Friday, and I started the day by sitting in the office waiting for someone who didn’t turn up. Yes. I kept myself busy, but I really should have been out with the Men in Sheds. I finally abandoned the wait and went to see what was happening.
Well, as you can see, they were repairing a compressor and welding some feet to hold partitions up – it seems we need partitions in a serious workshop because they keep noise levels down. We also repaired a Workmate, a lawnmower and a bench saw. And we still had time to change the fuse in the extension lead that keeps blowing fuses. I say we, but that might be slightly over-rating my contribution.
After lunch we had someone coming to order a turkey and Father Christmas came to visit. Or, to be more accurate, two of the volunteers for next Saturday came to call (one of whom is going to play Santa). That just leaves me with labelling some bottles, having a quick sweep round and dropping off some apple juice on the way home.
From this picture you can see why they thought we could do with a friendlier Santa.
Julia has been attending a conference in Nottingham, in furtherance of our arts project. We’re not revealing details yet, because we aren’t sure what we’re doing. (That’s possibly a trifle unkind, but not entirely inaccurate.) She reports that the trip in was beset by hordes of grim-faced bargain hunters, reminding us of one of our favourite films.
Me, I’m sitting on a farm in a building made out of straw bales and I’m three miles from the nearest shop. If I stop typing the loudest thing in the room is the gentle hum of the heating pump.
It’s belly pork and roast vegetables tonight, a meal which involves cutting up some veg, throwing some oil and meat on top and bunging it in the oven. Might use herbs, will probably sprinkle some ground cumin, might do some gravy. An easy meal to finish an easy day.
Impressive work going on in that shed.
When you start talking to them there are some very impressive people there.