Frost

 Our first reasonably hard frost this morning..luckily the car was booked in for Winterisation already! Antifreeze done, tyres checked and one headlight bulb replaced by the garage..I had thought that that wasn't 100%

District Nurse visit cleared up some questions. UTI gone, meds to be tweaked. 

I managed to link Pirate's DNA results to my research on his family, following my daughter's instructions..relief!  Now to organise time to sit and do some more solid research.  She is finding interesting links with my DNA..looking forward to seeing how far she has got with it!

Pirate took advantage of the dry weather to add more slats to the front of the compost bin.

That is just one half..the other is being used for storage at present, but once the first half is full we can remove the slats and turn it over into the second..and start again.

Back to base, seen on our way home

 We landed back home just before midnight last night...thought you might like these...a VW traveller on its way to a show..and a faithful intelligent dog.

A wasted morning...and good news

 This morning didn't start well...luckily I checked online to see if the car's MoT had registered....and it was stating that the last MoT ran out on the 24th...incorrect as it happens, it was the 30th....which is why, after a Sunday and Bank Holiday it was MoT'd (or got its WOF) yesterday....

So, bus to the dentist.....7.45 am bus...through roadworks...and being a school bus...what should have been a 10 minute wait for the connection, became watching the connection go out as we came in......

Then not only 20 minutes wait, but the next bus took 20 minute to do not much more than 2 miles.....

I arrived at the dental practice as my appointment time finished.....ten minutes which was for two minutes work...and she refused to see me....the next person hadn't arrived either. 

Back home then, with the usual timing....the connection had left two minutes before...another half hour wait....

Tax the car online....£290 for a year....or nearly £305 if you do direct debit 😳 that has jumped up, not just crept up, as it has been doing.   Ho hum.   Can't live with them, can't live without them.   Some things you can't just hop on the bus to do.....

After getting the garden construction one step further yesterday...

Pirate had good news today...the cancer is confined to one 6 cm ulcer.....so 5 days radiotherapy to shrink it, then surgery...asap please!!

Looks like he will be keeping his queue...just like his hero Willie Nelson who has just celebrated his 90th with two days of concerts!

Settling back home..

 The third funeral done..another for Pirate to  meet old relatives and new. 

Then back home in two days, with a meal out with a friend at the halfway stop. We hadn't seen her for years, and she had a new home and garden to show us!

Since we got back we have been getting everything back into gear..now after two days the washing mountain has been done, the car has had its MoT, and some tlc..it wasn't technically due for a full service but it deserved it!  It was good to know that everything was in good order and not all the new filters were needed..so we didn't have to pay for them!

Unfortunately someone else had knocked and scraped our car while it was in the garage's yard... luckily we noticed it..he polished off the scrape and ordered a new light unit straight away...and will be checking his CCTV videos....he was annoyed that someone would do that and not say anything.

We picked up some good long timber from the fencing company by our garage...two very large pallets..and they took them apart nicely for us and delivered what we couldn't take in one trip with our car. It is only their rubbish...and they are pleased to see it being used instead of being burnt!

Part of our haul was also wooden fencing panels, where they had replaced a fence for a customer. Enough to do our front, with the gates that we have and most of the side, and only the upright posts to add. We have been having trouble with dogs using our front lawn as a toilet...some of them still on extending leads..so this should stop that problem!!

One sad thing to return home to was that our neighbour with the hens and homing pigeons is in hospital with a tumour I think on one kidney, but it is also by one lung.

I knew that he had been going downhill for a while...looking too much like my Mountain Man when he was in his last months. Its a year since his wife died with dementia..and she was a heavy smoker all her life...so he is paying the price for that.

My mystery bush has flowered! It is a Ribes odoratum, or buffalo currant..which I expect to be pink. However this is from Central USA!!

The berries might even be edible...if not, the birds will like them!!

It was biscuit day yesterday...Anzac biscuits..

Thanks to the Australian army for sending grandpa Harrison home to Australia from Gallipoli with "neurasthenia"...code for PTSD or shellshock...their point of view was that there was no point calling someone a coward and shooting them, send them back home to be useful.

When you think that NZ sent 100,000 men out of a population of just over a million...not sure of the numbers for Australia, but a similar proportion.

Pirate is gradually recovering, but isn't happy with the after effects of Covid...and is definitely not happy with the fact that it will take six months to get back to anything like normal.  But accepts that it is far better than the alternative!

Spring? Progress

 

Gradually getting there! The oggin is down, dpc plastic protecting everything overnight. There is a French Drain going in in front of the verandah..you can see the trench...there will be stones in that, and also a gutter to cope with heavy rain.

Tomorrow we get some sand and place the slabs.  Then a break for a bit for everything to settle before finishing building work.

The garage had good news for us this morning, it was just a thin nail in the tread. That meant the tyre could be mended. Relief!!

