Builders’ Banter

You’ve probably read in one of my recent posts, that we are making some alterations to our house.  We’re building an extension to the rear and making some changes to the inside layout, to add a “real” hallway beside the stairs, with access doors to both main rooms, rather than having to walk through the sitting room to reach the dining room, then through the dining room to get to the kitchen!

So, the Builders are here.  They’ve been on-site most days for the past two weeks or so and they have set up a little space in the garage, where there’s a work-bench.  Of course, there is also a radio; no builder can work without the radio on all day (Jeff – the boss – says it’s a security measure, as it makes would-be nosey-parkers believe someone is there, even if everyone is round the back digging holes). 

The radio is set to a local “hits” channel, which plays mainly 1980’s and 1990’s music, with the odd gem from the ‘70’s etc.  Builders seem to like that kind of music best.  I suppose most of it is cheerful, with a good beat and a tune (some “music” isn’t really so musical is it…). 
I could produce a CD of “Builders’ Greatest Hits”, as they sing (or howl) along to their favourites – which they then repeat at intervals throughout the day, making up their own version when they forget the words or tune… 

Classics such as “Layla”, “Tainted Love”, “I Knew You Were Waiting…”, “Baby, Where Did Our Love Go?” etc, etc all become part of the day’s sound-track.  They make silly faces, as they croon a love song to one another.  Their sentences are punctuated by snatches of song. 

It’s quite fun really. They also have a kind-of scripted banter, which they carry on at intervals, in between the chat and even some serious conversation about wives and girlfriends, their children, family and friends, what they watched on tv, the state of the economy… They can be quite serious and thoughtful, these builder-chaps; they may have a mainly manual kind of job, but that doesn’t stop them using their brains too.

They also have some standing jokes, which get trotted out daily:

* * *

“Curly, could you knock those nails in please?”
“What, Jeff, these ones?”
“Yeah, them.”
“Okay…” – bang, bang…
…“Oh, no, Curly, not them ones!”…

* * * 

“Jeff, did you want me to dig out the footings for that wall?”
“Yes please – where the red paint-marks are.”
“Okay then…”
…. “Oh, no, Curly, not that one!”…

* * *

All day… The same joke… “Nah, not that one!”

So I asked if they don’t get bored of that joke.  Apparently they don’t – it seems to be part of the routine; perhaps it’s the oil that keeps them all running smoothly. 

* * *

My favourite though, has to be a conversation I overheard on Monday, while I was working up in the studio.   It gets warm in there, as the room faces south, so I have to open the window.  The builders were working in the hallway, with the front door open, just below where I was:

* * *

Neighbour’s voice – couldn’t hear what he said…

Jeff’s voice, “Nah? Really?  No…..!”

Then Jeff shouted, “Curly! Curly!”

“Yes, Jeff!”

“You know that woman we saw walking by this morning?”

“What, that really good-looking one?”

“Yeah…”

“She was alright… bit of a smasher…” (can’t remember exact words, but that was the general idea… quite polite, but obviously they had noticed!).

Jeff said, “Yeah, that one…. Well… Apparently…. She was a ‘He’!”


…. long pause….


Curly’s voice, rather shocked & squeaky… “NO! Never!  Really?”

Neighbour’s voice “Yes, really & truly.”

Curly, “No! But… No!”

Laughter, more banter… interspersed with Jeff and Curly saying “Can’t believe it” etc…

Curly – “But Jeff, you was going to ask for her phone number!”

* * *

Really, you just couldn’t make these things up…

And I get this free floor-show every day.  It’s almost worth the dust and hassle, just to have a good laugh.

It was Summer - All Weekend

Well, after the "Two Year Winter" and the long, long, oh so long stretch of freezing, icy, chill weather... it's been so nice to have some sunshine!  Of course, what's happening just now, is that we get a day of sun, then several of rain and wind - so sunshine is seriously a bonus these days.

But yesterday and today it has been Summer. For certain.

Look:

There are flowers in the borders - even bluebells.

 

Aquilegias,

 

Clematis Montana climbing up the Willow tree,

 

Apple Blossoms!

 

The Willow tree is in leaf (at last!).

 

Mr. Blackbird is busy collecting food for ever-hungry chicks.

