Winders & Reminders

I learnt a few things this weekend.

The winders

Firstly, that there is a lot of fiddling involved in making winders. For the “stair unaware”, winders are steps that make a staircase turn a corner. My staircase has two flights, the first is six steps, followed by 3 winders, a landing, then a second flight of six steps. The overall effect is to lift the climber a couple of metres and to reorient them 180 degrees.

Secondly, using recycled timber takes longer than using new material. Okay, I already knew that one, but the work on the staircase confirmed it – yet again. Not that I mind. The 100 year old tallow wood flooring that came out of a house in Goulburn is beautiful. Though, it does take some effort to work around the odd lengths and inevitable structural defects that occur when old boards are lifted. But, what I like about the old flooring is how each board tells a story with its paint splatters, grime, dents, cracks and splits. I love it.

Thirdly, if you leave a “Warmray” unattended outside with its door open it can set fire to your caravan. Perhaps, point three needs a little background. My Dad gave me his old “Warmray”, which for the less informed, is a cast iron slow combustion fire. I’ve been using it as an outside barbie, usually a few yards from the caravan door.

Well, yesterday I kicked off the “Warmray” at half five and went back into the house to finish up for the day. I got a bit engrossed with the idea of being able to see the floor for the first time in 12 months and lost track of time. It was probably 45 minutes later that I ventured back to the van – which was now surrounded in flames! The “Warmray” had set fire to the surrounding grass, which in turn had ignited the pallet that served as the van’s front veranda. I should point out that the “Warmray" is innocent of any wrong doing as I had left its door open so it would draw better.

I reckon another three and a half minutes and the van (circa 1970 with green laminex benches), the old shed (circa 1960 with recycled corrugated iron) that it’s parked in and my tractor (a 1948 grey fergie) in the next bay would have all been toast – burnt toast at that.

But, because of what I believe was a prompting of the Holy Spirit, I ventured out in the nick of time and was level headed enough to bucket water onto the blaze with the only casualty being the veranda pallet and some 50 gallons of water.

Praise God.