More of the same...

 Time to pay up and look big as Pirate would say!

I decided to pay the car bill in person...to remind myself of which of my neighbour's grandsons this was...and to see his garage set-up.

The group of units now have new buildings!! The local estate has invested...and there is a good tarmac road down to it...I remember it as a gravel road not long ago!!

It does explain why the bill is a bit higher than my local garage would have charged....plus it is nearer the town.

It was about £880 !! But getting the car lifted cost £100... labour £520...parts £213...and Value Added Tax adds 20%to everything.

Another run out for the car, dual carriageway driving this time.

Up to the West Kilbride Gallery to check if we have any sales in the exhibition.

plus coffee and cake and meeting a fellow potter and cyclist as she had a book that I wanted to buy!

On the way home then the car developed a squeak!! Back to my usual garage...the back plate to a brake has shifted a little..so he'll sort that on Wednesday.

Back home for washing, lunch and more cleaning!!

Enough!!!! Just a complete bike to clean now and that's it, I've had it!!

It works!

 A short run in the car to collect a set of training rollers ( things you use instead of a turbo trainer) that I'm being given to sell...then the longer way home just to get used to the car and driving again.

Then the rest of the day cleaning and sorting bike bits. The bike/sewing room's floorspace is expanding!! The living room' s space definitely isn't!!

But at least it now looks a decent amount..two boxes of stuff to sort and then I need to go through identifying and pricing.

It will have to be done anyway, as what stuff doesn't sell will be for sale at the Manchester Bike Creche cycle jumble in four months time. 

Just before 5 I decided that a change of air was needed..and a walk...so I went to one of our favourite foraging spots for some nice apples and plums!!

Its back!!

 I had a day in Ayr today, finding a new café which is also a coffee roastery...Rocket Monkey!! Recontacting a small shop/gallery, ordering a new book!!!! 

Wandered through a shopping mall...

And French conversation group in the library in the afternoon...

I couldn't miss that shot of the blinds...or the window above the stairs....

It is one of the Carnegie library buildings so should be safe from closure.

Then home to ....the car!!!!

I picked the key up from my neighbour over the road and had a good natter....it is one of her grandsons who mended the car.

I'll go down to his garage on Monday to pay...no way am I going to Ayr tomorrow as the Ayr Air Show is on this weekend!!!

Yeccch!!

 

Yesterday all day......

But also...

Shinyyyy!!!

Bits are being cleaned and sorted, mushroom trays, crates and boxes being employed...

I need to clean a couple of frames a well, but that shouldn't be a big job.

The car is at the garage outside Ayr.....

The cycle jumble is on a week Saturday....

Not the best

 A wasted day on one way.

Gallery duty day. Out at 8.20am

Damp, chilly, late buses.....

The barley field by the path on the way down 

But...talking to people, encouraging artists....

I find it hard work, all this "peopling" even though it is doing good for others, which is satisfying....

Thirty-five minutes wait for the bus... instead of nearly twenty-five.  Missed connection so almost another half an hour.

Home before 7...just.....

Heat up cooked potatoes and runner beans, add salad and fluffy microwaved "omelette..more like a mini soufflé....

Dishes done... correspondence checked...bed by 9.    Duolingo....then lights out.

Home day

Trying out a new block..

And printing more cards to restock my bit of the gallery 

 I kept the dehydrator on overnight...I know the plums were juicy...but this is six pounds of plums!!

Lunch was mainly from the garden...

And when the cards were done it was time to "change the air in your lungs" as grandma would say!

Onions weeded

Then lifted..they may not dry very fast now that autumn is here...but they will be out of the rain!

A step in the right direction

 Today's housework was.... starting to declutter the bathroom and vacuum floors downstairs....

Later one of our friends came by with contributions for the cycle jumble...and doesn't want any of the proceeds! There is some cleaning involved, but that is no great deal.

Then just after midday my car was lifted..its first step on the way to a garage near Ayr and a new clutch!!

The next quick job was halved and stone six pounds of plums!! Three layers of the dehydrator...with empty layers in between which will speed the (slow and steady) process....then off on the bus with slightly orange hands!!

I went to thank the travel agents for their well done work...and talk about the next trip....to the same place but aiming for nearer my destination to avoid giving my Friend a long drive back from an airport... Bordeaux is 2½ hours from home on a good day...

Then a little shopping..and a phone call from the son of Pirate's old opponent and eventually good mate...to say that he had died..when I saw who the missed call was from I guessed. He was a couple of years older and hadn't been in good health for quite a time...but like Pirate had still carried on riding his bike.