Today has been one of those very hot and sultry late summer days. We have had intermittent thunder and the odd splash of rain. Not enough to postpone watering of our garden until tomorrow...but has caused Stella, our Kelpie/Staffy cross (who hates storms) to have conniptions from time to time.
Whilst Michael is having a late afternoon snooze, I am taking advantage of some unexpected quietness to enjoy some writing. I spent a very happy hour or so updating photos taken of our much loved Grandies (and their Mum and Dad!) yesterday and discovered some unedited photos of all the work that has been undertaken by Michael and Kim to bring some beauty and renewal back to the East End Gallery, the Forbes Building and the surroundings.
We hadn't realised that over the last ten years, we had neglected some aspects of the Forbes Building, which we had initially renovated over four and a half years from 2012 to 2016. The term 'we' is actually the 'royal we' as I had very little to do with those works. Apart from the electrics, some plumbing and some brickwork, Michael was a solitary restorer, except for the odd time we could afford to hire his mate Gary.
Kim arrived as a Godsend right when we needed him. With experience in property maintenance, he had most of the skills that were needed to become Michael's very willing assistant. He has already been heavily involved in the Gallery's transformation. In addition, he has tirelessly fixed cracks and holes in the Wet Area (formerly known as the Black Hole of Calcutta), straightened and varnished the exterior door to the Wet Area, been up on the roof with the endlessly needed bitumen paint and tackled the monumental repairs to the exterior render.
Kim and Michael also spent three days sorting out and fixing the problem guttering and down-pipe issues to take water away from the Forbes Building. One part of this job was to add additional piping and work out the angles and fixtures needed for this task, rather like a 3D game of Tetris. I was reminded of a scene from "Apollo 13", when our heroes were required to turn a square hole into a round hole to remove carbon dioxide. Michael and Kim's feat, although not life threatening, took an immense amount of problem solving and four trips to our hardware store to finally complete this puzzle.
And the fun isn't over by any stretch of the imagination. The upcoming cooler days mean an extended sojourn on the roof with more bituminous paint, solving the problem of yet another leaky down-pipe, painting the new pipework as protection against the UV rays, splashing some waterproof paint around the Wet Area, sorting out certain parts of Michael's Man Cave that have become a trifle unruly and perform a nifty repair and installation of one of Michael's sculptures where it can be viewed. Oh and of course painting the barge-boards directly under the new guttering so they don't rot. Oh my giddy aunt, I sound like I could be on one of those renovating shows!
We have all welcomed a day off to recover from an action packed trip to the Big Smoke yesterday. We even grabbed a wonderful half hour with the kids and Grandies in a local park. Immy's concerned inquiry about a bit missing from the side of my nose tickled my sense of humour. Although actually removed by the delicious Daram Singh (MOHS skin specialist to the Stars) due to its suspicious nature, I was able to engage with my inner frog and respond with "well, it started as a wart on my bum"! The little girls didn't understand the joke, but Cal and Bron were suitably amused.
Tomorrow, I will be back in the Gallery. I am not expecting much action as the day will be very hot once again. I expect Michael and I will end the day sitting outside the Gallery with a drink, watching the world go by. If you see us, be sure to toot and wave!
And now, in no particular order are some photos of this current journey -
The beat goes on...
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