Portrait of a Friend

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that friends come in all shapes and sizes. Here's one I enjoyed yesterday:W had spent a couple of hours here on Saturday afternoon helping me get the protective stain onto my shed panels. I'd been at it since breakfast time, and was flagging when she got here. By the time she went home, we'd finished the first coat on all the panels. Then she offered to come for another couple of hours the next day!

When I woke yesterday morning I was sore and tired. All my muscles from my wrist to my shoulder were complaining about the unaccustomed effort the previous day. If I'd been on my own I probably would've groaned and tried to go back to sleep, but I had the promise of two more hours of W-time. I got up, made coffee and toast and tried to find some enthusiasm for another batch of painting. Just after 7.30 am my phone beeped--it was W saying she'd woken early and was on her way. Yes, this is 7.30 am on a Sunday morning! Together we managed the second coat on just over half the shed panels. As you can see from the pic, W is an experienced painter. This time she came armed with a tiny brush for cutting in the fiddly edges and a mat to sit on, as well as all her protective gear. After a few hours of enthusiastic work she raced off home to clean up, wake her teenage daughter and get on with her own commitments. I have to confess, at that point I did groan and try to go back to sleep. I curled up in the armchair for a couple of hours before I started to feel as though I wanted to do anything more.

Today I'm hoping to finish that second coat. Then I have a trench to dig--I need to get power from the back corner of my unit to the new shed. My electrician is semi-retired. I think he's been semi-retired for the ten years I've known him. He still has all his sparky skills, but his trench digging days are over.