Thursday, December 21, 2006
Antepenultimate day
Cupboard now assembled barring fitting the outer glazing beads and dissassembled to more or less complete the painting. Surprised how long the finishing takes. One gets the this more or less built in three days and one is another three days faffing about with hinges and paint.
The thirtyseconds I was careless with earlier caught up with me. The three panels added up to around 1/8th of an inch too narrow. But I think I have lost this by mounting the hinges asymetrically - that is to say housed 9/16ths in the door frame and 5/8ths in the carcase. I don't suppose anyone will notice or wonder why.
More deep thoughts from the garage. First, it must be the first time for quite some years since I have had four out of my five sash cramps in use at the same time. But I do have the excuse that they are slightly differant sizes. Second, poking around in a deep mortise in winter afternoon light must be a bit like being a dentist. At least with mortises there is little risk of bad smells. Senior eyes need the morning light to see what I am doing - the bulbs in the garage not being all that hot. TE says that the answer is a strip light - and he may be right. Painting in the kitchen seemed a lot better than the garage - and a lot warmer. I had forgotten how cold craft work is outside - one is not moving around enough to keep warm. Third, did not follow the Wailing directive which says that if one is spending days painting something one cares about, one might as well invest £1.50 in a new brush. Perhaps I should have done. Fourth, the new-to-me Lion G-cramp from Crouch End is much sturdier than the ones I had already from Record. Massive thing for its 12 inch bite. And the message cast into the thing is light work only. One wonders what Lion people would offer for heavy work. Or what they mean by heavy work.
Finished watching the Chabrol version of M Bovary, courtesy of the Independant via Tooting. A well cast film which was very watcheable (quite up to the BBC standard of costume drama) - but one was left at the end thinking that a short story had been made out of what is a substantial book. A bit unsatisfied. But I least I get to blow the dust of the book and take a look at it again. I wonder what T S Eliot - with whom it must be vaguely contemporary - made of it. I must check her biography in case it says. And the film was nothing like as sweaty as a more recent version which we saw - probably on television. Not sure that the sweat added much but I dare say I will take another look if it comes around again.
Baker very festive this week and has given over his small cafe area to Christmas fare. Today was the turn of cake houses shaped like a cross between an alpine chalet and a Christmas tree and festive cup cakes with Father Christmases and other odds and ends on top. These last appeared to be destined for an office if not an office party.
The thirtyseconds I was careless with earlier caught up with me. The three panels added up to around 1/8th of an inch too narrow. But I think I have lost this by mounting the hinges asymetrically - that is to say housed 9/16ths in the door frame and 5/8ths in the carcase. I don't suppose anyone will notice or wonder why.
More deep thoughts from the garage. First, it must be the first time for quite some years since I have had four out of my five sash cramps in use at the same time. But I do have the excuse that they are slightly differant sizes. Second, poking around in a deep mortise in winter afternoon light must be a bit like being a dentist. At least with mortises there is little risk of bad smells. Senior eyes need the morning light to see what I am doing - the bulbs in the garage not being all that hot. TE says that the answer is a strip light - and he may be right. Painting in the kitchen seemed a lot better than the garage - and a lot warmer. I had forgotten how cold craft work is outside - one is not moving around enough to keep warm. Third, did not follow the Wailing directive which says that if one is spending days painting something one cares about, one might as well invest £1.50 in a new brush. Perhaps I should have done. Fourth, the new-to-me Lion G-cramp from Crouch End is much sturdier than the ones I had already from Record. Massive thing for its 12 inch bite. And the message cast into the thing is light work only. One wonders what Lion people would offer for heavy work. Or what they mean by heavy work.
Finished watching the Chabrol version of M Bovary, courtesy of the Independant via Tooting. A well cast film which was very watcheable (quite up to the BBC standard of costume drama) - but one was left at the end thinking that a short story had been made out of what is a substantial book. A bit unsatisfied. But I least I get to blow the dust of the book and take a look at it again. I wonder what T S Eliot - with whom it must be vaguely contemporary - made of it. I must check her biography in case it says. And the film was nothing like as sweaty as a more recent version which we saw - probably on television. Not sure that the sweat added much but I dare say I will take another look if it comes around again.
Baker very festive this week and has given over his small cafe area to Christmas fare. Today was the turn of cake houses shaped like a cross between an alpine chalet and a Christmas tree and festive cup cakes with Father Christmases and other odds and ends on top. These last appeared to be destined for an office if not an office party.
# posted by Jim @ 8:28 AM 
