The sound of one hand painting

I've got a bit to get done around Chateau Quarterdane. The northern winter took me by surprise last year. I knew that painting outside was ill advised over a certain temperature, the paint starts to turn very gluggy at about 90f....I was not aware that you could not paint outside when it falls below 50f, or 10c. Several home projects that I would have enjoyed leisurely completing during the several months of Summer, Still Summer, Indian Summer and Cooler But Still Really Quite Pleasant Autumn in Australia were hacked down in their prime by an American winter that exceeded my expectations. To cut a long story short (never my forte - I am generally considered incapable of shouting "Fire!" without a 15 minute prologue), I got half the house painted last September....you can see the punchline coming, can't you?....see, the house was a rather unattractive shade of light blue, and even given the unlikely possibility that the colour was once attractive when it was fresh, it had become about as fresh as my breath on a Saturday morning...

I tried. No, really, I thought I had at least another month up my sleeve. There was no perceived need to rush this particular project toward the top of the mounting To-Do List.

By October, it was so cold that I couldn't look out of the window without putting on my red long johns....for 7 months, the temp did not get above 50.....for 4 of those 7 months, the garden was under snow......lovely, picturesque, iconic, don't get me wrong - my American friends actually threatened me with physical violence if I didn't shut up about "how cool is snow!!??!!".....I guess they've seen a bit more of it than I have.....the half of the outside of the house that I'd painted green looked great, but even I could not deny that the other half that was still a shabby faded blue just detracted from the whole effect I'd been aiming for, you know? Especially given that I'd started at the back of the house, and half of the front of the house was green and half was blue. The neighbours fucking love me.....

So. A new week, a new plan. I'm pumped, I'm, like, READY man, you know what I'm saying?!? Hoo-ah! Git R' Done! Yesterday we - my mate Pug and I - hooked in all day, threw several gallons of green paint at the front of the house, including the little known North Face, and called it good. Today was gutters and downpipes day. I was up and about at 5:30 and raring to get into it....my attitude has always been that when you ask a mate to give you a hand with a project around the house, you make sure you're out of bed, dressed and into it before they arrive, you work harder than everyone else, take shorter breaks and you don't call it quits until they look like they've had enough....maybe that's just me...a shower and two cups of strong coffee later, and I've emptied the dishwasher, done two loads of washing, and I'm twitching to get to the hardware store to purr chase a couple gallons of white satin exterior....I kill time by doing a grocery run, dropping into the Post Office to collect a parcel.......and it's still only 7:35, 25 minutes until the hardware store opens.....by 8:30, I'm home with the paint, seen Fred off to work, and I'm into it...Pug pulls up 15 minutes later, and the job's on....

Today was one of those days when you get it done and you're knackered but you look at what you've got done and it's all worth it. The house looks really good, better than it has in years. Working on the outside of your house is, well, there's not much like it....sunshine, fresh air, a cruisy 70f/20c, and mind numbing repetition....I had a few things on my mind this morning....I have no idea what they were, now, I can say that whatever it was doesn't seem anywhere near as important now as it did this morning.....hours on end of doing a pretty good impersonation of Daniel-san, up-down, paint the fence.....the hours and the cares melt away.....the 3rd beer has gone down well, and it really is time for a shower and an early-for-me night....tomorrow it's window frames and eaves.....world hunger? Iran? Too easy, I'll have a solution by teatime tomorrow...watch this space....