Pointing and laughing behind hands

The last long weekend of the spring is over so summer must be here and right on cue it is a lovely day. This weekend saw my first ever attempt at brick work, a truly manly pass-time. Before my assault on the north face of the chimney for repointing I decided to have a go at the decidedly ground level steps up to the front door to repair the frost damage and "get me hand in".

To be honest, I am actually quite happy with the result although as my dad pointed out, it may have been worthwhile considering beforehand that I should have tried somewhere out of site before hitting the front door as it doesn't matter how the chimney looks; nobody can see it.

Next on the agenda for the "First Impressions" project is repainting the handrail, guess what? It needs stripping first - what a pain... I've started it, but there are more fun things to do this evening, namely baby swimming and bike cleaning.