It’s been a slightly quieter week this week as the schools on the island had their half-term breaks. It hardly seems a minute since it was Christmas but yet here we are, barrelling our way through February. I’m sure it wasn’t like this when I was a schoolkid, desperately counting the days until the holidays came around once more. Anyway, with many of our kids being away, it was another opportunity to catch up with a few jobs around the house.
First-up was my driveway which I started last year before getting waylaid by the weather, the Christmas holidays and general higher priority chores. I got another cubic metre of stones and used them to fill in a few dips where the ground had settled and to extend back another couple of metres. That was another afternoon's hard graft to get them all levelled as this time, I just had the load dumped roughly where I needed them which would have blocked the parking if I hadn’t got the job finished. It looks OK, but I might order another metre to extend a little further. Jury’s out for now though.
I sealed and repainted some of the soffits where We’d had some water ingression that had peeled the paint from the plasterboard. Yes, you read that right, plasterboard soffits. That’s how it's done here but to be fair, its ‘special’ plasterboard for external use. Still sounds rather odd, though. Scraped off the old paint before sealing and then repainting with undercoat followed by three topcoats, so far! I’m not posting a picture as it could still do with another couple of coats. The paint I used isn’t the exact match to the original matt ceiling paint and its taking some covering to get a good match. Another never-ending ‘small’ job.
I also sealed and regrouted the balcony that sits above those soffits. Scraped out the old grout, regrouted and then sealed the lot with a matt polyurethane. It’s not worked out badly but looks a little dull. No one sees it except us and keeping the water out is the only thing that matters. Grey tiles and black grout looked good for a few days, but the grout colour soon fades and the tiles never look clean. Lesson learnt!
Grey tiles and black grout. Bad idea. This is how they look after just 3 years.
At least it was an excuse to buy a shiny new bendy ladder. Maximum load is quoted at 120 Kg but I’m glad I’m not getting anywhere close to that as a slim and svelte fella of 83kg. It’s very versatile, though, even being able to become a metre-high platform if needed. All the way from China and under sixty quid. Perhaps not the words you want to hear being used to describe a ladder! At the grand old age of 58, my days of climbing ladders ought to be long behind me.
Except they’re not!
That was the week that was. The joys of living on a tropical, paradise island. Endless days of DIY and screaming kids. Just what I signed up for! I shouldn’t complain. If I wasn’t fanying around outside trying to look busy, she’d only have me inside finding me things to do!
I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy weekend and fully refreshed for the upcoming week.
Best wishes to all and thanks for dropping by.
Martin
@nathen007
PS Anyone know why I can't post portrait format in the @actifit app? Thank you.
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