We had the latest power bill..the charge for electricity and gas was the same amount...but the amount used was not!! So although we only use gas for the central heating and showers, we must use it even more carefully than we must use electricity.  It is fortunate that we are already fairly frugal. Now we must be decidedly frugal , plan ahead for power use when it is needed.

You can't just live at the flick of a switch any more.

Pause...

 

Printing paused at present. Waiting for the lighthouse prints to dry and the printing table is full of bike bits being cleaned.

The car has had two new boots and an alternator...tracking being done today.  My bank balance will be saying OW!  As will the other account that the  pots prints and bike bits money goes into...I am buying a secondhand cage for my gas bottles..£150....but would be £700 new.

At least I will be legal and they will be safe.  

I am still trying to source ceramic fibre, adhesive and stabiliser to finish the flue section.

It's either out of stock or they don't reply.....keep trying. I may have found the manufacturer....

Next blog

 I know I have asked this before...there used to be a click button on the top bar called Next Blog where you could wander around the blogosphere, finding fellow bloggers to talk to and read....

I know that has gone...but there was something elsewhere , where you could click on that and find other blogs on a specific subject.....

Otherwise I can carry on wandering though other peoples' bloglists!

The things you think of on another rainy day....the planned outing to Dundee cancelled due to whiny grindy wheelbearing noises from the car...

Never mind...plenty to do here!

Transport

Another windy Wednesday

An easier day again, down to the centre seeing friends and doing shopping

cars and electronics!

After safely carrying us  about 1500 miles, a round trip of 900 miles to stay with my brother plus visiting relatives from there....the car's clutch decided that it didn't want ANY gear...but just half a mile from home...so lucky!

We could have done without the expense only two weeks before travelling!!

Back to bus travelling ..no bad thing,we have to use our local services or lose them.

I'm sorting through all the various "lectronic liquorice" to work out which leads and plugs to take with us,and which leads work to get pictures on here....

 perpetual motion personified...granddaughter Woodchip

a bunch of frogs...in Cafe 50 in Yeovil

I'm quite proud of the papering and tiling I've done...plus repainting the gift we received of kitchen shelves.

Next to find the lead that will work with the camera that Brother has lent to me!

We're working on which bags to take...and re-checking the fine print on our internal flight, I saw that the carry on bags have to TOTAL 7kg...unlike our main flight which is 7kg plus a handbag....teaching us to travel lighter!

trying to be organised

Gradually things are coming together, but its nerve wracking and hard work!

So many things I want to get done, and just one month to go now.

We are getting back in contact with friends to let them know when we're coming..and daughter has had another breakthrough with the family tree hunting..one of my great grandmother's sisters emigrated to New Zealand,and married a Maori man..and we have cousins in Brisbane and Sydney and possibly Christchurch and northwest of Wellington.

The Pirate is away track racing on Derby velodrome track, and isn't a happy bunny...not winning, well,ok, he knows he hasn't put the work in to do that...but having to rely on someone else, and having to do as they want...and not much compromise...not good atall. At least he has been in the company of good friends. He'll be mightily relieved to arrive home tomorrow.


I've been busy Getting Things Done for three days!...No need to cut someone's hedge or grass as its a fine day...we've just about finished going round all the regular customers. No having to stop halfway through a job here on our house and garden to look after someone else's!

Yesterday the leeks were planted out, that should mean leeks to eat in April!

Today the car decided that its battery was exceedingly tired...it must have been colder than I thought, the last couple of nights and I didn't drive it yesterday..tomorrow morning's job will be to jump start the car and get it to a local garage to "drop test" the battery to see if it will last..or if I need a new battery.



Much washing has been done AND dried, apples juiced,filtered, bottled and pasteurised..twelve more half litre bottles in store.
I made a batch of Sophie Grigson's recipe for Carrot Garlic and Chilli chutney..nine jarsworth..its supposed to be like the chutney in M&S Wensleydale and Carrot Chutney sandwiches...which we've tried and were very good.  You're supposed to leave it for at least three weeks, however the eggcupful I had left over after bottling it was very good with tonight's curry!

The papering in the kitchen is finished, the tiling done all bar four L shaped tiles round an electricity socket.  Its good at last to move the kitchen contents back,and to have a clean,tidy,workable kitchen at last!

Now its feet up time.  I've watched a programme about the history of building the railways, which has been followed by one on the Ghan train from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs. All 37 carriages...

Its fascinating...no commentary, just filming the trip..and great camerawork.

carry on...

garage says the "new" beam isn't good enough....scrappie says he checked it before taking it off the scrapped car....stalemate...£85 credit note...

and carry on. its safe enough and all legal.

I'll get the Oily One's view on it tomorrow.....

car t.l.c. and ideals

We took the car over to the garage that used to care for my old 405 estate...
They don't mind working on old cars, they listen...and they talk to me as well, not just the Pirate!! After all,it is my car.....

