I love water features, all that splashing sound is really soothing except when it’s inside the house. The cat’s late much lamented little mate, Tiny Cat, wasn’t quite so picky. He was drawn magnetically to the sound of running water wherever it was. A little inconvenient when he used to attempt to jump in the basin whilst you were washing, but endearing none the less. He would have been delighted with the small waterfall in the room-with-no-name, I was less so. In all likelihood another tradesman would be making an appearance chez nous shortly.
When I called roof guy today, he answered his mobile perched, not surprisingly, on a roof. Luckily he had a pencil and a plank of wood and took down my name and contact details whilst explaining he was a little stuffed at the moment, what with all the rain we have been having. I took it to mean he was behind in his work, and it occurred to me that apart from anything else, being a roofer must be a tad frustrating. Think about it, the very weather that brings you business opportunities also prevents you from fulfilling them. He had already done some work on our roofs although not the bit that was leaking, so we were confident of his work, and besides he had originally come with the recommendation of lawn guy. He’ll be around to take a look in a few days.
Hearing about sitting on roofs reminded me of when I was working as a decorator many moons ago. I don’t mind heights, but I hate ladders after two faulty ones gave way from under me on two separate occasions. Anyway I had been asked to paint some fascias and windows which were three stories up and had said I wouldn’t do it without scaffolding. Scaffolding was duly hired and at one point I got the home owner to ascend to the heights to show the extent of some rot as he was going to have to hire a carpenter. It was only as he froze at the top of the ladder going down he mentioned he was terrified of heights and wasn’t sure he could climb down. He was a nice guy, but I didn’t fancy spending the night up there with him so eventually I talked him down rung by rung. We agreed not to do that ever again.
We went round to the door suppliers to choose a new door to replace our replacement front door. Apparently most doors these days are made in Indonesia according to the assistant and are commonly faced with a thinnish veneer. This had become suspect as our door had started to part company with its veneer as well as letting in water through the panels. We were therefore keen to avoid this and get a solid wood door giving careful consideration to sustainability, etc. We were also quite keen to avoid the dinner plate sized spiders which the assistant claimed often came as optional extras with the doors. Having travelled that far with eight legs must mean the spiders leave a sizeable carbon footprint I guess. Should you hear of a plague of Wedgewood spiders in Lymington, you’ll know who to blame though.