A LOVE AFFAIR WITH A PAINT ROLLER          - 5/9/2006      <--Prev : Next-->




A LOVE AFFAIR WITH A PAINT ROLLER

It is hard to find fault with my electronic diary, it thinks for me, 
sends me e-mails to remind me of dates, dentists appointments and 
meetings.

It keeps my birthday calendar up to date not only for the current 
year but perpetually without my doing a single thing.

I can send invitations to HeeHoo to join me at suitable functions
and 
he can send me "accept " or "decline" invitations to join him. 
(Accept cocktail parties and dinners but "decline" rugby matches and 
evenings at the pub !!)

But it fails dismally when I try and press fresh flowers in it as I 
used to do in my old fashioned paper diaries !!

Would have dearly liked to pinch a few of the Oz wildflowers that
are  so beautiful along the highways in Perth in Spring.

The Geraldton Waxes would have pressed beautifully, the brilliant
red 
Kangaroo Paws, the abundant gorse and brilliant yellow wattle
flowers 
would have looked good too.

There is consolation in that I photographed them, but not quite the 
same as paging through old diaries and coming across pressed flowers 
to remind one of happy days.

A visit to Perth is always like a time warp for me. Not only do I
see 
my precious family members but I also get to see much loved people 
from halcyon and happy years gone by.

Among those special friends are Jenny and Marcus, we can still pick 
up a friendship from thirty years ago as if there were never any gap 
at all, and reminisce about those  whacky days when they lived in 
that tiny flat on the top of the High Court in Bulawayo. A stones 
throw away from the very same flat mentioned in John Gordon Davis 
Book "Hold My Hand I am Dying"

Of course the primary reason that I was invited to Oz was to
decorate 
"She Who Must Runs" newly purchased apartment ! A quaint double
story 
unit with some most interesting neighbours, very close to the Swan 
River which will become prime real estate quite soon I am sure.

Now decorating in the First World certainly has its advantages, I 
fell totally in love with my paint roller. It was so porous it could 
hold enough paint, without spilling a single drop, to paint an
entire 
wall. ! Those Aussi blokes sure know how to make excellent DIY tools.

Hands on Home decorating is new to me as a spoilt Zimbabwean, for 
years now Charlie and I have decorated homes, but not in this sort
of 
luxury and nor at such close quarters !!

Normally Charlie has decorated the numerous rooms with an awful old 
ladder with missing steps, an antiquated paint brush that loses six 
hairs with each stroke and he has lugged a heavy metal roller bucket 
around while I have directed operations from an easy vantage point 
nearby !

HOWEVER nothing daunted, Charlieless, I took to this decorating lark 
like a duck to water. Its easy with the right tools I must say, the 
paint slurped on like liquid gold, the step ladder was so light I 
could swing it around on my little pinky, and the sewing, stitching 
and curtain hanging was a piece of cake with the Australian mod cons 
in creativity.

SheWho did occasionally allow me off my step ladder to go for runs 
with her in the beautiful Perth parks and many happy memories were 
made as She ran and I shuffled along the glorious Swan River.

(Here I must offer abject apologies to the Director of the Perth 
Publicity Association for once saying that Perth has no trees. The 
more established parts of the City have a wonderful abundance of 
trees and the parks and gardens are superb !!)

Of course the Piece De Resistance was when we and 26 thousand other 
Perthians ran the City to Surf 12km "Fun Run" It was reminiscent of 
all the pain of childbirth and a tonsillectomy rolled into one.......

However we did receive a fine medal for the pain, but climbing the 
step ladder for the next few days to slosh paint on the ceiling (and 
the carpet and the couches)  was pay back time for all those years
of 
making Charlie undertake Home Decorating without the right tools. !!!

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