Going by bus!

 Another visit to Ayr on a wet and windy day...not a day for a bike ride and depressing to stay indoors.

Pirate banked money from selling tyres and a wheel, we got a few hardware bits and bobs for a neighbour, then lunch in the bookshop café....

Down to the gallery again, and with luck caught the artist I met initially and the man who runs the building. 

Back on the bus, then phone contact made with the other joint organiser of the exhibition...can I bring work in on Saturday?

This afternoon's headache is how to price my work, after not pricing any pots for ten years?!

Consideration must also be given to the rise in material prices, and the price of gas.....when you can get it...

Getting things done!

 A beautiful apricot coloured sunrise for a start...then on with the jobs!!

Washing, then as our neighbour came for his cuppa and putting the world right...I left him and Pirate to it and finished off stripping the sofa..in said neighbour's garage, a very generous offer!

Would you believe it, I found the missing fire safety label...inside the sofa!!!! Inside it's construction, not just slipped down under a cushion.

The leather got packed up , the seat frame will be a small cold frame for me, the rest of the wood, mostly ply, will be firewood for our neighbour's workshop stove.

The webbing will go to Pirate's elder daughter for upholstery, the foam padding will be packing for parcels. I am not sure where the polyester pads will go, but they are clean...and the feet we have already used to raise our present sofa 10 centimetres, making it easier to use.

Then more packing , sales this time, not just some bike bits but an electric guitar case as well...that took a fair bit of construction!!  Pirate had a session riding his turbo trainer while I packed.

With a couple of family birthday cards, that all definitely justified the trip to the post office.

Back home again in time to sell a wheel locally..the best way to do business.

Pirate has been working on my bike, it now has a rack for pannier bags that suits it, we have an old set of mudguards to be fitted and today's "fun" has been working out how to fix a bottle cage with a gizmo...that's what it is called!! It's taken a while, but now he has worked out that the zip ties which hold it don't go the expected way.

It's been one of those days that no photos were taken, but plenty of things got done.

The eyes have it!

Facebook and its subsidiaries were back on this morning. Wouldn't it be a basic thing not to do, put everything on the same small platform, even their workers' workspace?!

 We measured our sunflowers this morning...over ten feet tall!!

Then it was attack the sofa time.....

Not sure how the arm pad was fixed on the sofa, as those are large nails...but the covering was stapled on...so in what order and how was it done?!

A quick lunch and off for our eye tests, on the bus..much better than driving especially as the process included eye drops so that the optician could see into our eyes properly. That would have meant a two hour wait before driving...

All clear for both of us!! 

Then we met friends in passing and a catch up meant we missed the bus. A good reason to have a good gelato in a waffle cone before the next bus home!!

Selling... hopefully!!

 As there was a weekend with no listing fees and well reduced selling fees on fleabay, I had a photographing session....concentrating on the more expensive items of course!

After a morning out starting with another blood test for Pirate, we picked up more bike bits to sell and found a bagful of rather ripe plums, then hot chocolate in one of our favourite cafés that has changed hands.  Thankfully the quality is still there although prices had risen, although our last visit was two years ago, so understandable!

Back home and I got on with listing things to sell and Pirate went out on his local small circuit.  If he gets bored or the traffic is too high, a small circuit means that he can easily get home quickly.

Even more listing after supper....and I had hoped to message a friend...no facebook, Instagram or messenger...... Curious!!  

Plenty of other things to do, negotiating sales and emailing friends...and reading blogs of course!!

Sunday outing

 Pirate's old club was organising the Scottish national hillclimb...so we went to offer help.

Luckily it wasn't needed!

We were parked by the finish, and you could see Arran and the squalls of rain passing

A few finished....

But the rest had not just a tailwind up the hill but rain as well!

A few finishers stopped and sat in the shelter of the tailgate of our car before riding back down to their cars!

After they had all finished we went into Troon to warm up in a supermarket café and catch a few bargains. 

Then for some fresh air, as of course after the race the rain stopped!!

As we were nearby we returned to the village at the start of the hillclimb where one of our friends lives, just to say hello in passing-and got invited in for tea, watching the Paris Roubaix race..or mudfest..on tv..with added cheese in toast!

An afternoon with friends, can't fault it.

Then to round off the day, chips with mayo from a chip shop eaten in the car on Barassie Shore, initially looking over to Arran before it started raining..again!!

Connecting and rambling

 Today's adventure was by bus..just into Ayr, by myself!! Pirate was busy here, helping stack logs for our neighbour and fettling bikes.

It was a relief to see most people wearing masks, if not all correctly.

It was a sunny breezy morning to start with, a relief after yesterday, but it wasn't going to last! Luckily I went prepared with a good coat.

It made a change having a mooch around , checking on our usual shopping haunts. Although busy, people were mostly leaving each other personal space which made for a more relaxed time. 

After a cuppa in our favourite bookshop cafe I aimed for the main purposes of the trip..to check out the Ayr Makers stalls in the old Grain Exchange...ok, very nice but I wasn't impressed by anything...and to get a few food items that pirate had requested.

I was about to go into the next shop when a sign on a window caught my eye...Art Exhibition in here!!!!

In what had been a department store, various people are trading...mostly clothes and one linens and furnishings...or Manchester as my Kiwi friends might call it.

But right at the back in a large space a group of artists have a selling exhibition..painting, sculpture, drawing, prints....and I met two, plus the person who is running the building. (There is a cafe upstairs and a performance space by that)

It looks as if I could join in with this group... hopefully.  They contribute to Ayrshire Cancer Support organisation too, who have helped pirate and myself in the past, which is a good bonus too.

It could be the incentive needed to get things moving again and get making properly.

After I remembered, thankfully, the shopping, the weather had turned wet, and as the bus made its way back to our village the rain was bouncing off the road and begining to flood the gutters.

Back for lunch then the tedium of fleabay researching before listing. It does take time, but it is worth it to get things correct..and paid off well this afternoon with a sale within five minutes of listing!!  Sales keep you going on..and it is good to see the pile of bits reducing!!

That's a bit of a ramble...but it's been a rambly day..and pirate rambled down to see a lovely sunset after all the rain.

A day indoors

 With the cold wind blasting outside and heavy showers intermittently, it was a day for staying in..even if the sun did try and shine briefly as if to tempt me out...before the next shower!!

Today's job was mostly listing things on fleabay....writing and researching carefully then trying not to make mistakes as I post it!! More tomorrow too as it is a reduced fees weekend.

One small sale to post tomorrow too as incentive!!

Pretty things..but I will be glad to see them gone!!