Cindy and I (Elliot) started early on Saturday morning with the intention of restoring our beloved handrail to the shiny and pristine condition in which it was left by our predecessors two summers ago.

In the interim it had suffered from the ravages of wind, water and sun, exuberant thumping of four sets of swinging doors and a generous spattering of barbecue fat; the bottoms of numerous wine glasses had left rings which told of a convivial and even slightly inebriate community.

Our apologies to those of you who were troubled by the early morning buzz of twin quarter sheet palm sanders. Three hours of hand tingling work saw the tree wood again exposed. The first coat of Deks Olje D1 went on at speed with me slathering and Cindy following behind further fining my skilled work.

The rain started earnestly just as we completed our first iteration. The result was a sorry pock-marked mess which we revisited early on Sunday and largely removed and replaced with a new coat of D1. Again it rained. And that in brief explains the current less than complete result.

ARTISTS AT WORK