Juice

 Today's pressing is good so far...the apple is quite dry which will balance the sweetness of the wild pears...

The gutter man came and vacuumed the gutters..with a strategically placed camera up top and his phone by the handle...so you could watch the progress! And no ladders., so a lot safer...and you can't use a ladder around the greenhouse.

I am trying to find the identity of a small box.. possibly Japanese? 

It needs a slight clean...the brass is around a wooden box liner. 

I'll take a few more photos tomorrow.

Now it has gone late... chatting on messenger and WhatsApp with friends and there was the time gone!!

'Night all xx

Decluttering

 The process is slow...

I realised today that my de-cluttering started...with the help of my 4 children.with kicking out, deservedly, of their father in 1997. 

But every time you move you sort a certain amount....run out of energy and repack it in boxes ( if it indeed came out) .

I've moved, sometimes had to move, many times since then. It knocks you "back to square one"

The good thing about decluttering is that it gives you more space, physical and mental.

The bad thing is that it takes time away from doing things...but doing things needs the physical and mental space...so it carries on going around in circles.

Keeping too much can be a reaction...I'm like my father in that...a reaction to people who clear out your precious things regardless...

My mother....and my ex....

I have always valued history....and things which prove it....

So I get together with Pirate, who had some of the same experience....and then we moved together, the contents from two three bedroom houses going into a one bedroom one living room (plus small bathroom and kitchen) that we call a"But 'n Ben" !!

We were slowly sorting things...being busy doing gardens for people as well as racing and training doesn't leave a lot of sorting time!...but now I have to sort and reduce for the two of us.

And it has started..one cast iron casserole, never used, sold...a few other things listed..on top of what has already gone to Op Shops.

And not the mug to come from any but an only child.....he put that at the back of the cupboard when that arrived! ( He had three kids...)

Sold...

There's a few more things to clean photograph and post online tomorrow.

Then there are my friends the books.....

Grey

 Grey, dull, damp and chill.

It isn't actually that cold...but I have had to put the central heating on.

A little garden tidying done this afternoon. I should put those chairs in a shed....but they are all full! I think I have a tarp to tie over them.

I retreated to kitchen sorting, looking out what will sell and what can be dumped...quite a few old bidons are now in the plastic recycling bucket....

And I have sold a new cast iron casserole that we never used...to a friend!!

Next step will be coordinating meeting to deliver said item...they live 150 miles away.. but Gretna is halfway and I go through there when heading south....

A definite incentive to look at what else can go!!

Slow progress

 But steady progress. There is so much to do, sometimes I feel like a rabbit caught in headlights....and get nothing done.

Wednesday I went on the bus to town thinking to sort the travel insurance in person as we have done before.... they stopped that after covid.....I ended up having an afternoon on buses....with a leg stretch between each one! Nice to travel around with someone else doing the driving, and with an elevated viewpoint compared to a car!

It was successful though...I managed to locate something special I've been hunting for to give as a present.   

I took some more photos of the bridges in Ayr...two foot bridges, two road bridges and two rail bridges...but one of the rail bridges only has the piers now, no trackbed.

And the Carnegie library 

Insurance sorted yesterday and campsite booked for May. Now to get the tent from my brother...

Still cloudy and grey today, but good enough to half dry this morning's washing. 

This afternoon's job was to start clearing rubbish out of one shed and clean the bike I'll start riding next week..I have been promised a hand with some mechanicing.

And now it has gone dark...at 4.50pm.

Brave

 A little outing on buses to Troon today for the health food shop...and I saw these...one bird at least on every ridge tile...

Then back to Prestwick to the travel agent...

Tickets booked and paid for...all that needs doing is the online check in 48 hours before, both ends...and she will do that...and renewing my visa..we couldn't do it today as incredibly the last one is still valid!!

Then home and supper and enter Velo Retro at the end of May ...a 30 mile ride based at Ulverston in the Lake District. I will ride Pirate's Eroba bike ( dated 1961) so I need to get fit enough...plans are in hand for that!!

Now do I camp then or not ????

The eyes have it

 Today wasn't inspiring either..still grey and getting chillier....but at least I got the sheet and towels wash on the line and half dry!

A text arrived to remind me that it was eye check time...I phoned them and they had a slot free this afternoon!

I managed to fit in lunch and dealing with the wild pears before going...they were washed and de-stalked and put in the freezer. Freezing means that I'll get more juice from them. And the stalks clog up the mincer!!

The eye examination went fine..no change needed to the specs I've had for about six years...just a slight change in my eyes from last year but no worries. They did my hearing check as well - passed with flying colours! And no change since the first one two years ago....that I'd had to get Pirate to have his checked!!!

Then a walk around town...a bit of exercise while I waited for the bus.

That's the Auld Brig... From the 1700s I think...that had a rebuild in the 1700s.

The new one from the 1800s is to the right of the top photo...and that had to have a complete rebuild quite soon after it was first put there!!

Cross day

 Friday and Saturday were nothing to write home about...so I won't...!!

Apart from meeting the club bike run at the end coffee stop...that was good, even if I did go by car. 

Today I went to watch a cyclo cross in Linlithgow...good practice sorting a route..the non-motorway route was ten miles shorter! And interesting, even though it did cross various bits of moorland. The weather was damp and drizzly.... until a couple of miles from the town! And the same on my return three and a half hours later!!

Luckily the races were running late and I was in time to see the 50+ and 60+ riders doing their practice lap...then catch the bag of our Fife friend as they lined up ready for the start, with his and a friend's jacket in it...

Then they get ready the riot act..i.e. Behave!!

Then ticked off the list as they go up to the line

After lining up, the 60+ go off a short while after the 50+

The course devisers had been creative....using zig zag taping to get the length of course in...the course is supposed to take a top rider about eight to ten minutes and be 90% rideable, with a couple of obstacles..some pick up their bike and others "bunny hop" over them. 

Each race is for a time not a distance, and after the first  lap or two the commissaires can judge how many laps will be needed for the time and the lap board goes up... there's a bell for the last lap...and when the leader finishes, everyone that comes in behind has finished, whatever lap they are on. Every rider has a transponder on their ankle, so the number of laps completed can quickly be read off the transponder.

Our Fife friend was second in the 60+...and his friend beat him!

The juvenile ( under 12, 14, 16) races and the 40+race had finished by the time I arrived, but at the same time as the 50/60+ race was on, the under 8s and 10s were having fun on their own separate and easier course 

Then the womens' race was on ... seniors (18+) and juniors (16-18) together, but with prizes for the age groups. Good to see about thirty riders.

No photos as I was having lunch!! As well as the usual coffee carts

There was a van selling burritos... so I had one with vegetarian haggis, rice with lime, guacamole, salsa and black beans....even the smallest "regular" size was a decent meal.

Then the podiums...

And the "yob with the gob"... keeping up a commentary all day!!

I didn't stay to see the main senior race ( ie not specifically veterans who are 40+, but if they think they are capable they can ride the open event) as I wanted to get home in daylight...and it was 65 miles..

But a nice day out, good to see quite a few friends and enjoy the craic.