Nick Hayter painter and decorator

Painting And Roofing

Early this morning I watched the recorded highlights of the second day of the second men’s cricket Test match between England and India; and in the evening the third day’s highlights.

Nick spent the day continuing the painting of the back of the house.

First, he added a second coat to the pebble-dashing he had demonstrated on

Nick Hayter, Director,Painter And Decorator

After this he climbed back up to the roof where

he repositioned a loose tile,

before continuing his painting outside the utility room. Note that he has draped one protective dust sheet against the kitchen window and others covering plants, a water butt, and plants.

This afternoon I watched the men’s Wimbledon tennis match between Cameron Norrie and Matti Bellucci.

Meanwhile, Jackie planted up and photographed her coat hanger, and

these flowers, each of which bears its title in the gallery, while she was at it.

This evening we dined on roast lamb, mint sauce, boiled new potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, with which Jackie drank Wiessbier and I finished the Rioja.

Paint And Sludge

I retained in my iPhotos collection all but one of the images featuring in

I Don’t Actually Work Here

but deleted all that feature in

The Vacuum Cleaner

Those pictures remain in their posts.

Now feeling much better, I was able to admire the first two coats that Nick had painted on part of the back wall.

Today he worked on another section.

Connor, meanwhile, aided for the last hour by Mason of Norman’s Heating, applied his knowledge and expertise to clearing our system of what he called ‘sludge’ which had clearly clogged up our narrower pipes for many years.This sludge consists of small shavings of metal too solidified to work through those, sometimes plastic, attenuated ducts he has been replacing during the last two days.

One not replaced alongside one replaced;

This radiator designed to keep my chair area warm will now do so.

Before he left yesterday he had injected material designed to break down the coagulations for removal today with powerful magnets.

Here he displays two types of these magnets inserted to pick up the unwanted material. Each of these, of different sizes wears a coating like blackfly on a spiralled plant stem,

looking clean once sprayed.

Connor uses a soft cloth.

We now confidently expect our first winter free of extreme cold.

This evening we dined on comforting cottage pie; Red Leicester and cheddar cauliflower cheese; fresh white cauliflower, its leaves chopped; crunchy carrots; and tasty gravy with which Jackie drank Zesty and I drank Estevez Merlot 2024.

The Work Force

Before we set off for Southampton General Hospital for my BCG vaccination instillation yesterday I had time to photograph Nick

beginning the preparation of the rendering of the rear of the house.

When we left, in addition to Nick, Martin was starting in the garden; James Luke was planning the next stage of his carpentry; Connor from Norman’s heating was continuing his total refurbishment of our system. I was not well enough even to post this yesterday. Nick and James quipped that all we needed was a parking attendant and a traffic warden to manage the various vans on site. So trustworthy are all these tradesmen that we had no qualms about leaving them in charge.

Today Nick finished the rendering and applied the first coat of paint. The after effects of my treatment kept me slumped in my chair so I haven’t seen it yet. He will be back tomorrow. Connor has brought our central heating into full working order and will return in the morning to drain ‘sludge’ which he expects to need removing from the system.

This evening we dined on a colour coordinated meal of smoked haddock; cheddar and Red Leicester cauliflower cheese; white and sweet potato mash; carrots, and cauliflower leaves with which Jackie drank Rheinbacher Weissbier and I didn’t.

Further Work On The Front Of The House

Jackie and I transported to Efford Recycling Centre the bags of garden refuse I had loaded yesterday evening.

Today Nick was joined by Tom Brown, a plasterer, who spent his time

rendering decayed parts of the pebbledash wall surface.

Nick, meanwhile, applied a further coat to the wall and painted woodwork, including the front door. Because he cannot paint over the new rendering until it is dry he will be away from here until Thursday.

This evening we dined on roast belly of pork, Bramley apple sauce, boiled carrots, cauliflower, and runner beans, with which Jackie drank Varzea Vinho Verde 2024, and I drank Reserva Privado Chilean Merlot 2023.

A Beautiful Irony

Having been kept awake most of the night by the function of my catheter, I have decided to explain something about it. The purpose is to enable a free flow of urine in the affected body. I will spare my readers a scan of the explicit colourful drawing we are given; those more squeamish may wish to pass the following paragraph completely.

A plastic tube is inserted into the urethra travelling to the bladder. This remains in place until the medics are satisfied that there is a free flow devoid of blood clots. It is the stinging resulting from the passing of these clots that disturbed my night’s sleep; there has not been much of this during the day. The liquid is collected in an attached plastic bag the content of which requires regular emptying and flushing away. If successful my catheter is due to be removed in two days time.

