Time for a Carlsberg

It’s been a busy old day again.  After getting a kick start yesterday with our friend Derek helping, Robin wanted to carry on painting.  There was a bit left on the front wall of the house to prime, then undercoat.  “Can I help”, I asked, although I didn’t really want to do any painting.  My job was to rub down the few remaining planks with a stainless steel scourer.  After lunch Robin returned to his paint pot and brush, and I went to see how he was going.  The day was hot, the temperatures were rising, and he still had a reasonable amount still to undercoat.  It seemed a lot to do by himself,  so I decided to help out with the painting after all.  So there I was, in shorts and a tee shirt, and wearing  rubber gloves to keep the paint off my hands.  I often wonder if in fact I was someone from the upper classes (or even royalty, perhaps) in an earlier life as I really hate getting my hands dirty!  Or doing manual work, for that matter.  Who knows – I could have been an important person once. 

After a little tuition I got to work, but I wasn’t doing it right.  “Do it like this”, Robin said.  Mmm, this painting lark certainly isn’t as easy as it looks, is it?  The afternoon was so hot that both of us soon were dripping, as we worked hard to get the final bit of painting done for the afternoon.  Robin climbed up on the ladder and did the high bits, while I was was kneeling down on the deck painting the lower parts.  At last we had finished and could escape out of that heat around to the shady back deck.  It must be time for a Carlsberg!

A whole case of Carlsberg

There is a story about this case of beer.  We may well have related it, but it is worth telling again.  Robin was given this case of beer (and a whole lot more which has already been consumed) about six weeks ago by a troupe of friendly Irish rugby supporters who had travelled over for the Rugby World Cup.  They were  all set to return home and couldn’t drink it in time, they said.  After all that hard work painting Robin was ready to relax with a beer and cool down.  I’m not really a beer drinker, but a shandy sounded nice, so I joined him in a Carlsberg too.

Here’s to us – the painter and his apprentice