Setting the bar high

At the mid point in the afternoon the 'phone rang and it was Dave from Redditch Shotblasing. My frame and tinware was ready for collection. As soon as work allowed I headed over to to their workshop and used the strategically placed pallet to avoid stepping in the enormous puddle that blocked their doorway.*

There in the gloomy, gritty, monotone interior of the workshop was my frame and cardboard box of tinware all beautifully wrapped in bubble-wrap and tissue paper to protect it from damage. Dave carried  it all out to the car and unwrapped a couple of items for me to inspect the colour in daylight … I was absolutely flabbergasted. The colour was a splendid green, perhaps a shade or two darker than the background colour of The Journal website, and the finish was beautiful. I thanked him profusely and was even more delighted when I discovered that the price I had been quoted included VAT.

I headed home and realised that the quality of the powder coating had set the bar high and I now needed to ensure that everything else was completed to a similar standard … reusing nasty fasteners was always a repugnant idea to me and now even more so.

As is traditional, I proposed storing the refurbished parts in the spare bedroom and, to be scrupulously fair to 30%, she did little more than give me a look in response to this suggestion. When I pointed out that the frame did have bare steel areas that needed protecting from rust until the bearings were reinserted, she even went as far as to suggest where in the bedroom I should place it … she is amazingly tolerant of me and my eccentricities.

So that was my exciting news for today … I am trying to avoid thinking about moving the new tumble drier down the stairs to the cellar

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* It was a rainy day today