Home again, home again

 A fairly good night's sleep in Oswestry last night.

I delayed starting this morning as the route map said fog!!! Leaving at 8.15 it was just mist..borderline in some places as fog is technically less than 1 km visibility. 

A stop at Wrecsam Sainsbugs for fuel...a bit confusing despite checking the map and streetview..getting out was worse than getting in, but I managed!!

A good smooth run, averaging 55mph ..the car is being nicely economical too after its dose of tlc.

The "fog" lasted all the way to Junction 36 of the M6 where you turn off for "South Lakes" and Barrow in Furness...then a nice but of sunshine for an early lunch hour at Tebay services

It was a bit brighter than those photos show.

Then, refreshed, on again.

At Gretna I went off past the outlet village and onto the old road through Annan. I usually do, but today the A75 was shut at Annan...resurfacing?

It is a nice road and makes a change from busy main roads.

A stop at Thornhill on the A76 after leaving the A75 at Dumfries for a break and a co-op shop...it is an hour from there to home.

And home before dark!

The garden had been blown about a bit in the storms a fortnight ago...my stock of spare beansticks was spread by the wind!!

Some of the baskets and trays had been moved too!

I harvested the beans that were dry enough, and brought in the squash in case we get frost...the leaves on the plant had started turning so hopefully it isn't too soon. The stalk is greener than I'd like on one...and the other had fallen off!

Now I've been back for just over two hours...

Dealt with a parking fine from parking at Cherwell Travelodge...the computer wasn't working when I ( and 50+ others) was there...apparently it still isn't working and the hotel group has been having stern words with the parking company....I've appealed and sent a copy of the hotel invoice...parking comes free with your stay there...so hopefully it will be ok.

It was good to arrive to a lettercard and prints all the way from blogger  Fresca in Minneapolis..posted on 21 October...

but it feels odd to be alone here again.

ok....time to prepare a meal....

nearly halfway

 After a bit more car tlc....and a two mile walk to the end of the trading estate and back....keeping the exercise going...

a tiling and roofing company's brick built office...with dragon!

fire hydrant

not a real tyre

a real tyre with a real Oily One!!

I was off at midday....missed the exit at the far end...he did say that someone had wiped out the sign last week! so had to come back down again to the exit/entry I knew!!

An uneventful drive up through countryside after leaving the M4 by Tongwynlais with a view of Castell Coch...all the way up the A470 to Llanfair ym Muallt (Builth Wells) then up the wiggly A483 all the way to Croesoswallt (Oswestry) yes...in England...just...from after Llanymynech...borders move....

Yes, I did have a break about halfway!! 

134 miles done today....

TLC....

 Another hundred miles this morning...bringing the total to 800 so far!

500 to Kent, 200 from there to Somerset, now 100 to South Wales)

I arrived chez the Oily One as he finished work....he lives in a caravan by the side of the factory where he works

 This is a good thing both ways...they had a fire a few years ago and he spotted it beginning one evening as he arrived home at 10pm...so it was caught in time. 

He has a safe (and affordable) home in the compound...which also backs onto the main police HQ!!!

The main tlc to the car was service and replace a faulty brake sensor.

Two problems....the thread on the aluminium sump stripped....it had been hanging on by two threads....steel bolt and aluminium sump, the threads wear...

Round the corner to the car supplies...he finds a set of taps and various sized bolts...new "toy" !! The car now has a re tapped thread and bigger bolt.

Then one wheelstud broke off...they'd been done up too tight with a "rattlegun" and with no lube....so rusted in....(it wasn't my garage man himself who'd done those tyres, but a mechanic helping him...)

That got drilled out and all the threads checked and cleaned out with the correct size tap....

So far so good....a relief..I'm not sure what he has planned tomorrow morning!!

being useful

 I weeded the paviour drive today..just getting rid of the worst and giving it a brisk sweep! Now the house looks a bit less neglected!

Time to sort everything ready to pack tonight as I'll be on my way in the morning.

After lunch we had a walk to the local garden centre...plenty if things that I'd love to have, but I limited it to two bags of red onion sets!!

We saw Honey fungus fruiting bodies on our way back.

Now I'm comfortably next to a radiator in a large hall in Sherbourne, as Bro helps his friend give two Tai Chi lessons...with free Wifi as well!!

trains, blog and a night out

 Bro. has made this layout with a friend ...they both have 00 gauge (18 mm) track layouts themselves, this trackbed stays at the village hall where the club meets.

I helped clean engine wheels ready for a show in Wincanton next weekend

Then film night at the Swan theatre.

Eagles of the Republic . Interesting. How people can be manipulated

We decided that the easiest way to go with my blog was Blogbooker.   There is a free version, but I've paid for the higher quality..

Now I have a huge amount of pdf files ready to print.

Trees and blog

 the first is through the village hall window where bro goes to a tai chi class, looking out at trees on the edge of Yeovil...hardly any leaves left...the other in the estate near him, far more sheltered.

It has been a sunny day until 3pm, but quickly turned much colder...and started fine rain...just showers so far.

Computer work continues. This blog has been downloaded to the laptop..all 40 gigabytes !! 17 years ....Now that is safe I need to see what it looks like and what editing will need doing before printing, if it looks exactly like the web version of the blog with the sidebar etc.

This is not easy.....we may have to pay and go down the Blog Booker route....

IT

 I thought IT was supposed  to be easy....

Computer shop didn't do all of the job as requested...and in the process cleared all the content on the laptop AND installed windoze instead of upgrading the linux...boss is to blame there as the latter was his job....

However...all my photos etc are mostly on my external hard drive...which I forgot to bring with me....and bro managed to download linux onto a memory stick...Discovering that this worked best on a machine already using linux.....

Then uploaded it onto the laptop.

Then the next step was Bitwarden....a password saving app.....we got back into that in the end when he realised that it was ".eu"

and we had a break after lunch for a walk at the warmest part of the  day...just into double figures C...if you were out if the breeze!!!

I'm not sure what this tree is

but half of it is dead

It is still dry, but getting colder still..I've got two more days here....I may do some drive (block paviours) weeding using a heavy duty hoe that I brought down for him!!

Between being a webmaster for quite a number and travelling, gardening has a low priority for him!!