Wednesday 19 April
Some day today.
As the DHL parcel arrived yesterday, and I have alternatives in the clamp-framing department, I took the malfunctioning one into a little engineering shop and told the boss to cut the bottom off the useless quick release mechanism tube. This he did and it’s apparent the defect is that the spring is not robust enough for the application. So I dismantled it, did away with the quick release and asked him to cut a cylinder on his lathe to fill in the tube and hold the female thread secure. This he did; we hammered it home and bingo it all functions again save for having no quick release. As all the mouldings are of small section and all the same size, this add-on is not essential. I also got him to grind down a centre punch into a nail punch.
“How much?” says I for this half hour of labour and use of lathe and grinding machine. “One hundred rupees” says he – 60 pence! I gave him 200 out of gratitude and he still tried to give it back. Amazing thing was he’s still on holiday today and I had to drag him out of his residence into the workshop!
I then delivered this newly adapted equipment plus a set-square and panel pins I had purchased, to Ritna Jewellery Box and Picture Framing (Ritna for short). Also told Rifideen the good news that the first 66 photos will be ready for collection from the printers at 14 hours today – hurray! Then we can get on with some serious framing. We haven’t been able to even start cutting the moulding, board and ordering glass yet as we are unsure what size the laminated photos will turn out to be.
Then it was on to my Moslem carpenter to check that he had started on the planters. Yes indeed he had. He also had the audacity to ask me to buy preservative for him, cheek. I was about to embark upon the “lump sum fixed price” contractual argument but, at 75p a litre, decided I didn’t have the energy. After yesterday’s monsoon it has turned very hot again today.
Onward to the park where yesterday, in spite of the monsoon, the piers for the seats were concreted in. Today the seats themselves have been delivered and two carpenters have commenced installation.
I organised three volunteers to clean the roof of the canteen that is situated in the playground. It had bike tyres, arrack bottles and all kinds of other rubbish deposited there – perhaps by the tsunami but more likely inconsiderate owners and users. The Municipality make a reasonable fist of keeping the playground tidy (much sweeping, sweeping everyday) but anything above eye-level is obviously not within their remit.
Saturday 22 April
Well, 54 frames completed today – 2.5 days, which is within my schedule. It’s been a lot of hard work but the quality of them is excellent. Rifideen is hard working and diligent and has that oh so important eye for detail. His skill is certainly superior to mine at this framing lark. (Duncan – please tell Alex he would have been proud of me, I’ve even got Rifideen blackening the mitres with marker pen so the light wood won’t show through it the mitre is less than perfect. Actually the marker pens are a little expensive so for the next batch I’m going to try black shoe polish!). We can crash on now but I’ve told him that I won’t be able to help in future so he must get an assistant. There’s no point in him doing the mundane stuff when an assistant could so easily do it. Rifideen needs to concentrate on the clever stuff – the cutting, joining and assembly if he is to complete some hundreds of frames.
We had a bit of a hiccup over the glass. Being the soft touch I am, I was persuaded to let a local glasscutter buy sheets and cut the glass for us rather than me going to the shop and getting them to do it. I agreed to pay him what I would get it for at the shop, which I knew was a very competitive price I had negotiated. Back he comes some hours later with 54 pieces of glass and nearly half of them didn’t fit in the frames! Turns out he had cut them all to the exact size opening of the frame we had given him and didn’t allow any tolerance. Given that a lot of the moulding is a little bit twisted you need some tolerance. So I had to go to the shop and get another 24 pieces cut. Good job it’s only 12p a piece! To add insult to injury he then tells me he only made SRs 13 (8p) from the deal!
The playground enhancement continues apace and is in danger of being completed by end of next week. Had a flare up with my contractor yesterday – I think I actually terminated the contract at one stage I was so annoyed. As he doesn’t understand a word I say however, it had no effect! I think he guessed from my histrionics though that I was not best pleased. All to do with the angling of the shading; I had been at pains to describe to him the traverse of the sun and consequently how I wanted the shading configured but he must not have comprehended my mimicry of the sun’s route. And I had thought it so effective.
Project Galle local staff are hosting a new year’s party tonight at the office for the trustees and volunteers. New year was a week ago and still the parties continue. I stumbled into another of my landlord’s parties yesterday evening, when I arrived home, and was not allowed up to my room until I had sunk a couple of arracks.
Sunday 23 April
Well the party was pretty good – they had build a bar of palm fronds in the courtyard and the beer and arrack flowed. The food was fantastic – chicken buruni (biriyani) and devilled fish.
This morning I have been to the workshop to help Rifideen hang his sign. Looks great (if a little out of place); I’ll try to publish a photo.
Some day today.
