Ten litres of paint

Those who notice these things may have spotted that I have been somewhat quiet over the past few days. This is because my wife has left me.

She needed to go home to Ubon to sort out some things for her mother’s house, and so decided to make an extended trip of nearly two weeks and stay for Songkran.

Of course the question came up, would I like to go too? Well, of course I would, I lied quickly, but we have a sick cat that needs tending and I really have to get on with painting the condo having purchased the paint months ago and looked at it only occasionally since then. The cat and the paint thing contain some elements of truth, but the reality is that I could not stand an extended period with her grandmother. It appears I am not alone in this, because my wife was on the phone on the first day explaining the many methods she would like to employ to silence the old bat permanently. I have sent a machete by EMS.

So, she who must be obeyed is away and so I am free to take photos and generally do whatever I want until a week on Saturday. Hooray! Apart from the cat and the paint thing of course.

One of our cats is very ill and has been so for months. Close to twenty thousand baht and four courses of treatment at two vets and the consensus is that her lungs and trachea are screwed and she is beyond help. She is practically a skeleton and we are just waiting for her to die and are trying to make the journey as gentle as possible. She stopped eating dry food a month or so ago; so I bought a tin of soft (expensive) special food and she would lick a little of that off my fingers a few times a day. Enough to keep her going but little more. Then she stopped doing that, so she who must be obeyed pushed food through a sieve, mixed it with water, and force fed her a few times a day via a syringe. A messy job, but if it kept me away from the granny, I agreed to take on the challenge.

I wasn’t very good at it, with about 50% going in the cat with the rest heading for the nearest soft furnishings. Then on the second day I heard a crunching noise and the cat was happily eating dry food again! She hasn’t gained any obvious weight, but my cat life support duties are temporarily suspended.

But that still leaves the painting and for the past three days I have been filling, sanding and painting for at least eight hours a day. I never really appreciated the extent of my condo walls; there is far too much acreage, and I used the best part of a ten litre can before I realised the paint was wrong. I have been slapping on emulsion for years with no problem, and then suddenly I am presented with a blotchy mess after a hard day of painting. Close inspection of the tin revealed the word “sheen”. The word has been crossed out by pen, presumably in response to my question “is this emulsion?”, to which the muppet in HomeWorks decided to answer “yes” and made it so with a stroke of a pen. Bastard.

So last night I went out and bought another ten litres of approximately the same colour (she’ll never notice) and repainted yesterday’s patchfest with two coats of the right stuff. Still a long way to go and I can see this taking up most of my home alone time. Plus, Songkran is nearly here and so there is no point going anywhere anyway (if you think I am going to test out if my E-M1 is really waterproof; fuck off).

Which is a really long excuse for the lack of posts. A shame because I have some* interesting** items to share.

*two **mundane

Comments 🔗

2014-04-10 | The Heavyweight says

You’ve just proven that you have become a true craftsman. Work a little, and the talk about it for an hour ;)

2014-04-10 | Spike says

An emulsion artisan! Do I get a certificate?

2014-04-11 | The Heavyweight says

I apologise for having misassessed the true nature and scope of your professional abilities. You should definitely get yourself a certificate. I’ve recently seen nice ones at the water market, btw. :)

2014-04-18 | Chang Noi says

Holy cow are you still painting? Next time you are about to buy paint …. at the intersection of Sukhumvit road and Route 36 (at the fly-over) is a very good paint shop!

2014-04-19 | Ron says

He must have painted himself into a corner.

2014-04-20 | Matt says

Stop painting now and post more :-) really enjoy the photo talk, ex pat experience and the funny!

2014-04-21 | Spike says

I missed you too.