Wot I Did At the Weekend

Scaffolding and the gaps down through

I have spent the weekend up scaffolding painting barge boards.  I have never been good at heights and now know that I suffer from vertigo.  If I am not holding on to a ladder or scaffold pole, then I start to sway.  This has slight disadvantages when you are trying to paint woodwork.  I'm only 5ft 2 and so can't reach stuff without having to let go at some point.  I have spent more time this weekend whimpering quietly to myself than I have in the whole of my life.

Aerial view of the compost bin and the rhubarb - and the rubble
I used to grow sweet peas here

There was also the saga of the paint that turned out to be the wrong colour, so that we had to start again.  It was called Green Glade, but as the Man Who Can said, it was more like the colour that Eastern European countries paint their military vehicles.
And then there was the thunderstorm when I was up the scaffolding, for once feeling fairly safe sitting down, quietly painting.  Flash of lightening - rumble of thunder nearby - scramble to stand up without wrenching my tricksy knee -  retire down (wet) ladder holding pot of paint - trying not to panic and move more quickly than the vertigo allows.

There's only one more coat to go and then I am never, ever going up there again.

Close-up shot of the early eighteenth century traditional farmhouse style gable we didn't know we had