Freda has never liked the tiles on the guest apartment kitchen wall!
The builders were doing most of the work in there while we were travelling back and forward, and some while we were actually here, on 'holiday' haha. She had left instructions to just plaster the walls, and paint them white. "But you need tiles, Madame Fareda. For all the water." "Yes, when and where 'I' want them, only paint just now!"
As you might guess, we came back to (not quite white) monstrosities stuck onto the wall with a half inch of cement. She's complained about them ever since. So, the dearth of guests, and tourists in general, presented an ideal opportunity for her to have the brilliant idea that I could do away with the offending ceramics and make it a nicer kitchen altogether. Isn't Madame Fareda a lucky girl to have me as her multi-talented slave?
The only problem with that statement is that I'm NOT multi-talented, she only thinks I am!!!!
Never mind, "Ours is not to reason why, etc. etc." Here is the shot of the kitchen with the tilework partially hidden, and which is therefore allowed to grace our adverts etc.:
You wouldn't believe the amount of debris which accompanied the broken tiles and plasterwork which came off the wall! (That was when I nearly cut off my foot, remember, Dear Reader?) In-between times, I replaced the rotted plastic cable conduit, and re-routed some of the wiring to facilitate a new socket, and also re-worked the piping for the new kitchen taps. (Multi-talented? I'm getting there!) I eventually got two Egyptian plasterers to come and re-plaster that part of the wall, only it isn't plaster, it's a sand and cement mix, and as hard as bell-metal!
The finish isn't really what I would have liked either, but 'beggars can't be choosers' as we already know!
I've spent about a week trying to fill up the imperfections in the 'plasterwork' with 'majoon' which is a ready-mixed filling compound which actually acts like a coat of finish plaster. I had to buy a sander in order to make it presentable, though, before I applied the first coat of paint.
I shifted most of the plasterer's waste, in a few smallish bags and bundles. But after cleaning up a bit more after my 'majooning' and sanding efforts, I was left with a bag which was rather too heavy for me to get down the stairs. "Ah, the excellent Mr Rashad!" I thought. Here he is, stout chap!
A while ago, I caught Adam beating one of his elder sons in the street, when I asked him what it was all about, he told me that he had been calling Rashad a 'Donkey', just because he's had little education and is used like a beast of burden by many people. Here was I, doing exactly the same, it's rather embarrassing, to say the least!
I've applied the first coat of paint, although just getting it was another (small) nightmare! Our 'Sipes' paintshop is just down the street, as many of you already know, and the Christian man who runs it is fine, he even speaks a little English!
In I trotted, with the remains of the last batch we had had mixed, in an old jam jar, complete with a bit of masking tape bearing the mixing number on the top. What could be simpler for a computerised paint mixing shop? You might well ask!
There were two cans of paint which he was busy with, one on the top of the mixing thingy and the other in the clever shaking-all-ways-together machine, which ensures that the added pigments are adequately mixed into the white base. He whipped the top off my gallon tin (pronounced jall-on, but which is actually 3 litres instead of the more normal 4.54 or whatever) and placed it under the row of mixing nozzles, only to then realise that the computer had given up the ghost! "Bloody Egyptian rubbish, Mr Edward, it makes me MAD!" After a good deal of computer adjustment (kicking and suchlike) and quite a bit if stamping around the shop, we arranged that I would return to collect it in the evening, when it would undoubtedly, insh'Allah, be ready!
It was, and I got the first coat on this morning, as I said. It has to stand 8 hours between coats, so I should have a reasonably easy afternoon. (Insh'Allah?)
See you later, alligator!
The builders were doing most of the work in there while we were travelling back and forward, and some while we were actually here, on 'holiday' haha. She had left instructions to just plaster the walls, and paint them white. "But you need tiles, Madame Fareda. For all the water." "Yes, when and where 'I' want them, only paint just now!"
As you might guess, we came back to (not quite white) monstrosities stuck onto the wall with a half inch of cement. She's complained about them ever since. So, the dearth of guests, and tourists in general, presented an ideal opportunity for her to have the brilliant idea that I could do away with the offending ceramics and make it a nicer kitchen altogether. Isn't Madame Fareda a lucky girl to have me as her multi-talented slave?
The only problem with that statement is that I'm NOT multi-talented, she only thinks I am!!!!
Never mind, "Ours is not to reason why, etc. etc." Here is the shot of the kitchen with the tilework partially hidden, and which is therefore allowed to grace our adverts etc.:
The finish isn't really what I would have liked either, but 'beggars can't be choosers' as we already know!
I've spent about a week trying to fill up the imperfections in the 'plasterwork' with 'majoon' which is a ready-mixed filling compound which actually acts like a coat of finish plaster. I had to buy a sander in order to make it presentable, though, before I applied the first coat of paint.
I shifted most of the plasterer's waste, in a few smallish bags and bundles. But after cleaning up a bit more after my 'majooning' and sanding efforts, I was left with a bag which was rather too heavy for me to get down the stairs. "Ah, the excellent Mr Rashad!" I thought. Here he is, stout chap!
A while ago, I caught Adam beating one of his elder sons in the street, when I asked him what it was all about, he told me that he had been calling Rashad a 'Donkey', just because he's had little education and is used like a beast of burden by many people. Here was I, doing exactly the same, it's rather embarrassing, to say the least!
I've applied the first coat of paint, although just getting it was another (small) nightmare! Our 'Sipes' paintshop is just down the street, as many of you already know, and the Christian man who runs it is fine, he even speaks a little English!
In I trotted, with the remains of the last batch we had had mixed, in an old jam jar, complete with a bit of masking tape bearing the mixing number on the top. What could be simpler for a computerised paint mixing shop? You might well ask!
There were two cans of paint which he was busy with, one on the top of the mixing thingy and the other in the clever shaking-all-ways-together machine, which ensures that the added pigments are adequately mixed into the white base. He whipped the top off my gallon tin (pronounced jall-on, but which is actually 3 litres instead of the more normal 4.54 or whatever) and placed it under the row of mixing nozzles, only to then realise that the computer had given up the ghost! "Bloody Egyptian rubbish, Mr Edward, it makes me MAD!" After a good deal of computer adjustment (kicking and suchlike) and quite a bit if stamping around the shop, we arranged that I would return to collect it in the evening, when it would undoubtedly, insh'Allah, be ready!
It was, and I got the first coat on this morning, as I said. It has to stand 8 hours between coats, so I should have a reasonably easy afternoon. (Insh'Allah?)
See you later, alligator!
Our kitchen needs doing when you got time LOL. SANDRA MICK.X
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