A story my old man told me that he swears is true from his National Service days.
Having been ‘asked’ to paint a tiddly picket fence around the flagpole in best white gloss, the evening light begins to fade and our two heroes are looking forward to finishing off and getting some rest, when, one of then knocks paint tin over, at least ½ pint of dulux’s finest spreads across parade ground.
Nightmare – four hours of scrubbing and peeling off paint with turps? Sod that - quick as a flash other one grabs paintbrush and forms paint puddle into a perfect circle so it looks like it should be there.
Nobody notices and 25 years later, on visiting the station for an open day, it is noticed that the circle is still there – having been repainted over and over and over again!