The Bar

Now Fleur has her bed and she is happy it is time to move onto the next project.

Living in Cyprus a bar was the obvious route to go now. We spent the majority of time outside and we were BBQing most nights and every weekend without fail (other than winter). So, I got onto the neighbour who was able to get his hands on some pallets for me and I set to work. As this was at the beginning of my new 'hobby' my tool selection was minimal and consisted of a tenon saw, a mitre block, a very old Makita cordless (it had two batteries, each lasted no more than 10 minutes) and a few drill bits. Not the carpentry tool box that I would have wanted but I had what I had and I got to work.

I decided that I was going to keep it as simple as I could, hopefully more down to the tools than my ability. The finish would work its magic and hide the simplicity of the design. The front of the bar was simply two pallets stood up on their edges and fixed together. I had decided on an L shaped bar so true to form I just got the third pallet stood it on its edge, butted it against the front and I had my L. There needed to be some 'joinery' involved so with the top to do I decided to collapse the remaining pallets I had (an unpleasant task in the Cyprus heat) and get to work. The only way I could see of doing this was to cut down every slat and sit them perpendicular to the pallets and create a bar top. This took a very long time to do with a very fine toothed tenon saw and a plastic mitre block. I also had a 5 year old, a 1 year old and a mad dog running around whilst I was trying to work. This slowed the process down somewhat. However, I pushed on and got the bar top pieces cut and fixed on using right angle brackets that had gone soft in the midday heat! I kept a couple of full-length slats to make a facia, the wife added some decoration (I added the Bayonet Fighting Area sign) and a lick of paint and the bar was complete. Now it was time to use it.

We loved a social gathering (piss up) in our garden and we had some of the best nights sat around that bar. The area that we lived on camp was in an estate that was solely for those within a certain rank range, all the Sergeants and Warrant Officers, so we were a very close-knit group on there and we certainly didn't waste our time out there sat in doors hiding from the sun. If the kids weren't hunting for lizards they were in the pool or on the trampoline whilst the adults were conversing over an Efes or a glass of wine. This soon turned into chaos as the first adult got thrown into the pool.

The one night that topped them all was our final BBQ. Our furniture had been picked up that day and was about to be shipped back to the UK as our 2 years in Cyprus was coming to an end. My brother was over from the UK, everyone was over at ours and it went off! The kids had gone feral, the adults had gone rogue, the karaoke was rattling and every single person had been chucked into the pool. Everyone was getting ready to move back to the UK so they brought all their remaining alcohol round and I think we drank every single drop.

I woke up on the floor in my lounge, Erik was asleep outside, Lucy had the kettle on and there were 3 kids in one bed up

stairs still asleep. There was only one thing that I could possibly do now, BBQ breakfast, and it was probably one of the greatest breakfasts in the history of eating! Steak, eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and black pudding. We punched that in and the clean up began. We were in no fit state to do this, we all had hangovers that would kill a lesser group of men and it was hotter than hell (as per in Cyprus).

All this because I decided to make a bar out of some pallets. Good times.