A very long day

Yesterday turned out to be a very long day. 

The Engineer took the angle grinder to the frame of the gate he is building to remove the patina of rust that had built up.  I did the washing and carried on with my rose; I think I am finally getting used to the new paper I am using.  I was using Bockingford 300g hot pressed which I thought was smooth.  That's until I used Fabriano acquarello hot pressed - that is even smoother and this caught  me out, but now I think I am used to it.

Nearly finished

I was drawing on and off all day, stopping occasionally to hang the washing out, put together lunch/dinner or do some gardening.  A productive day really.

The frame of the gate is on the left

The gate frame took most of the day to clean up and we eventually managed to get a coat of Hammerite on it before dinner  (a slow cooked chicken curry).  We then relaxed for a bit in front of the TV before putting another coat on the gate.  The Engineer said he had something in his eye but it felt like it was up under the lid and would probably work its way out if he just relaxed for a bit.  So we went to bed and read our respective books.  We were just settling down when the Engineer said that actually he couldn't shut his eye as the bit of "something" made it too painful.  As he is prone to ulcers in that eye we knew it would be trip to A & E.  Once there (a 15 minute drive) he was triaged and we waited, knowing it would be a long one as a bit of grit in the eye is painful but not life threatening. 
We waited three and a half hours and whiled away the time talking, reading and people watching. 

When we were seen the staff were great: helpful, cheerful and professional.  The Engineer didn't have something under his lid: he had a bit of grit embedded in the front of his eye ball (despite wearing eye protection).  The nurse proceeded to try and remove it but couldn't so called in someone else.  They had a good look at it, told the Engineer that he had made a "proper job of that" and then brandished a needle to take the grit out.  Needless to say I didn't look - I'm not squeamish but anything to do with eyes does make me cringe.   They managed to remove most of it, but there is still a bit left which will need to be removed at the eye clinic on Monday. 

We arrived back home at 3.45am and fell into bed.

This morning we didn't surface until 9.45 when we were both pleasantly surprised by the lack of pain in the Engineer's eye.  It still hurts a bit, particularly in bright sunlight.  We had a leisurely breakfast before putting another coat of paint on the gate.

For lunch, we went out, guess where..........

Yes, Lilys in Wickham.  But we didn't have cake, this time............