Monday, April 30

 

 

We got up early this morning and had a genuine breakfast, rather than the usual weekend brunch. Irma has inheritance work to do, and she has estimated that this will take her about nine hours of uninterrupted work. I do not want to play the role of the person interrupting her.

Fortunately I also have a lengthy task for today. I therefore gathered together the paint we bought yesterday, and a variety of brushes, cloths, keys, and tubs, and cycled to Naa’s apartment. She started her final work practice of this academic year today, and so she left for the hospital before I arrived.

My job has a very simple set of instructions: paint things white. More specifically one wall of Naa’s apartment has a brown and gold floral pattern over it and she has decided that she doesn’t like it. I have agreed to cover it with several coats of white paint, while failing to spill anything on the floor or furniture.

I started slowly; covering floors with newspaper, and sanding the plasticised floral wallpaper so that it will let the paint stay on it. After two and a bit hours I had completed a first coat, and had also retouched a set of book shelves that Naa thought needed retouching.

I pause for a break, and remember that Irma and I looked at Vappu balloons in Prisma yesterday and talked about getting her one. I will decide to cycle to Prisma, buy something for lunch and get her a Vappu balloon.

I will spend a long time trying to choose one. Should I go with Star Wars, or would a retro Mario prove a better choice? In the end I find a very cute and very retro little girl in the Mabel Lucie Atwell style, and get that.

The second coat will take less time than the first, as I expected. I will let it dry and then apply a third coat to the one wall that gets direct sunlight. It still looks a bit patchy after two coats, but after three it will look sparkling white.

Naa will appear just after I have cleared everything up. She will meet friends in the centre to watch the students put the hat on the statue at 18:00, and then hang around in the city wide party until she gets bored and comes home.

Scott Cunningham will send me a mail and I will realise that I had forgotten all about our Monday call. Since Irma still labours on I will sit at Naa’s for an hour chatting with Scott.

Naa will leave for the centre and Irma will phone to invite me home. We will decide that we partied enough on Saturday. After salad and sausages, we will read and then go to bed.

We will shout “Party On” as we do, to distinguish tonight from a normal Monday.