... chez Walker n Webb.
A year or so ago, we had a builder take the plaster off one of the cottage walls to expose the stone. He made a real pig's ear of the job, leaving loads of the crumbly lime plaster stuck to the stone and such ugly pointing I wanted to scream every time I looked at it.
Anyway, we finally got around to cleaning it up; for the past couple of days, we've been sealed inside a plastic tent, buzzing away at it with Black & Deckers with wire brush attachments. We've now cleaned off all the plaster and smoothed off the ugly pointing, making it pretty. But... Man - doing it was just hell; we had proper breathing equipment and goggles but were working in a total fog - literally couldn't see our hands in front of our face, and having to change the filters in the masks every 2 hours; it was just a hideous nightmare, really. And of course, even though we sealed and sheeted as best we could, it got past our defences; the sitting room wasn't too bad but the bedroom's a terrible mess with a thin film of dust over everything; furniture, the bed, pictures, rugs, teddies, clothes - it even got inside the drawers; everything will have to be washed. I can still feel it on my computer keyboard and I can't get it out of my hair, which has reacted by turning afro on me.
But tomorrow Mark will finish the wall with a gallon or so of sealant while I... ::sigh:: - attempt to clean the house (cue wolf howl, organ chord, thunder-clap). I have the better half of that deal, though; I used that sealant on the bathroom floor; it's pure evil and he has a whole wall to do. O:
The upshot is that I've barely written a word of my book or my fic in days. This distresses me greatly, but hopefully I can find some time next week - after we tile Mum and Dad's kitchen, the next job coming up.
Hey ho... It's all stuff to tick off the list, but I'm completely knackered. I'm getting too old for this stuff. )o: