the underside. So there are enough jobs to go around for those who wish to participate. We are needing to make a concerted effort and try to finish the patio during the better weather of the summer months.
Last Monday two ladies who attend ‘The Meeting Place’ asked if we could help with furniture repairs. By the time you have read this I will have completed one of the jobs in Marchbank Road. It is a repair to a relatively new Jack &Jill garden seat with an adjoining table in between. Due to its physical size it wasn’t practical to bring to the workshop so I have gone to Mrs. Alexander’s house and repaired the seat. While there Mrs Alexander told me she had a problem with her conservatory door and she couldn’t locK it anymore, so she tied it closed with string. As she is a widow I didn’t want to leave her like that so sprayed door locks and the sliding closing points with contact cleaner to remove old oil etc. Then sprayed locks, hinges and sliding security points with WD40. This improved the door considerably but she is a frail lady and couldn’t muster the strength to fully push up the handle to engage the door, although I found it no problem. I decided to remove and reposition the engagement slots in the door frame and that seemed to cure the problem. Another satisfied customer.
The second job, a chair, will be delivered to the workshop on Friday. It was described as a joint needing glued !!. Sounds simple enough, we will see. I will come armed with long clamps etc. for that job. The lady who owns the chair will uplift on Monday, when she attends The Meeting Place.
According to Alister, our leader, he feels the delivery of our wood store container is getting closer, which is good news, and should help us tidy our side of the hall grounds, which permanently looks like a bomb site. As you know he has managed to get this container free of charge to the Shed, and unbelievably I think he has managed to get it delivered free of charge as well. As they say “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know “. This container will need to be fitted out with shelving, another job, and there are a few ideas on how this can be done.
If that is not enough work for you we have a ramp to dismantle at Keith’s house and rebuild at the Shed. This will need a few mods to make it work but it is perfectly
do-able. This is another reason to push on with the patio , as we have enough slabs to pave below the ramp position. So push on with paving. Alister, before he left on holiday, has organised 4 tonne’s of sand and hardcore to be delivered, hopefully this Friday.
On Friday, 2Sheds (or someone else) has kindly agreed to help Scott paint the fencing around the scout’s container unit. This has been held up due to wet weather but the forecast is good for Friday and it would be satisfying to get a job completed and put to bed. ( just checked weather again since starting to write this and it has changed to a 70% chance of drizzle) F
I am sure some of you may have looked at the link I put on What’s App regarding the steamer trunk. From that advert in Facebook JCB for Sale/Wanted, I seem to have three potential members. I am sure if they arrive tomorrow you will all make them feel welcome. John an opportunity for you to polish your welcome speech and premises tour. Lol.
I spoke with Anne, our neighbour who lives opposite the hall side gates, when I was waiting for the RAC on Wednesday. She is a nice lady and someone I am keen to stay friendly with, for obvious reasons. She has the remains of two conifer trees in her front garden that she would like removed, I.e. cut flush to ground. They have been partly removed and there is roughly 3ft/4ft left standing. The tree trunks are not very big and can easily be cut straight through with a small electric chainsaw. So if someone would like to own that job it would be helpful. Just bring your saw and we can carry the trees across to our back yard and will dispose of them on next bonfire.
Another job, NOT needing to be done immediately, is the trees at our Workshop side could do with being trimmed back. It will give us a lot more light and open up our patio area. The main reason all these work commitments have been itemised is to keep you all informed of the volume and variety of work to be completed and if there is any one of the jobs you feel you could participate in, your input would be appreciated. Remember a few of us meet on a Monday morning 9.30 onwards, if you can manage please help us complete these tasks. Thanks to Rab we have invested in some work gloves that are available now at our workshop.
Alister always includes in his notes some of the jobs he has undertaken at home, so following on in that vein.
Obviously I repaired a Jack & Jill seat plus conservatory door, then I spent time in our garden, lifted bags and bags of bark we put on our borders last year to suppress weed growth ,as my wife doesn’t feel she is able look after the borders due to her declining health. Unfortunately our flowers have not been so prolific as normal so we have put it down to the application of bark.
I cut both lawns twice , plus my Neighbour’s lawns , as they were on holiday. Our neighbours daughter is called Sophia and she is five years old. Before they left to go to Cornwall, Sophia asked me if I would water her tomato plants. She was clearly excited about her tomatoes. They were new plants so no tomatoes had formed yet. For her coming back on Tuesday, I went into the Co-op and bought tomatoes on the vine and hung them from her tomato plants. It was fantastic to hear her excitement as she tried to explain to me about her newly found tomatoes. Who is the biggest kid, HaHa.
Our immediate next door neighbours were also away on holiday, as well as all the children in the street, so there was nobody here that would normally look after Nibbles. Nibbles is a big rabbit, it should be called Thumper, lol. So I was rabbit sitting, going round every morning to let him out of his run, then at night feeding him and putting him to bed.
I like rabbit stew as well, No, No, I better not.
I have also installed a new Whirly Gig clothes line for Betty. Digging the hole in her lawn and making sure the socket was vertical before postcrete-ing it in. Betty is the wife of my old friend Rhoddy who died last month. He was 95. Friday nights are not the same now, and I miss him.
On my day from hell, Wednesday, I picked up about 12 bags of sand and gravel mix and took it to the Shed. I had to tip them out in our patio area as the neighbour in the next street, whom I got it from, was making an alteration to his drive and needed the bags back. This is a good mix for the slab laying and is very similar to what is coming from MKM.
Remember my F1 model car that I was building. What a disaster, I put on a dark wax coating and it looked terrible, it took me days to remove the coating. Next I thought I would paint the car red, make it a Ferrari. Well after three undercoates followed by three red top coat’s, it was looking good. I had the idea that I would finish with a high gloss laquer to make it really shine. Well, it’s a wonder you didn’t hear me screaming, there was a chemical reaction between the laquer and the paint, it cracked and bubbled up. So I had to strip it back yet again and sand it all down. This model has been sanded so much it must be 3” shorter than when I made it. I then decided to use Rustin’s Quick Drying Clear Varnish on it. I gave it three coats, and did it all in one day. Why, why, why did I not do that originally. This car has taken months for no reason other than Stewart’s mistakes. My favourite saying “ The man who hasn’t made a mistake, hasn’t made anything. “ if I manage to fit the wheels on to the car I’ll bring it tomorrow for you to view and criticise.
It’s dram time now, looking forward to seeing you all on Friday as I always enjoy the banter and comradeship when we work together. Remember your £1 for coffee, it does make a difference.
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Guest Author / Current Holder of "Eejit of the Year Award"
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