Sheesh - the people at Dulux are presumably familiar with dealing with complete morons - either that or they are trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities (now why would I think that?).

Here is part of their response to my complaint: If there is moisture beneath the old paint this can lead to flaking and peeling, along with the application of paint to powdery or friable surfaces and to previous coatings.  Other causes are dirt on the surface impairing adhesion.  If  there  is excessive movement of the surfaces (such as at the joints in woodwork), this imposes stresses on the paint film resulting in cracking and ultimately flaking and peeling.
Small areas of flaking or peeling can be dealt with by removing the loose material back to a firm edge, priming with a Dulux 1 step primer sealer oil based and re-coating.  Where peeling is extensive or the overall adhesion is doubtful, the surface should be stripped completely before repainting.

 I have sent them photos as requested and also provided them with details as to the date and place of purchase, bar codes, batch codes etc. not to mention prevailing weather conditions at the time the paint was applied (ah the blessings of maintaining a blog!).


Today's morning showers failed to eventuate so I plucked up the courage and did several loads of washing. The first two were on the line and the third in the machine when the showers arrived, but as they were very light and left fairly soon everything was dry before I brought it in eventually. More progress on my way around the kitchen - I unhomed an alarmingly large and hairy spider - the size of a huntsman but hairier and more muscular. It hid under the microwave, and as far as I am concerned, it can stay there. I am not lifting the microwave up to dislodge it! Fortunately I had already cleaned under there, so it can be safe for another six months! lol.


We are having seesaw weather for much of this week - today 13 - tomorrow 22 and 27 the following day. Then 15 on Tuesday followed by a more gradual rise in temperature. I know Tassie has variable Springs, but this is ridiculous!

Tomorrow's work has been cancelled. Sort of. Apparently the guest is no longer planning to come, but since there are tradies at work today it is deemed desirable to go in and check they have not left the place looking like a tip. So that is what I will do.

Today has been another overcast day with imminent rain that never falls - hot humid and oppressive. I spent it at the Community Garden. This morning we packaged a lot of seeds in anticipation of the school market next Tuesday evening where we intend to have a stall. We will also be picking rhubarb to sell and anything else we can find (broad beans seem a pretty safe bet), and we have also made up numerous toilet roll tubes so passing infants can plant a seed and take it home to grow. We have decided peas and broad beans are the best options being large and pretty tough despite the abuse they are likely to receive.

I came home with a box full of potatoes from a plant that volunteered in the polytunnel. It was a very leggy plant and seemed to be all plant, no potatoes, but when we pulled it up a quantity of rather large spuds came with it - I expect it will be potato salad for lunch tomorrow. Not sure what variety (if any) they are, but they have red skin.

Dulux Australia has responded very promptly to my email to them, but not to its content which they clearly failed to read. But if you have any pre-primed weatherboards apparently Dulux expects you to sand off the priming before applying their paint - which seems an unusual (and  not entirely intuitive) approach. They have suggested I phone them if I have any further enquiries. I have emailed back and indicated written communication is preferred.

Meanwhile, since the tenant is no longer moving out and the sales agent is going on parental leave at any tick of the clock I have told him not to bother starting marketting till he gets back to avoid the potential chaos that would inevitably arise if he leaves part way through the process. Sigh.

 The bad news is that the tenant was unable to secure the house she wanted so we are back to square one in that department. Dulux has emailed back and told me it is all my fault, and by the way I need to talk to Dulux Australia who can be contacted here:   [large blank space].

Sigh.

It has been overcast all day so the indoors is quite chilly, but the outdoors has been pretty warm for much of the day. The 70% chance of showers has failed to perform (three spits in the eye while walking the dog does not count) so we are still waiting, waiting, waiting for something resembling water.

An echidna has taken up residence under a pile of wood in the back yard which has Seb vastly entertained - especially when it goes for wanders across the back yard in his sight.

So apart from further purging of the house, not much has happened here today.

My download has been slowed and will remain so for the next three days - terribly frustrating!

Things are not going smoothly in relation to the sale of the house. My doctor's refusal to provide his passport number means his forms are unacceptable, but fortunately I remembered my best friend's daughter not only has a passport but also is one of the acceptable professions - phew. So I have emailed the forms to her to sign and fill in and send back to me. Meanwhile the tenant delayed providing access to the property for three weeks, then presented it in a messy state and gave the photographer grief while he was working there. Now she has emailed saying she has found somewhere else and wants to waive the 'notice' period. In the circumstances I am probably going to agree with conditions regarding access and condition of the house in the mean time (and also after checking with the letting agents to see if her rent is up to date). I feel I have been more than fair to her, but she is not reciprocating - but I will be glad to have her out when they start showing the place as a hostile tenant is hardly conducive to feeling at home in the place. Since it is midwinter I will have to ask them to leave the central heating on low to keep the chill out of the place and reduce the risk of mildew forming - sigh.

Two cottages to clean today but both in reasonable condition - I will be putting out the rubbish tonight when I call in to clean the bank. I will also be dropping off some removal cartons to a friend who is moving house as she will need as many as she can lay her hands on - being even more cluttered than I am!