By coincidence Ronan and Harvey of Tom Sutton Heating visited by appointment this morning having brought a machine for flushing out a blockage in pipes carrying water from the boiler. As I sat with my (concealed) catheter bag attached to my leg, it was impossible to ignore the beautiful irony of this juxtaposition.

Shelly visited this afternoon bringing love, care, well wishes, and enjoyable conversation.

Later Nick Hayter visited to touch up areas of painting on our west end gable wall which he had not been able to reach while the scaffolding was in place. We also took the opportunity of a pleasant catch up.

Today Jackie completed her tidying of the patio after yesterday’s gusting winds.

Readers may have wondered what were the strips of wood in this picture from yesterday.

They were bought to conceal the peeling blue paint on the butler sinks. I was much steadier stepping out to photograph this before dinner.

This evening we dined on Ashleigh battered cod and garden peas.

Cutting In

Today Nick applied the second coats of paint to the east gable end wall, thus completing this stage of the work.

Cutting in is the term for lining up two levels of paintwork which most people I believe would use masking tape to ensure a smooth line.

As shown in these images Nick uses his hand and eye to produce

this clean line.

Later I began drafting the next section of Legends of the Ring which I expect to publish tomorrow.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s Butter Chicken frozen after our last meal with the Grandfamily and Special Rice and paratha brought back from our recent visit to Rokali’s, with which I finished the Malbec.

Look How He Holds The Brush

This morning we transported another car load of garden refuse and entomological stowaways to the Efford Recycling Centre.

There was no further rain and the day was rather cooler, so Nick was able to make an early start and spend an uninterrupted day

applying the first coat of paint to our east gable end. When I observed how he guided and controlled the brush with his fingers he replied that he didn’t know he was doing it, especially after 40 years.

This evening we dined on chicken Kiev; creamy mashed potatoes; tender spinach and green beans; firm carrots and cauliflower, with which I drank more of the Malbec.

Preparation Rain Delayed

Doing our best to evade the myriad of small fruit flies, tiny ants, and spiders of all shapes and sizes seeking freedom from a sleepover in the garden refuse bags with which we had packed the car yesterday, while the rain which had prevented Nick from his early start on painting preparation began to desist we took a trip to the council dump, now known as Efford Recycling Centre, to unload our green waste.

When the wall is wet, as it was after the rain, there was a limit to how much preparation can be achieved. Nick made a late start but was unable to do a great deal.

Later we packed the car with more bags of garden refuse; Jackie then drove it round to the Back Drive to leave the front for Nick tomorrow.

This evening we dined on meaty pork and chives sausages fried with chestnut mushrooms and onions; creamy mashed potatoes; tender cabbage; crunchy carrots; and pure white firm cauliflower, with tasty gravy. I drank Reserva Privada Chilean Malbec 2022.

Careful Preparation

This morning I published https://derrickjknight.com/2023/07/12/livia/ which I finished reading yesterday.

The stiff breeze that sped through the plot on this sunny day was such that I was pleased that Nick Hayter, who, with his customary care, spent several hours preparing the crumbly pebbledash west wall for painting, was working on the lower levels of the scaffolding.

First he removed the old drainpipe that, at an angle, spanned the centre of the wall;

next he scraped off the crumbliest material

and coated the rest with a liquid fungicidal solution.

Jackie had spent the morning completing her clearance of a footpath through the Palm Bed. She had filled two compost bags with debris. After lunch I bagged up more and transported all to the collection on the Back Drive. I had taken my camera in order to photograph the footpath, and was diverted by

a variety of day lilies en route.

This evening we all dined on pork barbecue spare ribs; rice by Jackie and Becky; and Becky’s salad with her own dressing. Mrs Knight drank Hoegaarden; Ian and Dillon, Peroni; and I, All Out 21 Merlot.

Somewhat Disconcerting

With paintbrush and roller, after replenishing some of yesterday’s filling, Nick brought light into our sitting room.

Particularly evident was how he has brightened the ceiling;

the walls also glow.

Unfortunately, with the windows open, a number of wasps buzzed around our decorator’s ears. This was more than somewhat disconcerting, so we supplied him with a fly swat and a spray can containing gas lethal to these creatures.

I read another sizeable chunk of “Eyeless in Gaza”

Late this afternoon we visited Milford Supplies to purchase a new starter for the strip light in the library, then drove on to catch