Please Be Seated

|I have an old dining chair that had belonged to my grandparents. Just the one, no idea what happened to the matching set. It looked rather grotty, the seat being a dull grey leather, all dirty and torn. In fact, I was going to get rid of it, and left it outside in the garden for a few months.

Having seen a friend's successful refurbishment of a set of dining chairs, I decided I would like to have a go myself. Not having done this before, it was an obvious candidate for the List.

I looked up upholstery fabrics online, and couldn't find any for less than about £8 a metre, including postage. Last week I went into Luton market, and found a nice fabric from the end of a roll for £1. Hurrah! This fabric was a plain burgundy/purply sort of colour, and was the only choice of upholstery fabric in the stall, so having no choice, it was easy to decide to buy.

I removed the old leather from the seat of my chair - it had been tacked on, surprisingly badly, with no trimming of the edges, just nailed into place and forgotten about. The padding was old but re-usable, so I left it in place. I cut the new fabric to size and wrapped it round the seat, leaving enough to attempt neat edges underneath. I used a borrowed staple gun to attach the fabric to the wood, and found it was much harder to use than I expected - you need to use considerable force to press down as you squeeze the trigger. The most difficult part was, of course, the corners. I had no idea how to do them, so it was a case of trial and error. I guess I could have looked it up on youtube, but wanted to work it out for myself. Having gone round the four sides, and then folded in the raw edges and stapled them to the recessed parts, I discovered that the seat pad no longer fitted into the chair. Argh!

It was getting late, and I felt discouraged, so left it til morning.

In daylight, it was clear that I had some bunching in a corner, and the padding had moved over to the side, thus making the seat pad wider. I undid one side, pulled out some padding and re-stapled the fabric with more care and attention.

It fits!

The wood needs a light sanding to remove some white spots of paint, but I an very pleased with the job, and there we are, another List item ticked off.

 before.....

after

Pointless Day?

List Item: Try to get on a TV Quiz Show

I rather like tv Quiz show Pointless - the format is good, the contestants seem to have fun, it is fiendishly difficult to win the money, and the banter between hosts Alexander Armstrong and ridiculously tall Richard Osman - who is permanently sitting down on the show - is charming.

Having been told that Pointless was auditioning, I had to find a partner, as it is done in pairs. There are several fans of the show at work, so I asked Vicky first, but she refused even to consider it. I asked Alex, and he agreed immediately, so I got the forms, had photos taken of us (thanks, Jean), and sent them off.

Today (16th April 213) was our audition in London. I met Alex at the train station to catch the 9:18 - he ran up the stairs at 9:17, but we made it on time. As it happens, we got to the venue in plenty of time, so we passed the spare half hour in the Starbucks opposite with a bucket of coffee. Once in the Grand Connaught Rooms, we waited with the other contestants outside the Durham Suite. There were 12 of us, plus some left over from the earlier session still there. The waiting area was a corridor with too few chairs, rather chilly too. Once we were called in, we had to fill in forms regarding identity, and disclosure / consent forms.

Next we had a general knowledge written quiz - it was like an exam, we had to turn over our papers and were given 4 minutes to answer 20 questions. I think I managed to answer 14, they were far from easy. But we did not get the answers, so I can't be sure. Next we all stood up and took turns introducing ourselves, giving an interesting fact about ourselves, which we prepared in advance. Alex was Leicestershire's longest baby for a whole year, and I spoke of my 50 List.

Finally, there was a mini version of Pointless to play in the group. After this, we all went outside, and waited to be called back. Well, guess what? We got called back!

Game on!

Eyeful of London, then down the Dungeon

In June 2013, I went with D to London. We took a 'flight' on the London Eye. Although we had ordered tickets beforehand, the queuing system is somewhat confusing, but we managed it, and got into a pod with around 20 strangers.

It really is most impressive, the views are spectacular, and it goes so high that my knees felt all wobbly, and I had to sit down as we neared the top.

We had a circular map, to identify the buildings, which was very useful.

 OK so I confess, I am not good with heights, but the London Eye was something I have been wanting to do for ages. It was well worth doing and I recommend it, but I can't see me doing it again.

On to the London Dungeon - we bought a combined ticket for both.
There was a long queue along dark corridors, which was most irritating. I hadn't realised that we were to be taken round in groups, a guided and acted tour of the attraction. There are rooms featuring the Great Plague, the Gunpowder Plot, Sweeney Todd, all the things you would expect really. The actors are enthusiastic and it was quite fun, but I lost interest towards the end, it was too long, and aimed mainly at youngsters. Very glad to get out of there!

Ah well, 2 more List items ticked off, hurrah!!

Jammy Devil

An item on my List is to make jam from some fruit I have either grown or foraged.
I have a redcurrant bush, only 2 years old, and this is the first year it has produced a decent crop. My son loves to pick and eat them directly, but last week they were at their ripest, and he was away in Blackpool for 6 days.

I picked the whole crop, and looked online for a jam recipe - there are so many!
 I chose one that had half the amount of fruit to sugar, got sterilizing my jars, and boiling away.

In the end there was only enough to fill one jar, but it is rather delicious. I goes very well with buttered cheese scones, which is what I gave my mother when she came over for lunch that day.

 
So, another thing ticked off the List, and this is something I will do again.