Bodges, we don't need no stinking bodges

"Relaxing" and "Weekend" are two words not often found cheek by jowl in Mary's vocabulary and the Easter weekend was no exception. We took Thursday off work so we could get down to the cottage early avoiding the Easter weekend traffic jams.

Thursday afternoon was spent staining twenty floorboards in the garage and Friday was spent hauling them upstairs and nailing them in place in the loft. Doing which meant removing the rickety collection of planks, shelves, doors and bits of old furniture that had previously passed for temporary flooring. I didn't manage to fit all 20 in the day because I would insist on doing it neatly: there is a level of rough and ready craftsmanship below which I will not sink. I cannot bring myself to do a bodge job.

Saturday we had Nikki down for round two of the garden refurbishment started last year helped by Mary and local lad Asher. He and I sorted out the base of the summerhouse with some planks recycled from the loft and then proceeded to paint it green with the help of Nikki's kids Ben and Rowanna.

In the evening Bob&Lynne joined us for what was meant to be the first barbecue of the year but the rain put a damper on that so we dined indoors. We baked the meats and, instead of grilled vegetables, did some cous-cous at which Bob and I simultaneously said "Ah, the first cous-cous of spring".