 

I even found an Orange Tip Butterfly on the flowers.

 

 

 

Miffy & Petra have been enjoying the fresh air.

 

 

 

However, the reason I know it is Really Summer, is this:

 

Dave & James have put the trampoline together!

 

Summer is here - at least, until tomorrow...

 

 

 

Swap Treasure

Recently there was a lovely idea posted at Sian's blog.  She suggested we should hold a bloggers' Swap of Very Small Things. 

 

We e-mailed our details to Sian and she made up a Swap List.  The idea was that you would send a Swap package to the person below you on the list.  So I was sending my package of Very Small Things to Jean (whose parcel was posted today!); and I have received a package from the lovely Jane. 

 

What? Oh, yes, the parcel... what Very Small Things did it contain?

 

Well, this was inside the very nicely decorated bubble envelope... See the friendly message?

And the litle package was so pretty... and exciting...

...and when I opened it, all this gorgeousness spilled out!  Look at the fab little bits & pieces - buttons, sparkly things, butterflies & flowers, tiny folders and die-cuts, little pieces of paper, tags, twine, ribbon, even a cute crochet flower. 

 

I feel lucky and very spoiled.  Thank you so much Jane, I'm delighted! 

 

Jane has also blogged about her package today - she received some lovely little things too and seems to be equally happy. 

 

What a great idea this was - thanks to Sian for organising this!  

Just a Little Bit Famous...

I got a Blog Feature!  I am very lucky to have a feature post on the Supporting Artists blog. 

Happy Lizzie :-)

 

I'm a member of the Supporting Artists Team on Etsy.  It's an invitation-only team and they choose a limited number of sellers, from shops selling a wide variety of things.  I was flattered to be invited to join and also very pleased to be asked to submit an article about my shop & workspace for the blog. 

 

In fact, I had forgotten all about it.  The post had to be submitted a couple of months ago, along with some photos, but I have been so busy since, that it had completely slipped my mind.  So it was a lovely surprise to see the link to my post, on the Supporting Artists Facebook page this morning! 

 

I am very lucky.  It's a great team, who are very active - I haven't been particularly active myself recently, but now I really want to put a bit more work in on the team's behalf - after all, it's the least I can do really!

 

If you want to see a photo of my messy studio and read all kinds of waffle about Lizzie Made, then why not go and see?  And while you are there, you might like to look around - it's a really good blog, with lots of very interesting posts, on a variety of topics.  There's also a directory of sellers, listed by the type of items they make/sell - and some of the other sellers' stuff is wonderful.  Well worth a visit! 

A Nice Cup of Tea...

I like it when I have some time on a Sunday evening, to just sit in my studio and play with paper.  It's nice to just make anything I want - and this evening, I did just that!

I found some fun fabric in the local sewing and patchwork supplies shop.  They stock a wide range of fabrics, mostly cottons (but also linens, silks and other stuff) mainly for quilting/patchwork.  I often go there and buy fabric and other stitching supplies; of course, the occasional impulse buy occurs.  This particular fabric is a cotton, printed with a design of vintage tea cups & saucers.  I just thought it would make a great book, so I bought a fat quarter and popped it on top of my fabrics box.  This evening, while digging around for ideas for a little project, the fabric fell down and I scooped it up.  Just what I wanted!

This is what I made (photos are not great, as they had to be taken with artificial lighting):

A Cup of Tea notebook!



These are the front and back covers - each is different.  Don't you love this fabric?

It has a silk-wrapped edge and I have attached the covers and pages with a hybrid of a Coptic stitched binding and a traditional longstitch. I used ivory linen thread and I think it looks very effective against the soft green silk.

 

The covers are lined with strawberry red art paper, to match the red in the cover fabric.  The mossy green of the silk is the same as the green teacup on the covers too.

It has forty pages of my favourite cream coloured text paper.  I had cut and folded these pages last week, so I needed a project for them.  

Overall, I think it worked out very nicely. 

 

When the sun is out tomorrow (ever hopeful!), I will take some better photos and put this in my shop, for sale.  It was made as just a bit of fun, but I hope my evening's work will make someone smile. I hope someone else likes it as much as I do!