Had a lazy morning this morning. Didn't get up 'till well after 8.00 and then just bumbled around doing not very much until Mrs J suddenly announced "That's me off then". "What, why, where" said I. "Lunch with the girls" was the answer, "don't tell me you'd forgotten". To be truthful I have no recollection of her ever having told me in the first place, but there's a "gang" of them, teachers and admin staff from the schools she's worked in who meet up from time to time. Doesn't involve me so I tend to forget.
Anyway, seeing her set off with great purpose goaded me into "doing something" so I got stuck into my granddaughter's pram repair. She'd managed to tear one of the axles completely off the chassis! actually it's only tied on with a couple of tiddly spots of MIG welding. Here's one of the original welds on the other axle:
Not all that surprising she managed to tear it out. My friend, who is a much better welder than I, stuck it back on yesterday - or was it the day before? Oh dear! - because I don't have a gas bottle for my MIG just now, having handed my BOC bottle back intending to get one of those rent free bottles - just haven't done it yet. Here's the rather inelegant, but strong, weld he's done on one of the joints:
That picture was taken after painting. You'll appreciate the welding had burned back the old paint on the tubes which I rubbed back and undercoated with red oxide before applying the top coat. I was very lucky with the topcoat paint in two respects, I got it whilst we were shopping at Aldi yesterday, looked a good match looking at the lid of the spray can and trying to compare it with the remembered colour on the pram in my mind. To my great surprise, it was:
I'm really pretty pleased with the result. It was the last can in that colour too. But best of all it had been reduced from £3.99 to £1.99!
Here's a picture of it all reassembled and ready to transport dollies again:
I wasn't going at this "hammer and tongs" and I had a couple of tea breaks for the paints to dry and did a bit of sitting in the garden and light pruning too, but now, at half past 5, Mrs J has returned and tells me she's had a good day _ I suspect "Lunch" isn't what I would describe as lunch, probably includes cocktails and maybe a bit of window shopping around the "posh shops" up in town! I'm feeling very pleased with my endeavours and looking forward to a nice hug from my granddaughter when I get the pram back to her next week.