As the DHL parcel arrived yesterday, and I have alternatives in the clamp-framing department, I took the malfunctioning one into a little engineering shop and told the boss to cut the bottom off the useless quick release mechanism tube. This he did and it’s apparent the defect is that the spring is not robust enough for the application. So I dismantled it, did away with the quick release and asked him to cut a cylinder on his lathe to fill in the tube and hold the female thread secure. This he did; we hammered it home and bingo it all functions again save for having no quick release. As all the mouldings are of small section and all the same size, this add-on is not essential. I also got him to grind down a centre punch into a nail punch.
“How much?” says I for this half hour of labour and use of lathe and grinding machine. “One hundred rupees” says he – 60 pence! I gave him 200 out of gratitude and he still tried to give it back. Amazing thing was he’s still on holiday today and I had to drag him out of his residence into the workshop!
I then delivered this newly adapted equipment plus a set-square and panel pins I had purchased, to Ritna Jewellery Box and Picture Framing (Ritna for short). Also told Rifideen the good news that the first 66 photos will be ready for collection from the printers at 14 hours today – hurray! Then we can get on with some serious framing. We haven’t been able to even start cutting the moulding, board and ordering glass yet as we are unsure what size the laminated photos will turn out to be.
Then it was on to my Moslem carpenter to check that he had started on the planters. Yes indeed he had. He also had the audacity to ask me to buy preservative for him, cheek. I was about to embark upon the “lump sum fixed price” contractual argument but, at 75p a litre, decided I didn’t have the energy. After yesterday’s monsoon it has turned very hot again today.
Onward to the park where yesterday, in spite of the monsoon, the piers for the seats were concreted in. Today the seats themselves have been delivered and two carpenters have commenced installation.
I organised three volunteers to clean the roof of the canteen that is situated in the playground. It had bike tyres, arrack bottles and all kinds of other rubbish deposited there – perhaps by the tsunami but more likely inconsiderate owners and users. The Municipality make a reasonable fist of keeping the playground tidy (much sweeping, sweeping everyday) but anything above eye-level is obviously not within their remit.
Saturday 22 April
Well, 54 frames completed today – 2.5 days, which is within my schedule. It’s been a lot of hard work but the quality of them is excellent. Rifideen is hard working and diligent and has that oh so important eye for detail. His skill is certainly superior to mine at this framing lark. (Duncan – please tell Alex he would have been proud of me, I’ve even got Rifideen blackening the mitres with marker pen so the light wood won’t show through it the mitre is less than perfect. Actually the marker pens are a little expensive so for the next batch I’m going to try black shoe polish!). We can crash on now but I’ve told him that I won’t be able to help in future so he must get an assistant. There’s no point in him doing the mundane stuff when an assistant could so easily do it. Rifideen needs to concentrate on the clever stuff – the cutting, joining and assembly if he is to complete some hundreds of frames.
We had a bit of a hiccup over the glass. Being the soft touch I am, I was persuaded to let a local glasscutter buy sheets and cut the glass for us rather than me going to the shop and getting them to do it. I agreed to pay him what I would get it for at the shop, which I knew was a very competitive price I had negotiated. Back he comes some hours later with 54 pieces of glass and nearly half of them didn’t fit in the frames! Turns out he had cut them all to the exact size opening of the frame we had given him and didn’t allow any tolerance. Given that a lot of the moulding is a little bit twisted you need some tolerance. So I had to go to the shop and get another 24 pieces cut. Good job it’s only 12p a piece! To add insult to injury he then tells me he only made SRs 13 (8p) from the deal!
The playground enhancement continues apace and is in danger of being completed by end of next week. Had a flare up with my contractor yesterday – I think I actually terminated the contract at one stage I was so annoyed. As he doesn’t understand a word I say however, it had no effect! I think he guessed from my histrionics though that I was not best pleased. All to do with the angling of the shading; I had been at pains to describe to him the traverse of the sun and consequently how I wanted the shading configured but he must not have comprehended my mimicry of the sun’s route. And I had thought it so effective.
Project Galle local staff are hosting a new year’s party tonight at the office for the trustees and volunteers. New year was a week ago and still the parties continue. I stumbled into another of my landlord’s parties yesterday evening, when I arrived home, and was not allowed up to my room until I had sunk a couple of arracks.
Sunday 23 April
Well the party was pretty good – they had build a bar of palm fronds in the courtyard and the beer and arrack flowed. The food was fantastic – chicken buruni (biriyani) and devilled fish.
This morning I have been to the workshop to help Rifideen hang his sign. Looks great (if a little out of place); I’ll try to publish a photo.
posted by Colin HARMAN at 11:35 PM
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