It's getting a secondhand rear axle ("beam") as it has rather sick bearings on one side. Apparently its a known fault of psa vehicles like mine..I'd hoped that The Oily One would have been able to do it, as he knows how to recondition and replace the offending bits, but time hasn't allowed that. The bearing worsened so also I wasn't going to drive it 400 miles to get it done, even though we will be heading south soon anyway.

As we delivered the car two days early...they're going to start work on it tomorrow!!

Back to bus travel, no complaints. I much prefer to use public transport whenever possible, if not bike or foot.  Luckily we can go by bus for free in Scotland, both of us being 60+ years old...however going to see family is a problem as the car works out cheapest financially.
Ideally one lives near enough to family...but which bit?!! and why would we ever leave Scotland????

walk in the thaw (?)

 It IS warmer...there is more green to see in the fields...

 but its still cold

 We walked to collect my car..a thorn in the sidewall meant a new tyre,and Pirate broke a wheel stud while changing the wheel to the spare...he also managed to break the windscreen wiper rods (the bits that are under the bonnet) by turning it on while the wipers were frozen to the screen. You'd think he'd be wise enough not to do that! The one night I forget to put the screen saver on!!

Result? Skint again!!

 This is a part of the old village,now demolished, that was a coalmine. The burn runs through the bing (waste tip).....

 rainbow over Drongan

 and rain over Patna (the other side of the hill)

 and still cold here

cars....can't live with them...

and can't live without them....

We've just had the bill for keeping ours on the road...£525...for parts and mot...£140 for labour....

Had we had an idea how much it was going to be we would have scrapped it, even though it was just before a trip, two months ago. Now we have to keep it,but anything major going wrong means the end of the road.

At least having taken this long to give us the bill (due to ill health, his and wife) he isn't demanding the payment directly, we can split it.

No more trips away to races this year then, travel by bus/bike/foot unless necessary .

We WILL win Lotto tonight......

no photos..long weekend

We went as support crew to a national time trial championship...and I forgot to move the camera battery back to the camera from the charger....

However...I wouldn't have had a chance to take any photos.

It was a 12 hour time trial, Pirate was handing up drinks and food every hour, I was driving.  Our rider was riding well and riding tidily.
I'm glad in a way that we didn't see what came next..Pirate is stressing enough as it is.
After 175 miles, with our rider on course to a 70+ age related british record, a young lad overtook something,cut in and wiped out our rider with his wing mirror...at 65 mph this sheared off.
Result, miraculously, just a complicated ankle fracture and stitches in and out of the arm that took the impact and a lot of road rash.

We can't praise Addenbrookes NHS Hospital in Cambridge highly enough.

Our rider "escaped" by midday on Monday with foot in Moon Boot and on crutches...and I had to drive the 400 miles or more back to the Kingdom of Fife in a Jaguar XF Estate...with a bike rack on the back containing £15 grandsworth of bikes....scary....don't think that having automatic everything makes life easy!!  I'm glad to get back to my little old Citroen!!

We're back to the usual, dodging the showers to mow peoples' lawns, trying to keep the house presentable, keeping up with the washing...

Our rider?  Back home being organized by his big sister who is in her eighties!!
No riding or driving for at least six weeks, no racing at least until April...andd feeling very fortunate to be here.

All because someone behind the wheel of a ton of car wasn't paying proper attention.....

quiet weekend

Our friends where we stay have bought a campervan, so they are away for their first stay away.
We have our last weekend here, looking after house and dog.
Easter is a time of contrasts. Everything is closed, even the small shops, on Friday and Sunday. Apart from that, the Easter sales are on and the Warehouse shop is heaving, the main street busy as if everything will be closed down for a week!
We have collected the hire car that I'll be driving for the next two weeks. I'm getting used to driving an automatic again..and now even the most basic car has all these extra 'bells and whistles' !!
Out for a drive today to catch up with more friends in person instead of online. It will be interesting to see a small town, to where they are in process of moving, on foot instead of passing through on the Intercity bus!

weather and life...

 we were glad to be riding indoors...

 rainbows can be deceptive...when followed by heavy hail and snow showers!

we did see the supermoon however, last Monday...and Tuesday morning as it set!

Today was more cyclocross helping, near the beach at Irvine. Very cold but good and fast racing. Luckily not too far from home as the car exhaust detached itself at the front just 7 miles from home...lucky too as it was after the fast bits of the journey, as we were going slow,just before a layby.. not too far to drive sounding like a tractor!

Just when we thought we had a little cushion of money for entering events in NZ and doing some travelling there....

car wash...we're not in England.....

Car Wash in Hamilton....

trip to Bruce's Monument

 This is above Loch Trool. Then we beat a hasty retreat from the midgies to the visitor centre cafe at Glen Trool!
The bridge over to the cafe was damaged in the December floods...still not mended...

 This looks like the culprit, or rather one of many blocking the water from going through the archway.

 and for Yer Actual....a 1200 engined E reg Triumph Herald...