The Apprentice

This week I have been mostly on a building site!

In view of The Builder nearing the end of his latest project and also due to his slight incapacitation what with his partially slipped disc and "ladies hips" (see earlier post) it seems my help was needed.

I took most of the week off my (paid) work and donned some old leggings and a big jumper (actually I wear that outfit on most other days too!)

My main task was scrubbing, painting and cleaning. He's had his brother help with a lot of the jobs like painting and now it's my job to try to make good the splodges left by my brother in law. They say if you pay peanuts you get monkeys, well he's not being paid anything........just saying!

I'm not too bad at cleaning but this is some pretty heavy duty work; scraping plaster and paint from windows and floors, it's playing havoc with my nails, and fingers come to that! I'm trying to clean the windows to a smear free shine, in the knowledge that my windows at home were last shown a duster probably 2 years ago.

The facilities are a little lacking too, I was told I could now use the loo as it's connected to the drains, there's no door on the bathroom though, and a few workmen about! I also turned down the offer of a cup of builders tea, well you would too wouldn't you?

The cups haven't been washed other than a sluice around in a bucket of water once a month!

They are far, far worse than this photo suggests!

So I may or may not have sneaked out to use the loo at a nearby store and I may or may not have found myself a cappuccino......

Well he's not paying me so the least I can have is a treat, and a frothy coffee is always a treat.

When it comes to being paid I'm trying very hard to persuade him to finish the job and take some time off. He's getting too old and rickety to keep on with this heavy, manual work - what with ladies hips and all.

Yes take some time off and stay home, he could - repair the roof, paint the outside of the house, fix the conservatory, paint the inside of the house (every room), dismantle the broken loo (flush and cistern won't work but lazy teenagers still use it - bucket on standby!) and make it into a pantry, hire a digger for the garden, bulldoze the shed, find and re-attach the missing door to summerhouse then move it to the other end of the garden (whole summerhouse not just the door), lay a patio, finish the balcony so we can actually open the doors without falling 20 feet to the ground, stop the bath leaking so we don't need to stuff an old towel under it....oh the list goes on! (can you tell a builder lives in this house?)

He'd probably prefer to take on another job, it'll be easier on his back and ladies hips!

PS Thank you for all the lovely comments on the previous post (the very long and rambling one), my garden isn't very nice or well kept, I just photographed it carefully. It appears bigger than it is as it is a square-ish plot and the house is squeezed sideways into a corner, very close to the neighbours, and therefore there is no front or back garden, it's just one square.
I will take some more pictures to show it's faults more accurately but also to show the progress of my veggie patch which seems to be doing nicely.

PPS I have a question which you may be able to help me answer; I'm hoping to take Little Miss (just the 2 of us) to London in the Summer for a couple of nights and maybe a show (for my birthday maybe). I can sort the train and theatre but don't know where to stay. I'd like somewhere convenient for central London and inexpensive, - Travelodge type prices. We may well stay in a Travelodge/Premier Inn but just thought someone out there, with more idea than me, may know of a little gem to recommend to us. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you

Jay

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