Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Cool and breezy here Sue but dry and occasionally a bit of sun. I've had me second sleep and have done a couple of good deeds. I have to post a letter and might venture into the Town Square in search of Dettol, plastic gloves and cod liver oil! Not as dangerous as it sounds....

[Tizer]

Here's one for Sue - what they call 12 inches to the foot scale!...
`Eastbourne man builds railway in his garden' LINK
`Adrian Backshall has used the lockdown to finish a remarkable project. The retired British Rail worker has built a 30ft railway in his back garden in Eastbourne, complete with hand-cranked wagon. He is now in negotiations with his wife Ruth, in a bid to extend the line by 45ft to the end of the garden.'

[Sue]

Bobs is 400 feet plus, , trouble is it goes round in a circle so won’t quite get us home

Mind you we are going round and rou d in a circle too

[Stanley]

Why is the man seen as 'sad' by his wife? It sounds like a miserable existence to me..... Did you see his candlesticks made out of scrap? He isn't devoid of talent.
With a a bit of luck I shall be being sad in the shed....



We are slowly getting an engine!

[Sue]

Sad! Journalistic response again. Anything but sad.

Anyway, Morning all. Hope all is good with you and yours.

What a day yesterday, every type of weather possible except snow! We did however get longer sunny spells in the afternoon, with shorter but heavier showers. The mornings always seem short, as pilates tends to be in the middle but the weather made it feel like a whole season had passed in the hour.

About 2.00 pm I decided to plant out my tomato plants as they were out growing my makeshift cold frame. As, hopefully, we won’t be here to tend to them over the summer I had to be a little creative in how to plant them. The usual frame that we have used over the last three or four years is a lot of effort to assemble and would not easily fit into my allocated space, as we are only using one veggie plot and trying to keep to planting round the edges. That way we can keep most of the patch covered till next year. Anyway I planted the small number of plants in two short rows. I then used chicken wire and canes to make a sort of fruit cage round them. The canes held the netting in place. I then slotted another piece on the top , like a roof, over the canes. I secured it all with garden ties, leaving a small section that could be opened like a door if necessary. The plants can now grow unattended and when they start to fall over they will simply fall on to the cage. Not ideal but hopefully it will work. My cousin in California did something similar once. The cage ended up packed with tomato plants and tomatoes.

After wards I did clean out the laundry room. It was a hot dirty job. It accumulates a lot of dust and dirt blowing in from outside, including masses of dandelion seeds floating around. I did the full works, relined shelves and generally sorting everything before replacing in a tidy manner. I moved all the garden furniture and wiped it down and cleaned right into the corners of the room. It took about two hours and my hair was dripping with perspiration. I know why I keep it short, it is so thick and heavy at the front as it gets longer

I had just finished and was about to have shower when a friend, Wendy, contacted me on Whats App. She was surprised we were still in France. 40 years ago, I used to teach with Wendy at Rochdale college. Her daughter, Nicky, in her early teens used to look after the girls when we went out . I hesitate to use the word baby sit! In later years I taught Nicky at the college, even went to her wedding, but then never really saw her again apart from her parents big birthdays , wedding anniversaries etc. Anyway, when I started my yoga classes, there was Nicky and we have become good friends. We were chatting on facebook yesterday morning . Later in the day she was talking to her Mum, Wendy and told her we were still here so she contacted me. It was nice to chat .

My yoga later was cancelled, such relief I was tired. So we could have a relaxing couple of hours before online wine tasting with my sister Jane. Its more of a chat group really. One of her friends, Chris does a wine orientated quiz, ( which we are rubbish at, all practice and no theory, thats us) we discuss what we are drinking and where it came from etc. On ZOOM you get 40 minutes free. So after 40 minutes we have a loo break and reconvene for another free 40 minutes. The second session is really just chatting about anything. There was a new person in the group who lives in Switzerland , she was saying lockdown had come off there and they are in phase 1 of some sort of return to normal with essential services opening. That included hairdressers and tattoo parlours ! Essential !

Today is grey and damp at the moment but should brighten up a bit, so I think I will do some weeding and bank up the potatoes. Its our wedding anniversary (49 years) so we are making a special meal with champagne tonight.

So everyone

Think positive, stay cheerful, keep busy, stay safe and have as good a day as you can.

[Stanley]

Congratulations on the wedding anniversary Sue. Yesterday sounded like a hard day! Go a bit steadier today and leave some energy to celebrate tonight. I'll be thinking about you as I pursue my usual evening wild entertainment on the sofa with Jack.
I was going in the shed this morning but I had to pop to the Co-op for milk and a few odds and sods. Nothing long but by the time I had been and got back and sorted half an hour had gone. I have decided to give myself a break, do a bit of cooking and take it easy. I have some mutton in the slow cooker, it's a while since I cooked any, I've been too besotted with chicken wings. So we are going to have a mutton week this week!

[Big Kev]

Its our wedding anniversary (49 years) so we are making a special meal with champagne tonight.

Congratulations, it's our 39th today

[Cathy]

Congratulations to you all. Sue and Bob, Kevin and Mrs Kevin. Have a lovely time celebrating.
Cheers

[PanBiker]

Double congratulations then. Happy anniversary Kev, Paulette, Bob and Sue.

[Tizer]

Congratulations to all!

