Sweet Emulsion

Some comedian I can't recall once said that you know you are getting old/turning into your Dad when you see a stick and think "I'll keep that for stirring paint" or something along those lines. In my case it is a strip of plastic edging from when we had the kitchen refitted, but the idea is much the same. And it got a fair bit of use this weekend as I chose to recover from my cold by repainting the bathroom. Again.

Can anyone tell me what a normal level of decoration rotation should be?

We've been in this house thirteen years now and have so far done:

Kitchen, Bathroom, Lounge - four times each
Bedroom, Dining Room - three times
Stairs/Landing, Spare Room, Study - twice

Those totals seem a bit extreme to me, when compared with my nearest point of reference - my parents. They have been in their current house twenty years now and only got round to redoing each room for the first time since taking possession about two or three years ago. And only then because they had an extension built which meant some walls got moved around. In the one we lived in for eighteen years before that I can't remember any room being done more than twice.

I know it isn't constant, but it seems like we are always thinking about colours and how to do each room next. And I just can't say no to MrsB when she starts hinting that a freshen up is in order. I think she may be obsessed with change. And its not that I object to the actual slapping on of paint, it is just all the preparation, living with a room out of use and all the contents distributed everywhere else for a few days etc that gets me down.

And there are a couple of pots of Moroccan red waiting for the kitchen to get a fifth look this side of Christmas too...

Ho hum, bored with work again. There always seems to be a feast or a famine with little in the way of regular background "stuff" to be getting on with. Next week this won't be a problem in the same way as it will be next year then (financial year that is) so I'll have loads of files to update and add 12 months to etc. I could start on some of that now, but I have a feeling they would immediately get too complicated for some of the other people who need to use them. So as is often the case I have set a bunch of wheels in motion on other jobs and am waiting for people to get back to me with answers. It frustrates me a bit that people don't respond quickly to anything. If someone comes to me for help I do at least try to acknowledge them even if I can't respond there and then so to continually get nothing back for days or weeks drives me up the wall.

**Don't know what is happening upstairs at the moment, but it sounds like a horse wandering about, which strikes me as being a bit unlikely.**

Have booked some holiday off for when Joan's Sister Sheila and her hubbie Stuart come over from Canada in a couple of weeks. It will be good to see them as we had a great holiday over there last year. Hope the weather holds. Don't know what we are going to do while they are here, but I'd be happy to show them London or the dleights of Suffolk which I see on a regular basis through work. So long as I'm not here then I don't really mind.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy this job most of the time, its just when I'm left waiting for things to happen I get a bit tired of it all.

Had a good wander up the town at lunch time (to the strains of the Masters Of Reality album Welcome to the Western Lodge, good old md player) in the sun which did lift the mood a little, even if the wind is still chill and the kids are off school getting in the way everywhere. Having decided that £300-odd for an X-box is far too much for me to be spending at the moment, but wanting some more interactive entertainment in my life I blew a fiver on Tomb Raider for the PC instead. Yeah, I know it is a bit old hat now, but I enjoyed it on the Playstation and I just fancy playing it again. Perhaps I'll follow up with number 2 and the Chronicles at some point. I think I can get away with it at that price! Now all I need is some time to enjoy it. Long weekend beckons - although I do now have yet more painting to do.

Joan repainted the bottom half of the wall up the stairs and along the landing yesterday so I am now going to have to re-do the glossing so it doesn't look tatty in comparrison. At least that won't eat up the whole weekend though.

Right, time to find something to look busy with again. Perhaps I should just wander round the upstairs corridors with a clipboard for a while looking like I know what I'm doing there....