Painting is easy

A weekend painting, Carole said. Sounds nice - get the watercolours out, find a nice scene to paint and away we go. But unfortunately no, it's not that sort of painting. This time it's the kitchen: ceiling on Saturday, and on Sunday, the walls.

I don't mind painting, but it's the other stuff I'm not keen on - emptying the room, preparing, filling, dust sheets, sanding, opening the tin (why are they so fiddly?), stirring (spilling), pouring (more spilling - and now there's paint on my shoe too), roller, ladders, balancing, wobbling and finally: I can start.

Then move ladders, stretch, can't quite reach, more wobbles (nearly fell that time), how do I reach that bit?, climbing, made it (now, how do I get down?), have I enough paint?

A bit later and next door's cat, who sneaked in earlier, comes to inspect and of course gets paint on her tail. When I've almost finished, the paint finally runs out. So off to B&Q for some more. At least white emulsion will get used again, but that means there will be a next time!


Painting the kitchen also means that the thing that keeps me going, tea or coffee, is in itself a challenge as the kettle's hiding in a corner somewhere, the teabags are buried somewhere else and who knows where the mugs are?

Throughout all this Carole had better plans and as I fought bravely against the DIY monster she was at the beauty salon followed by hairdressers and then the shops, only coming back once I'd finished! To be fair, she did her fair share on Sunday as we finished the walls, fixed up the new lights (that's another story!), and gradually put everything back in its place. Relief - well, until it's time to do the next room!