Noyer

Whilst N is away on safari in Belfast, I have been undertaking a long list of jobs that have been neglected for far too long.  So, I am engaged in renovating the tiling on the kitchen sink surround, replacing all the naff plastic-wood window sills with solid oak and a few other things just to keep me busy.  One of the things that I have on my "to-do" list is to put a solid wood top onto the TV table.  I made the table itself some years ago with wood reclaimed from and old bookcase, but the top doesn't look quite right.  I had in mind to top it with the same oak flooring material that I am using to renovate the window sills, but now I have a better plan.  My wood-sculptor neighbour, Pierre, has an atelier stuffed full of bits of assorted wood and he was only too pleased to let me choose a piece of old walnut for the table.  At first it looked like it was only fit for flooring a henhouse (in fact it looked as if it HAD spent some years flooring a henhouse), but he cut it to size and I spent the afternoon in his outdoor workshop sanding it again and again, smoothing off all the imperfections and bringing out the beauty of the grain that lay beneath the years of neglect.  I have kept the natural contours of the edges and am now engaged in giving it multiple coats of varnish. And he wouldn't take a penny (or a euro) from me.  "je vous dois combien"? I asked.  "Non, non", he replied, waving his arms, "c'est pour les photos", (the pictures that I took recently for him of his latest works). I came home covered in dust and wood shavings.  A very satisfying day!!