There is such a thing as a free lunch! - Thursday

I woke up and because I had a bit of a blocked up nose and was tired, stayed in bed. Yes, I had no lectures today, woo! I did get out of bed by 0930, and for my breakfast, a pack of crisps (I have quite a few still) and half a cup of tea (a normal cup, not my monster mug). Anyhoo, on with the day, I walked over to Lizzie, Jo, Liz and Emma's house. Chris was doing some painting and general DIY work there today and said he'd love for me to help him, seeing as I had a free day that wouldn't be a problem. I got there 10 minutes late (oops) and was met by a very tired Lizzie who wasn't even aware that Chris was doing any work today. Turns out that Chris simply hadn't told any of them, even Emma whom he talks to quite a lot. Lizzie apologised for her reaction on Monday which I thought was quite nice, I was impressed she remembered considering how tired she looked. Emma made me a cup of tea and phoned Chris, he got there 10 minutes after me and we began work. There were two main jobs to do, sand down some plaster so we could paint it later and also to paint a coat of weather paint thingamie on the wooden fence. Being very slight (Chris isn't big, but he's not as slim as me, though, I am almost officially underweight) I got to do the first part of the fence as it was in a really hard to get to part, I managed fine. Then I did some Sanding, after about 5 minutes I hit upon the idea of sticking my t-shirt over my mouth and nose to help stop the dust further clogging up my nose. In short order I got into the hang of sanding and had all of the walls sanded. I then did some more painting of the fence. A bit later Chris went to pick up a van from someplace and I went along. We cycled up there, I was on Jo's bike, it's sadle being about 50cm too low for me made for a tricky ride but Chris' bike is can't change the pedal centered gears so neither of us were into racing. It took half an hour for Chris to fill out the paper-work, mostly because the lady serving him was new and didn't know what to do. We got back and had lunch. I had a total of three sandwiches and a slice of pizza, note how I didn't pay for it (I can't count it for my free stuff competition as it's from friends). I then fixed Chris' brakes, apparently he was going to be charged £15 for them to be changed, I then did more fence painting. I later had a crack at fixing Chris' gears but it wasn't possible, the spring that pulls against the cable is stuck. After applying WD 40 to most of the gear system we were able to loosen it up a bit with a Birmingham Screwdriver, hopefully next time I'll find out what's actually stopping it working, the spring is still there. Chris and Emma went out to dinner somewhere, Jo and Lizzie went to Steve H's house for dinner and I was cooked dinner by Liz. Liz cooked Tikka Masala Chicken and Rice. The Tikka was a bit hot for my liking (I prefer a Korma) but notheless it was a delicious meal and included some vegetable name that I cannot spell. Corgettes. My spell checker can't help me either. Anyhoo, it was most excellent and it was nice to talk to Liz and Charlotte before walking home to WoA and the database I've been writing. Now, you're probably thinking "Hang on, you sanded, painted and fixed in return for those meals, they're not free". HA! I am way ahead of you. I was going to do those things anyway because I'm a nice person and I like helping my friends, the meals were just an added bonus. And before someone says they'd have fed me anyway, I think not, Lorna's house would probably feed me if I just turned up, but I don't think this house would have. Now, wasn't that an interesting day? Best part? I HAD AN EXCUSE TO WEAR SHORTS!!!