Repair Shop

30th September 2025

The monkeys have been particularly interested in the orchids in the large hard wood trees in front of the kitchen window. I’m guessing that there are new tender shoots that they are munching on. The fall out for this is that they pull out the orchids and the remnants plummet to the ground. I’ve been on this, bellowing like a fish wife out of the kitchen window… I’ve resorted to angry matriarch type noises, screeching eagle noises and even the odd tiger impression… nah …… nothing works so now I’m repairing the damage by picking up any salvaged bits and replanting them in the bark …who knows

I’m seriously hoping they will still flower like last year.

Repairs on the brain, there is a fair bit of that going on in Pollards.

There has been this hole in the wall above my pillow … I’ve lived with it for a year … yes a year tomorrow…. There a blog in that for sure. Anyway this hole feels exactly like something a centipede would like to live in, or a family of millipedes, a mouse or even a frog … then which ever critter it was had the potential to pop out in the night to crawl over my face.

There has been more roof work and the mason has been back a couple of times to make good the roof work. I took the chance today to nick a bit of his concrete that his side kick was mixing on the drive …. The sidekick is a busy man, he makes the concrete, then sits under the orchids until the next batch needs blending. He did not bat an eyelid when I asked him if a could have a little. The mason, on the other hand is a professional, he could tell I really did NOT know what I was doing as I approached his pile of concrete with an old fish slice and the side of a cardboard box. He seemed most concerned that I might cut myself??? … “No no I said I just need to shove this in my hole, I’ll be fine” then scuttled off after realising what I had actually said.

The results are not pretty but job done, hole repaired, nothing is coming out of that tonight or ever. I can do the next layer in champagne grout or whatever next becomes available….

Whilst my masonry skills are severely lacking, I don’t mind giving things a go …. or bodge… as can be the case. I was however delighted to see this sign, five minutes down the road. I had nothing to lose. Two broken chairs, springs springing in the wrong direction, one missing an arm, dirty stinky mouse eaten fabric.

What a craftsman… delighted. I can’t even see where the arm has been replaced.

So on the back of this success, next repair job is to tackle the patio chairs we inherited with the property. They score highly on interest and history and very low on comfort. We are sure this is because we have shoved whatever cushions we could find on them.

So with strict instructions from cane juice man I go on an adventure to the foam shop, but first I need to make a template….

So even without the template stage this is the process…

1. I arrive at the gate and state my business to security….friendly chap, he welcomes me in.
2. Check in at the reception… nice smiley welcome. “Yes I’ll get the foam cutter for you, have a seat ….
3. Foam cutter order man arrives… he seems impressed with my templates …. Despite the masking tape all sticking to itself and to the other template. He takes down the order, double checks the sizes and the type of foam.
4. He gives me one copy of the order form and the other to the actual foam cutter.
5. I finally manage to work out what the foam cutter order man is trying to tell me and I head to the cashier.
6. The cashier types up the order (while she waits for the computer to wake up) and prints the formal order. I pay with my back up credit card as the first one is declined.

7. I sit and wait while the guy who checks the order is giving a running commentary on how poor WI cricket is at the moment … the match is ongoing, and how he has given up macaroni pie until November … history does not relate why this is.
8. The cut foam arrives. Cricket man is torn away from the match so he can check the order and get me to sign. The order is now stamped…received.

9. I struggle to get the foam in the car as it sticks to the car seat and also to the other bits of foam.

10. My receipt is checked again by security on the way out.

I tell you, I was severely in need of repair by the time I got back to Pollards. My trauma was salved by an iced coffee and a dip in the pool. Those chairs better be worth it.