The balcony
" Make-over number one..."
"...then came the rain..."
"...rain out the front..."
"...models outside the model shop."
Make-over number two"The train standing at platform one...."
"CRASH""Make-over number three?"
I was going to post an article about work today...
Well, I did actually write it but I haven't posted it yet I have been much too busy doing conductors bits-in-between.
I have two new, very nice places to sit. I have actually got five nice places to sit in my tiny flat, one where I eat breakfast, one where I curl up with a cup of tea and a book, one where I do work (sort of work) and one where I paint. Then there is the balcony, a place for doing anything and everything.
The laptop likes to use them all. At the moment the painting corner is the seat of my choice.
Two of these sitting areas had been on the agenda for a make-over today, which incidently had been handed to me on a plate as a surprise day-off.
Make-over number one
The balcony now has more than just a chair and a table on it. I bought a few plants to climb up the trellis, two different ivys and a passion flower. I was given a sunflower and a dark-leaved busy-lizzy as presents for my birthday. Which are now looking pretty in the window-boxes.
After all this was planted I went down into the lovely dark and damp cellar, where I dug out all the garden ornaments still stored there after my move last year.
My new balcony room for the summer doesn't quite look like it has had a professional make-over, as the water-feature is missing, but it does look really lived-in now.
I am just waiting for the warm weather so that I can enjoy it without being out there wrapped up in a blanket.
Make-over number two
There was actually a thunderstorm just as I finished planting on the balcony, exactly at the moment when I wanted to get on with the other cosy-sitting-place project by taking a trip on my bike to the local model shop. Instead I made a cup of coffee and sat outside with it, watching the raindrops dripping from the prunus and acacia trees that surround my balcony.
This next make-over that I had planned was the coffee-table/sofa corner. This was also going to get prettied up by one of my birthday presents but, before I could start, I needed to get down to that model shop.
The rain stopped just in time for me to get to the shop, still with forty-five minutes to browse and get the bogeys on my new model train sorted before it closed. I suspect that the shop-owner doesn't actually close at the time stated on the door but waits until the last person has left, whatever time it is! It is that kind of place.
The shop was not only full of gorgeous, very expensive "Made in Germany" trains, there were also a lot of middle-aged German men there who were quite surprised to encounter a middle-aged English lady with an "N" Gauge high-speed train in her handbag. They were very kind and treated me like royalty.
I got the bogeys fixed and I found just what I was looking for, a station, a really long one so that it runs the whole length of the train. I splashed out and bought two sets of figures too, travellers and railways workers, Deutsche Bahn off course.
It took rather longer than planned to get the sofa area finished, as the station I chose was in kit-form. I spent the following three hours with glue, scissors and lots of patience assembling my purchase.
My rather special coffee table, which is full of all my treasures, now carries the "Birthday High Speed Express" and the St Johannis railway station. This seemed most appropriate as my birthday falls on St Johannis day and Johannis is also the name of the part of the city where I live.
The things I do instead of working! I had a lovely day, just as lovely as being at work with my clients!
PS Twitter
Today I didn't get the "work" blog posted that I had planned but I did get a few spare moments between the "make-overs" to get signed up on Twitter.
"SusieMallett" will find me there, at http://www.twitter.com/.
Registering on Twitter was nowhere near as exciting as playing trains but that could change as I work out how I can use it.
PPS Make-over number three?
It is now Saturday and I didn’t get anything posted at all last night, neither this one or the other that I had planned!
“Why was that?” you may ask.
It had nothing to do with the computer breaking down or the internet connection failing, or going out for a late-night drink around the corner.
No.
The kitchen cupboard fell off the wall!
Now I have seem to have “make-over number three” on my hands.
While I was waiting for the photographs to download from my camera for this posting I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and to prepare my muesli for breakfast. On opening the cupboard the whole thing fell off the wall and just stopped short of the floor, balancing between the table and the corner seat.
I was "lucky". Nothing got broken except most of my Hungarian green earthenware pots which were in the cupboard and three of the hand-made glass birds hanging beneath. I am in one piece and so is the laptop. As I said above, I was using the laptop in the arty corner and not as I usually do at weekends on the kitchen table. If it had been there I would not be finishing this blog today either.
So what will the new kitchen cosy-corner look like? No more cupboards hanging on the crumbling walls, that I know for sure.
Trompe d’oiel
I shall paint a mural.
First I thought of painting a window with a view across the North Sea or building an extension, by painting a conservatory looking out onto a cosy well tended garden, with the sea in the background. Then a friend suggested painting a cupboard. Then, if the magic worked well enough, I could quite possibly use it with no fears of it falling on top of me!
I am now planning away in my head, I am sure that I can combine the two, as there is enough space for both a window and a cupboard or a conservatory, with shelves for plants.
Watch this spot I will post the results but, before I start anything, I have to finish this blog then fill up all the holes in the wall.
Notes
My station is from Vollmer, No. 7504.
The figures are from Preiser
"Familie Krause vereist" (family Krause going on a journey) No. 79025, and "Bahn Personal, DB." No.79060
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