This weekend I achieved the long planned goal of covering the cold concrete floor of my balcony with wooden decking. Quite a simple task you might think - except my balcony is triangular and the pallets come in squares! I worked out some time ago that if I bought half metre squares (as opposed to metre ones) this would reduce any inaccuracies in cutting the hypotenuse. This weekend I put that theory to the test and, with the little knowledge about laying floors that I had gained from helping Herman lay the laminate in my flat, came up with a very passable and well aligned new wooden floor.
It is now pleasant to walk barefoot on the balcony (humming the Girl from Ipanema). In addition being three cm higher I can now reach the clothes line without having to stand on tip toe (and risk having my sarong part company from my waist). I also bought two potting tables, one for plants and one for dinner and drinks, and three more (non-plastic, they are so hard to find) balcony boxes so I can maximise the amount of nature that I can cram into the limited amount of space that the Dutch housing market allows me ( I think I spent so long living in squats in baronial parts of London and farmhouses in abandoned parts of the French countryside that I developed optimistic expectations about what my minimum housing requirements are and what they would cost). Next week I will plant the rest of the herbs that I want in order to keep a fresh supply of those that I use the most. I will fill the gaps with geraniums because they flower the longest and brightest and are the best value balcony plant I know. This year - for the first time ever - I have managed to get Coriander seeds to germinate and grow beyond the the four leaf stage (hurray- I must spend 40 Euro a year on bunches of Coriander - now I hope I have a six month supply in situ).
Needed a quiet weekend at home - to reground a bit - I have spent some of all of the last four weekends away in London. Not grumbling about that - much was necessary, and some enjoyable. But it was also unsettling - took me out of a routine (not that I have ever been a big fan of routines)
I am going to plan the rest of the summer around eating drinking and reading on my balcony between 6-8pm when it has the full sunlight. Tonight I sat there and wrote a short essay in Dutch. Yes! I have finally taken the plunge and found and hired a private Dutch teacher for two hours a week. And I get home work - this first assignment to assess my level of written Dutch - which is probably my weakest area.
Time to go now; Germany is playing Poland- this is not just a football match but an expression of 800 years + of colonial rivalry
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2 comments:
It sounds like a great space: are you posting pictures later? I'm glad things are working through with your father: I've been following your story.
A friend helped me to get my balcony into shape last summer. We took down all the dead ivy, picked up new plants and spent a day potting them, sized up a small cafe table and chairs, and refurbished the wood on the deck. It did become a refuge for having quiet, laughing meals, for taking time to read or to draw, and for listening to the sounds of the neighborhood. The deck back in Seattle never had the resonance of a balcony, I'm not sure why (altitude?).
THe problem with wood has been that it gets mossy with rain, and it is slick as an ice rink. I can scrub it down, but do you have an answer to treating it so that doesn't happen?
Finally, I sympathize with your comment on weekends. I haven't had an uncommitted weekend in a month (nor will I until July). The things I've done are good, travel, hosting visitors, now spending time with my parents. But I am really longing for just one day off , completely uncommitted, to sleep late, maybe finish a book or watch a guilty movie, idle my mind... 'and sit on the balcony.
Need to dust my camera off I know. No pics posted for ages. 'Lets wait till i get the plants out though.
You must have a north facing (or shaded) balcony to get moss. No plan for preventive treatment yet (it would probably involve nasty chemicals). Might just have to get out a thick wire brush every few months - or install one of those CO2 emitting terrace heaters that are now popping up everywhere to allow smokers like me to continue indulging their addiction while out in public.
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