A break!

We needed a break. We were breathing out paint fumes, and Grace had Summer White oozing from her pores. Said the Maiden were performing at the Moira Furnace Folk Festival, and we were tempted to go to that, but there were only two acts we knew, and we didn't fancy forking out 40 quid when there was a risk that we wouldn't enjoy much of the music. However, there was the not-too-distant Lichfield, and we'd been meaning to go there for some time.

We drove Jess to Moira. She had to be there before 10:45, and it's a two-hour journey from St Albans. We arrived with half an hour to spare. The furnace is a nineteenth-century iron-making blast furnace built on the banks of the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal. It's now a museum, and we've added it to our "to see" list. We didn't have time yesterday,

From Moira, we drove to Lichfield. It's a lovely ancient city on the Coventry Canal. with beautiful old buildings, crooked and characterful, and newer ones squashed into the gaps.

This was the most tuneful busker I've even seen. It's a fairly small organ attached to a mobility vehicle, and battery operated. The owner was nowhere to be seen, and his hat lay next to the organ to receive donations. It played a large collection of melodies from its own era, and was a delight to listen to.

800 year-old Lichfield Cathedral was stunning.

I am always amazed by cathedrals. The architecture, the construction, the sheer size and the intricate detail carved out by hundreds of men with very limited tools. I spent my whole time smiling broadly, awed by it all.

We had hoped to carry on from there to Ryton Organic Gardens, not far from Yelvertoft, but it was closing at 4:00 pm, and we couldn't have got there in time after our Lichfield visit. Instead, we drove to Yelvertoft and visited Kantara. There were various bits and things we needed to have back at the house, so we bundled those into the car, had a short nap, had dinner at The Wheatsheaf, and drove to Watford Gap services, there to wait for Jess. The Maidens' last performance was due to finish at around 8:00, but they had to hang around for some time after that, selling CDs and chatting with fans old and new from their two 300-strong audiences, so it wasn't until half-past ten that Hannah dropped Jess off before continuing her drive home to Bedford while we set off back to St Albans. We were glad we'd had the nap.

Today, family. Tomorrow, decorating.

Sofa, so good

So, the sofa debris was wheeled off to the recycling centre, splinters, staples and all, and the living room took on a new look.

This was achieved by the addition of various bits from the loft, on their way to new homes via FreeCycle, furniture from the hall, which was now in the process of being prepared for new wallpaper and paint, and five car bumpers. These had lived in the side passage, waiting their turn for use in one of Steve's car-rebuilding projects, or one of his friends'. They had to leave their home there to allow access to the garden for Naomi's visitors on Friday's Sustainable St Albans Open Garden event.

Thursday's weather was lovely.

Friday started off well, but the weather forecast promised rain for the afternoon. And, about an hour or so before Nome's one o'clock start, down in came!

Then, with just half an hour to go before the gate would open, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and everything started to steam dry!

And the first visitors arrived, and the whole two hours of the event was warm and sunny.

On Monday morning, our sofa arrived from Nabru, producers of self-assembly modular sofas. Ikea, eat your heart out!

The man who delivered it said that he would be able to build it in 45 minutes. It took us 3½ hours. We think he was fibbing.

But when it was all done, and the pile of packaging disposed of, the result was very pleasing, and well worth the effort.

And after all that? We returned to the hall, stairs and landing. Which is going well, So far, so good!

One of the many advantages of living on a boat, we decided, is that any decorating needed takes far less time and money!

Broken windows and empty hallways, A pale dead moon in a sky streaked with grey. Human kindness is overflowing, And I think it's going to rain today.

I've just finished listening to that song - Peter Gabriel's version - and I looked out at the sky, and I think it's not going to rain a drop. Human kindness is doing very well, however.

For the third year running, Naomi has the garden open to the public on Friday as part of the Sustainable St Albans Open Food Gardens event, and keeping everything green and pleasant hasn't been easy in recent weather. There's no hosepipe ban here yet, but we try not to overdo the watering and be wasteful. If I were on the waterways, I'd be concerned about canal levels, stoppages and closures. Here, I'm worrying about the pond. Sorry to be so trivial!

Decorating's progressing at a stroll. It was Grace's entieth birthday on Friday. I'd planned for the two of us to be out for the day, visiting somewhere beautiful and interesting, but she, bless her, made the executive decision that we'd spend the day decorating. So now the walls of the hall, stairs and landing have been stripped, and the paint and wallpaper bought. Ceilings and paintwork have been washed and prepared for painting, and the painting is now underway. We have a job-share in action. I do the preparation, Grace does the painting. I've commented before on my abstract expressionist approach to that task.

Parallel to the decorating, Naomi and I have made a start on the dreadful task of removing decades of clutter from the loft. What a godsend are Freegle and Freecycle! A child's bed and a teenager's wardrobe were advertised and taken in 24 hours! And there's plenty more where those came from. It's going to be very interesting to find out what's hiding in the far depths.

A new sofa's being delivered on Monday, and I've reduced to a large pile of  recycling the 20 year-old, totally knackered one that it's replacing.

Grace has been lobbying for it to go for the past ten years, but the rest of us have firmly resisted. My vote tipped the balance in her favour a couple of months ago when I realised just how exhausted the poor old thing was. The sofa, that is. Not Grace. Consequent to the purchase of the new model was the decision that the wall against which it will lounge needed to be painted another colour. We went with the distraction, and painted it.

It's in my mind that this kind of knock-on effect will come into play several times as we progress the decorating. We'll probably end up doing the whole house.

Boats are wonderful. There's so little of their interior to maintain!

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles with frozen smiles to chase love away. Human kindness is overflowing, and I think it's going to rain today.

Fat chance!