Monday 2 April 2012

Holding the Wire

A  productive weekend, major progress made in the ongoing project of the staircase and its decor. This involved ,repairing, stripping, scraping, sanding, filling.  For most of this I was the gofer , fetching tools making food and drinks finding the elusive miscreant pencil/ruler/cloth..I held the wire.
Some years ago daughter number one and her future husband were doing some gardening for me.It was a lovely day , not too warm yet sunny,a perfect gardening day. DN1 loves gardening and they both seemed keen to share the task. Future son in law got out all the heavy duty gardening weapons, mower, strimmer, etc and outlined his plan of action. DN1 noticed quickly, as did I from my vantage point downgarden pulling weed out of the pond, that he had bagged all the fun jobs for himself. When she asked plaintively'what can i do?' his response was 'well you can hold the wire!' This phrase has become embedded in family folklore, and aptly sums up the attitude of her man and mine  to practical activities such as DIY and gardening. They like their women to 'share' the task with them , but in a watching , and fetching and carrying kind of way. SBF in particular likes an audience , and gets a bit short tempered if i am distracted from my adoration of his DIY skills. I am in fact genuinely in awe . He is astonishingly good at practical things and can make and mend anything! I am also eternally grateful for his help in my very old house which needs , it seems, constant attention to keep it from falling down. So for the most part I am his happy assistant, but sometimes ...
On Sunday i was chatting to my next door neighbour as I hung out the washing, when her husband ambled over. I told him we were gossiping and said if only the fence were lower I could  hoist my bosom a la Les Dawson over it. His response to this was that the thought of my bosom pressed against the fence had made him feel all funny. Now this is good news as he suffers from a degenerative illness, so any 'funny feelings' of this nature are to be celebrated! Much giggling ensued with references to spring and rising sap and secateurs , in a carryonesque fashion. Suddenly there was a shout from the house
' Besssy! Beeeeeesssssssyyyyy! where is the metal ruler?!' and SBF appeared at the bottom of the garden. Catching me out, off task. My neighbours giggled all the more, (they know all  about holding the wire), and I scurried off praying I could find the offending missing ruler quickly.Fortunately for me I was able to locate said ruler in a short enough space of time to placate SBF, but I didn't venture outside again.
Darling Son on the other hand has had a weekend of filming  a friends music video ,where other people held the wire. From what I have seen it looks suitably moody and atmospheric. Shot on a derelict site with drifting smoke and hints of hauntings and insanity. He said how surreal it felt. To be a few miles down the road from his home, with an L.A. film director. What a life eh?

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