Never let it be said that Chris and I deprive our guests of having a good time; if it gives them pleasure to scale a long ladder and paint the top of the third storey of our tall Victorian house – why not? After all, he is a painting contractor at home in Australia – we want him to feel at home here too.

And whilst Roland was painting the front of our house, facing the sea, I was having fun laying quarry tiles on the steps leading down to my studio on the other side of our house. It might not have been so wonderful for me had I been tiling on my own (cutting and laying) but somehow, in between holding the ladder and sorting out paint and brushes for Roland, Chris cut the quarry tiles that needed cutting and, therefore, I was able to lay all the tiles. Thus, I was very happy.

Actually, Chris and I were especially happy because we had just enough tiles to finish the job (with a bit of ingenious mosaic work under the railings) and not one tile was left.

“It’s a hard grind,” laughed Chris, picking up a half-tile and putting it against the rotary blade of the cutting machine.

We enjoy to have a joke while we work. Of course, we don’t talk much because it’s quite hard to hear (even though my hearing has returned to normal after using Otovent!) owing to the noise produced by the tile-cutting machine as it grinds through quarry tiles.

Another little joy to be experienced during the cutting operation is the shower that gets sent up, in all directions (particularly over the operator), as the blade rotates at high speed through the red-tile coloured water in the tray underneath the blade. The photographs neglect to show the wet red patch over Chris’s shirt – all over the stomach area.

“Django!” exclaimed Roland when he had finished his painting, joined us by the steps and saw Chris’s shirt. (“Django” is the name of the Quentin Tarantino film we watched the other night – needless to say there was a bloodbath.)

You’ll notice in the photographs that I haven’t grouted yet – perhaps another little pleasure to be shared with Roland over the weekend…