I should write that this post is called SAn Blas for no other reason than to acknowledge the activities of RHB's sister (who for the purposes of this blog we will callلديها شعر طويل ) who is sailing round the world and has now reached the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama. I am, first of all, of course mindful of the adventure embarked upon, and the "get up and go" it has taken to advance in sailing qualifications, and break into a world of long distance sailing from an initial position of no contact with that world to one where her next step is the long haul across the Pacific. لديها شعر طويل adventures are available on Facebook if anyone wishes to see some photographs and I would thoroughly recommend them to anyone who does a nice comfortable job and lives a very safe life (as I currently do) but actually likes the idea of being active or doing that great adventure (as I pretend to) - they will make you feel insanely jealous and completely inadequate.
لديها شعر طويل 's photographs though prove that once the current austerity at Large Mansions has worked (as it surely must based as it is on that creation of the finest minds available to all humanity - David Cameron and Gideon George Osborne) we will also be able to embark on our own adventures, as long as we can find someone to feed the cats while we are away, of course. Training for such adventures starts this afternoon with a reconnaosiance mission to a secret trail we know which enables on to ride 18 miles straight to a wonderful coast without once hitting traffick . And the trail is not 'off road' in the sense of being bone shaking, it is off road in the sense that it is not a road. The Crosstowner and I attempted the ride two weeks ago in the snow and were defeated by a six inch layer of snow and no snow tyres. Today Crosstowner is joined by the TREK , RHB"s bike. If we can avoid black ice it will be a good day.
However , another string to the master plan is also to finish renovating this house , and here we have some evidence that austerity measures may not always be a brilliant thing. Our own bedroom stands as reminder of this. In the twilight of last year - about September of so, I assured RHB that we had sufficient bamboo planks left (from our downsstairs) to start to complete a project that involved flooring our hallway , spare bedroom and our own bedroom in the middle level of our house. The phrase 'start to complete' is important. Completion of the completion would be achieved by dint of simply laying all the flooring we had, then working out how short we were in area for completion , then buying --at very small cost - the very minimal amount necessary to finish this layer. "You are sure that you have not miscalculated and we have no where near enough planks? " insisted RHB "and that this wont be a disaster and we will be left with a half completed floor and you will fall over the half completed lip and break your neck and then I will have to cook my own dinner until you regain sufficient mobility or - in the case that you dont recover use of your limbs - are provided with programmable cooking prosthetics ?", "Of course not" I laughed, rebuffing her suggestions while simultaneously having a nightmare scenario of immobility permanently etched into my mind, thus adding to the number of reasons Sonombulus is often an impossible dream " If I have miscalculated, it is simply by a tad, a smidgeon, a mere bagatelle. I have the finest powers of estimation of materials known to all humanity!"
Unfortunatley, while my powers of materials estimation are quite accurate, my powers of estimation of budgetary matters lacks some of the same authority and the price of bamboo (or rather the price of the shipping of the particular type of bamboo we had originally ordered) has become a matter related to the elevation at which the grass grows, rather than related to its status as grass: to whit, it has become very expensive. So we are left with a half-completed bedroom as the photos show. The good news is we will finish sometime in the next few months and I have laid a reddish, furry-type bathroom rug down across the transitions where flooring is at differnet levels. Nothing can go wrong.
Above: This picture shows a half completed bedroom floor. To the left is planks of bamboo, expertly laid. Then, in th emiddle is a greyish strip. This is carpet that we are recycling to use as underlay for the flooring. Then a strip of attractive packing tape , then at the right the original floor is revealed. This original floor is about one inch lower than the bamboo so at the transition I place and attractive reddish mat to avoid trip hazards. It mostly works.
Newell post: This is not as bad as it looks. In fact, in a few weeks, this newel post will be completely restored. What looks like random pieces of wood stuck on to the newell post are actually carefully selected softwoods, pinned onto the post via wooden dowels (matches) which are deliberately oversized so that I can carve them down to match the exact profile and curve of the original post.
This is actually nearly complete. It is a wardrobe in our bedroom, entirely made from recycled materials . It lacks only an upper door and handles. There are no legs for all of the furniture we have planned for the bedrooms - all the wardrobes and cupbpoards will 'float' . This is a design conceit, to do with my hatred for very heavy traditional furniture and the apparent desire, if building into an alcove, to fill the whole alcove, even the redundant spaces, with wood, or trim, or unnecessary fancy ness. This was a particular tendency in CAnadian homes - 'cabinetry' everywhere.
Below is another unfinished transition showing the original floor boards close to the camera and the bamboo further away. It will look good when finished.
Unfortunatley, while my powers of materials estimation are quite accurate, my powers of estimation of budgetary matters lacks some of the same authority and the price of bamboo (or rather the price of the shipping of the particular type of bamboo we had originally ordered) has become a matter related to the elevation at which the grass grows, rather than related to its status as grass: to whit, it has become very expensive. So we ARE left with a half-completed bedroom. The good news is we will finish sometime in the next few months and I have laid a reddish, furry-type bathroom rug down across the transitions where flooring is at differnet levels. Nothing can go wrong.
xotero
لديها شعر طويل 's photographs though prove that once the current austerity at Large Mansions has worked (as it surely must based as it is on that creation of the finest minds available to all humanity - David Cameron and Gideon George Osborne) we will also be able to embark on our own adventures, as long as we can find someone to feed the cats while we are away, of course. Training for such adventures starts this afternoon with a reconnaosiance mission to a secret trail we know which enables on to ride 18 miles straight to a wonderful coast without once hitting traffick . And the trail is not 'off road' in the sense of being bone shaking, it is off road in the sense that it is not a road. The Crosstowner and I attempted the ride two weeks ago in the snow and were defeated by a six inch layer of snow and no snow tyres. Today Crosstowner is joined by the TREK , RHB"s bike. If we can avoid black ice it will be a good day.
However , another string to the master plan is also to finish renovating this house , and here we have some evidence that austerity measures may not always be a brilliant thing. Our own bedroom stands as reminder of this. In the twilight of last year - about September of so, I assured RHB that we had sufficient bamboo planks left (from our downsstairs) to start to complete a project that involved flooring our hallway , spare bedroom and our own bedroom in the middle level of our house. The phrase 'start to complete' is important. Completion of the completion would be achieved by dint of simply laying all the flooring we had, then working out how short we were in area for completion , then buying --at very small cost - the very minimal amount necessary to finish this layer. "You are sure that you have not miscalculated and we have no where near enough planks? " insisted RHB "and that this wont be a disaster and we will be left with a half completed floor and you will fall over the half completed lip and break your neck and then I will have to cook my own dinner until you regain sufficient mobility or - in the case that you dont recover use of your limbs - are provided with programmable cooking prosthetics ?", "Of course not" I laughed, rebuffing her suggestions while simultaneously having a nightmare scenario of immobility permanently etched into my mind, thus adding to the number of reasons Sonombulus is often an impossible dream " If I have miscalculated, it is simply by a tad, a smidgeon, a mere bagatelle. I have the finest powers of estimation of materials known to all humanity!"
Unfortunatley, while my powers of materials estimation are quite accurate, my powers of estimation of budgetary matters lacks some of the same authority and the price of bamboo (or rather the price of the shipping of the particular type of bamboo we had originally ordered) has become a matter related to the elevation at which the grass grows, rather than related to its status as grass: to whit, it has become very expensive. So we are left with a half-completed bedroom as the photos show. The good news is we will finish sometime in the next few months and I have laid a reddish, furry-type bathroom rug down across the transitions where flooring is at differnet levels. Nothing can go wrong.
xotero
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