Maintenance

The front door at Château Smith wasn't exactly improved by the 1999 floods, and the coat of paint I slapped on it five years ago has not really stood the test of time. I made a start yesterday on burning off the paint, but on discovering a bit more rot at the foot of the door, decided that another palliative coat is probably the best approach. I've done a bit of digging out and filling with putty and polyfilla, and have been over the good paint with the ponceuse, taking a bit of sandpaper on a block to the bevelled edges of the tongue-and groove. It's not only the door, of course: the door itself takes up half the width of a big vault, all of it filled with woodwork. I guess it would be worse if it spent its life exposed to the Mediterranean sun, but it's not as if the north abstains from throwing weather at it either. We'll get the excellent Mr Sedki to come in and replace it in a few years' time. Meanwhile, another half-ton of polyfilla should get us through the winter. We'll save the re-sealing of the roof terrace until Part 2, I think.