Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang! Why am I being deafened by fireworks? I've had to turn the volume on my screen up so loud, I can't hear a word anyone is saying. Oh, it's stopped. Maybe the happy couple are married and the happy couple are off on their honeymoon. No! nearly half past 10 and off we go again. Don't they know there are laws about when you can let off fireworks? It's not bonfire night, it's not New Years Eve. Ah, Wikipedia! No, that's not why there are fireworks, that's where I find out, why there are fireworks.
So, July 31st, could it be to celebrate the ceasefire in Northern Ireland on 2007? Lot's of Irish in our area, but I don't think that's it. Sovereignty Restoration Day in Hawaii (When they got back control of Hawaii from Great Britain. Very doubtful! First successful ascent K2, by a group of Italians? Again very Doubtful. Ah, he we go, The First day of Eid (when Muslims celebrate Abraham offering to sacrifce his son Issac to shown he would do anything to obey God, but was told not to at the last minute). 5 to 11 and all's quiet.
I would say, All quiet on the Western Front, but today is also the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of Passchendale, near Ypres, Belgium in the First World War, so it would have been anything but quiet. I think I will be quit for a few minutes in rememberance of all those lives given and changed that day.
The evenings have been fairly quit since, just one or two going off. I've had other things on my mind. I decided the other day to remove the panelling that goes up our stairs, under the ballustrade. It's hardboard that has been papered and painted. removing it has revealed a basic set of spindles, intended to support the panelling but also giving the outline impression of what a spindled stair would look like. something I have wanted for years. I would also like to 'box in' the heating pipes that come down the wall above the radiator in the hallway, so I've made a cardboard mock-up of what it would look like, and the results have had a favourable reception all round.
So then we have moved on to stripping the wallpaper in the hallway, up the stairs and on the landing (Experimental trio from Borehamwood, Hall Stairs and Landing, they're really good (Google it)). That's the easy bit! Choosing the colour, the carpet and the new wallpaper, that's the tricky part.
To add to the excitement, last week I took my son to B&Q to buy him a new door for his bedroom. Sounds simple enough. He has the box room, so it's quit small. When he was a lot younger, we bought him a cabin bed, we had to trawl the internet to find one that was short enough to fit length way in the room and still be able to open the door. So when he had out grown that, we had the same problem again. We found one, ordered it, took the old bed apart and built the new one. Too long! Turned out that the dimensions were the internal dimensions and the bed was actually about 50mm longer than the old one. So I cut the cabin bed down to make it into a normal single bed and offered to get him a bi-fold door.
Well bless him, that was about 3 years ago! Looked into cutting his door down the middle and fitting a piano hinge on it, but it wouldn't have hung or opened out of the way properly, so that idea was abandoned. I've looked around B&Q and they do a bi-fold door kit. You get the door, the rail and all the fittings but according to the website, it's only available as a home delivery, it's not stocked in store (despite the fact I've seen it), and I read some horror stories about battered or warped doors which sort of put me off. Anyway, last week we went to the store, where I had seen it, they had three, we chose the best looking one (They all looked just as good), and took it home. Thursday afternoon we fitted it, worked a treat so we took the old door off. To paint it, I told him that I had to take it back out again as I wanted to dismantle it, so as not to get paint on the strange looking hinges.
Primer on the bare wood, next day undercoat, next day Sunday (All I painted was the door knob), next day gloss coat, next day second gloss coat, next day dimantle the cut down bed, clear the room, vacuum the carpet, assemble the new bed, re-assemble the door, fit the knob and refit the door.
One Happy Son!
Did I mention I had to fill in where the hinges and latch had been, very tidy job! Now of course, I will probably use his old door to replace our old style bedroom door and yes, the hinges are on the other side, still it's keeping me busy. Heaven forbid I sit and do nothing!!