Then on to sewing where not much sewing was done but we had several nice chats - and my shopping arrived from the cooking demonstration - I am now the proud owner of a rather nice knife and some Australian Dukkah which is seasoned with various native plants.

I also found a nice pair of cords at the Bargain Centre and a particularly beautiful scarf which I bought less for wearing than for draping elegantly when the bedroom is finished and decorated.

Some nice men in a large truck parked out the front with the most amazing bit of kit on the back - it is basically a long fibreglass pole with a circular saw on the end for trimming high branches. I rushed out to get a quote from them to get rid of the overhanging branches from the neighbours' pine trees (which are across the lane and overhanging my guttering at this stage). Unfortunately they do not do private work, being under contract to Aurora, but they gave me the card of another company that might be able to help. I had no idea such things existed and had expected to have to hire a cherry picker and a bloke with a chainsaw to deal with the branches so I am rather thrilled!

It was supposed to be marginally warmer today but turned out to be one degree cooler instead - at nine degrees it was definitely fire-lighting time and so on my return from the deep south that is what i did.

This morning, however, I headed down to the northern suburbs to get some cat food - you will recall that Show day inhibited my access to the area the last time I went down. So now the cats and the dogs are well equipped to last a little longer and since they are currently comatose in front of the fire one has to assume they are content.

Managed to keep warm chasing the neighbours' chooks out of the yard several times during the course of the day - I guess another call to council will be required. I keep putting it off on the off-chance they show some social responsibility, but apparently not. The chickens that used to accompany their mother into the yard are now coming in by themselves - and since some of them are roosters also I have to assume that the concept of culling roosters has yet to sink in.

Apart from transcribing the roster for the next two weeks into my diary and getting marginally organised for sewing tomorrow I am afraid that nothing else has happened here. Too cold by half!

Well they said it would be chilly today and they didn't lie. I lit the fire at lunchtime, having kept warm earlier in the day with some activity in the kitchen (tidying cupboards, getting rid of excess jam jars, cleaning the stove top thoroughly and the range hood as well)

This afternoon Heather and I went to see a house that was 'for sale by owner' in Oatlands. I am a little annoyed that she told the vendor I was on the market for a house, but as it turned out he is a friend of mine so it was interesting and congenial. It is a sweet little 1840s cottage that was renovated to become a school in the 1870s and then reverted back to being a house. The previous owner had lived there 67 years and raised nine children in it, so it must have been jampacked when they were all at home.

Basically it is one long room at the back with a coved board and batten ceiling and baltic pine lining. The room has been roughly subdivided into three with very obvious partition walls, and there are two rooms at the front. Bathroom is out the back in a lean to that is actually detached, but connected with a laserlight ceiling (brrr). It is in a shed that comprises bathroom, laundry and workshop, each with its own door. A rather fantastical and but very functional chook shed provides a number of doors for egg collection as well as a human door for cleaning it out, and the back yard is largish but not too large. On a corner block that backs onto Council's Depot it is nice and private, the neighbouring house having a large shed down the boundary that is built right up to the fence line. Since most of the serious work (repointing brickwork, installation of french drain to address rising damp etc) is done it would require some titivating, a kitchen and bathroom and a complete rebuild of the back wall (which is timber, rotted out at the base and needs some french doors into the rear courtyard once you knock through the partitions).

I am not looking forward to going out to clean the bank tonight as it has come down very chilly indeed right now, but at least they have got rid of the endless piles of pamphlets that were a cleaner's nightmare as each had to be picked up, straightened, dusted under and replaced.

The price is very reasonable - albeit beyond my budget. $168,000 if anyone is interested.

The twenty five degrees was somewhat ameliorated by the wind that seems to be from somewhere relatively cool - good thing too as I hate being hot, and hot and windy is too horrible to bear. As it was it was tolerable apart from a short period around lunchtime when the thought of a fan crossed my mind, but was not acted upon as by the time I got up next it was no longer necessary.

I popped into the Market this morning and picked up a jar of raspberry jam which will be nice on toast, and that was the sum total of my purchases due to lack of temptation.

Home once more I transfered my activities to the laundry, once again going through cluttered cupboards, removing clutter from benchtops and shelves and floor, and generally finding my way back to the back door. Once it has a new handle it will now be possible to use it for its intended purpose.

I did not bother cutting any more firewood as there seems to be sufficient for my needs indoors already, though I collected some bark from the oval so I have some kindling - I used the last of my supplies last time I lit the fire. I suppose I could have cut some lighter wood, but frankly, there is not enough incentive to do so.

The little rain we enjoyed overnight is long since gone, thanks to the wind, but I expect the plants were grateful for what they received.

I have just finished PD James 'The Children of Men' which, unlike her usual stuff is an interesting fiction about a world in which all childbirth ceased in the 1990s and the population is simply aging without replenishment. A very interesting exploration, but the ending is a bit of a disappointment for all that.