Reggie Thomson’s Diary

I sanded down the plastering on the walls and skirting boards, put the knotting compound on the new wood, and painted two coats of primer/undercoat. I have also painted the windowsill, which used to be a varnish finish.

I still haven’t decided on the colour scheme, but it looks as though a light lilac and a yellow would complement the darker purple carpet.

Hamish phoned this evening. He wants to come for breakfast tomorrow. I will have to get some food. I went to One-Stop for some milk and McVities mince pies.

I removed the carpet before starting the painting. It was fairly easy with the roller brush. There was only just enough paint for two coatings.

I decided it was better to screw in the skirting board rather than using the chunky nails. I then plastered over them and plastered the cracks around the ceiling. There is a large crack by the left of the window which will be hard to disguise. I also removed the old heater switch.

I took a bath before going down to the Barn. I was taking photos of everyone again for the records. Some people want me to email their photo to them. I guess it’s part of the service, though I prefer just to take the photos and make a single sheet for Bartow.

Looks like I cut the skirting board today. The old skirting board was missing stretches, so I decided to pull it all out and replace it. There was no wood of a similar style to the existing skirting in the shops.

I bought some paint for the ceiling - only £4.99 for 2.5L. However, when I tried cycling home, the paint fell out of my bag and split on the road. I’m glad I bought the cheapest can.

I got an email from someone wanting to use my photos yesterday. Of course, they “have no budget” but would be willing to “credit” me. It’s hard to respond when you are unemployed, perhaps unemployable, and everyone wants to use your work - your only asset - without payment. I ignore these demands.

I spent some time updating windows and office this morning.

I managed to strip most of the paper from the middle room. The steamer only has a small water compartment, so I had to go to the bathroom frequently to refill.

Stuart has bought an ethernet adaptor, but it didn’t seem to be working. It turned out that it wasn’t correctly installed.

I made a start on the middle bedroom. I have a steamer which seemed to work OK on the existing wallpaper. I didn’t do much though.

I cycled down to Tesco’s in the afternoon for the weekly shopping. On returning, I discovered that my lock was missing. Perhaps it fell off on the way back. But then I thought that maybe I had left it attached to the railing in the car park. So, I decided I should go to the evening service. Sure enough, the lock was still there.

The sermon was all about gluttony. Perhaps I shouldn’t have had the chocolate bar (28p for 100g) or those two packets of jam tarts (6 for 23p) for lunch.

Jonathan paid a surprise visit in the morning. I showed him my sketches for the mural. He commented on the network cable, saying he was surprised I hadn’t gone for a wireless network. If I was rich, I might have done so.

Mt. Fuji went onto Photosig. I brightened it up a little. Surely that will attract attention. Not so. It eventually got up to 50, and is my highest scorer so far.

I continued to look at modifications to the photos. I tried using PaintShop to correct the fringe around the cormorant. It’s going to take ages to sort out.

I took the camera down to the Barn, but it was the culture evening, so I didn’t wish to interrupt everyone. Lots of people contributed. The Koreans, Czechs, Japanese, Swiss and others made food or gave presentations. I was asked to take a video of the Czech presentation.