[FLYING BANANA]

........................ 18 months today. After knocking my table lamp over last week whilst I was pulling the curtains back, I was gutted to think it was broken and I could not see how it could be repaired. The connection where the bulb screws in had come adrift. I phoned Allen to see if he could have a look for me.
So yesterday he came round to have a look. He literally took the complete lamp apart.

It’s made out of drift wood so the path that the cable inside takes is not in a straight line but bends round a couple of times following the natural curve in the wood inside down the centre. Now the person who put it all together had worked a right flanker as the power cable was in two halves. Top section traveled down about 8 inches and the bottom section traveled up about 16 inches and the join was behind what looked like a knot in the wood. That knot turned out to be wood filler.

So armed with my Dremel type tool, Allen cutout the “knot”. And the join was revealed a heat wrap had been used and it fell apart as Allen removed it. Not only did Allen feed the cable in at the bottom he managed to use the bottom section right up to the top section. Allen then set about repairing the lamp connector. And this is where I got to do some work. The plastic retaining clips had snapped off. So with the aid of my modelling tweezers and a dab of superglue I was able to put the clips back in place. Now for the moment of testing. And the lamp lit op ok. Just needed to get the shade back on, and put the lamp back on it’s little table.
It had taken Allen almost 4 hours, and 3 mugs of tea, to rebuild my lamp. I’m well impressed with his work. As Allen says “if it’s broke it can be repaired”.

The next job was to measure up for a new bannister rail to be put up on the stairs. There was only a small rail on one side that never went to the top. Allen was a bit concerned about my safety on the stairs.
We drove up to Travis Perkins in Saltash where a new bannister rail plus brackets was bought. Allen has a trade account to we got a fair bit of discount off.
Brought the rail home and left it into the house. Allen said he would come back today to put it up.

And he was back just as I made a cuppa, reckoned he could hear the kettle whistling from home. Armed with a saw and a couple of electric drills. As I’m the apprentice it was my job to hold the rail whilst he trimmed the rail. Cut about 14 inches off. Then very carefully marking the wall he set about mounting the brackets. Whilst he was doing that I made another cuppa. Then I had the job of holding the rail in place whilst he connected the brackets. There is a small window on the stairs that had a curtain covering the light. So we took that down. I’ll put a net curtain up in it’s place at some point.

Once our tea was drunk the next job was to try and get the back door to the garage open. The mortise lock has jammed. After a few attempts from both sides Allen said that he’ll have to remove part of the frame to get to the lock mechanism. But not today. No urgency, as I walk round to the up and over door to gain access.
So Allen decided to take the excess wood that had been removed from the eyesore aka the greenhouse. “Leafy” had her roof rack on so the wood was loaded up. Allen is going to take the beams out to the boatyard where they will be used for shoring the boats up whilst out of the water.

So I’m over the moon for not only for having my lamp repaired and working plus my new bannister rail fitted but to knowing such a knowledgeable person like Allen. I’ll forever be in his debt.
With such a good friend I would be foolish to want to back to Essex anytime soon.

I do have to go back next year as I have a wedding to attend. That’s in May.

So No Going Back till then.

Thanks for reading and the kind comments.

Hope to meet with you all next year.