Another one for Bob and Sue. At least Bob doesn't have to pedal!
`Steam train lover's marathon railway challenge' LINK

[Sue]

Well fancy that Mr and Mrs Kev. Congratulations

[Big Kev]

Well fancy that Mr and Mrs Kev. Congratulations

Thank you, we had a celebratory curry and a can of beer and bought ourselves a present

20200501_175512.jpg

the old one is 39 years old. About time it was replaced

[Sue]

I like it, our sort of pressie . None this year, but a big bottle of expensive wine consumed! Our pressie was an early morning phone call from someone who knows the ins and outs of travel across France. Best pressie ever !

[Big Kev]

Excellent present Sue

[Sue]

Excellent present Sue

Too true

[Stanley]

Have a good day Kev and Mrs....
"Our pressie was an early morning phone call from someone who knows the ins and outs of travel across France."
That sounds like a handy phone call Sue!
Today the target is shed again...... Let's see how well I do today!

[Sue]

Morning all, hope all is well at your end of the world

Can’t say much about the phone call yesterday except to say it agreed with all our conclusions and decisions. We were given some useful telephone numbers and told what paperwork to carry. One little blip or it may be a big one is that the paperwork and rules will probably change on May 11th. On the plus side this will be to keep people from entering France rather than leaving it, but also to prevent people travelling to and from the red high risk zone. Unfortunately the tunnel is in the red zone. But again we won’t be going into the zone and then back into another area of the country, and not at all if the ferry runs.
Sometimes all these ifs and buts get me down , so once the issue is dealt with for the dayI try not to dwell on it, or I think I would quite depressed. Something I am trying hard not to do, it doesn’t change or help the situation does it.

Yesterday turned out to be quite nice all day, the very occasional shower but mainly sunny and breezy. I got three loads of washing dry on the line including jeans and heavy towels. My washer here is rubbish and even the fast spin leaves thick things very wet. So I was lucky they dried because it was high humidity.

I did a bit of weeding and a bit of hedge trimming where it had become rather shaggy where it borders the neighbours garden. I tied in my clematis, and honeysuckles all now in full flower and did a general tidy pulling weeds out of the gravel. Nothing strenuous. In the afternoon I banked up my potatoes, hoed my veggie patch and strawberries and tied in the runner beans. Finishing it all off with a sprinkling of ‘potage’ organic pellet fertiliser for fruit and veg gardens. Whilst I was doing this Bob was making huge progress with the railway track. Photos of veggies to follow if I can upload them. T’internet doesn’t seem to like my photos!

Today I have 2-3 hour online ZOOM watercolour workshop with Jeremy Ford. I have a little preparation to do before it starts as I forgot to sketch out the picture as required. I have had to search through my paints and paper here to find something of the right quality. What amazes me is the oldest cheapest paints seem to be the ones that have not gone ‘gloopy’
It will be getting on for 2.00 pm by the time I am finished, so it will be a late lunch. The rest of the day is unplanned at the moment.

So
Think positive, stay cheerful, keep busy and have the best day that you can

[Stanley]

"The rest of the day is unplanned at the moment. "
I like that bit best of all Sue, after all it's Saturday!
As for the paperwork and the trip. I'm sure you realise that very often we over-think these things and imagine everything that can go wrong. Just as likely that on the day, ferry permitting, you will have a smooth trip. I certainly hope so.
I have had my spell in the shed and made another small step forwards with no cock-ups! Just the sort of trip I like. I shall post on shed matters when Jack and I have had our walk on the Green. We have full sun and very light breeze, a nice day so far!

[plaques]

A reminder dropped through the post yesterday to tell me my MOT was due at the end of the month. Rang my garage, a good local firm that I can trust explicitly, and asked if it could be deferred as allowed by the current lock down rules. Having a MOT at this time of year is always a pain because the weather is usually wet and horrible and doesn't encourage even a basic look over. No problem was the answer but you may run into a bottleneck if it is left too long. OK can you do a service plus a MOT over check and then a proper test in say 3 months. No problem, bring it in next week. Since the car currently only gets an outing once a week I think all the safety bases have been touched to cover this period.

[Sue]

I tell a lie...we have U3A online wine tasting tonight. We dress according to what we are drinking and we have to guess each others drink. Ours will be champagne, I shall have net curtain over my head, be wearing a white top, and carrying a bouquet of plastic flowers. Bob will just have a long shaggy hair do as in 1971


Our daughter has just suggested we leave before the 11 th and the paperwork changing. Worth discussion , we shall consider the pros and cons. Of course then it would have to be the tunnel as there are no ferries till the 16 th

[Big Kev]

A reminder dropped through the post yesterday to tell me my MOT was due at the end of the month. Rang my garage, a good local firm that I can trust explicitly, and asked if it could be deferred as allowed by the current lock down rules. Having a MOT at this time of year is always a pain because the weather is usually wet and horrible and doesn't encourage even a basic look over. No problem was the answer but you may run into a bottleneck if it is left too long. OK can you do a service plus a MOT over check and then a proper test in say 3 months. No problem, bring it in next week. Since the car currently only gets an outing once a week I think all the safety bases have been touched to cover this period.

A garage in Barlick are offering a free collection/return service within a 10 mile radius. Card payments over the phone and the car 'disinfected' prior to return.

[Stanley]

That sounds like a good idea! Someone using their head.



I told you we would have small but significant progress this morning! We now have a crank pin!

[Sue]

A reminder dropped through the post yesterday to tell me my MOT was due at the end of the month. Rang my garage, a good local firm that I can trust explicitly, and asked if it could be deferred as allowed by the current lock down rules. Having a MOT at this time of year is always a pain because the weather is usually wet and horrible and doesn't encourage even a basic look over. No problem was the answer but you may run into a bottleneck if it is left too long. OK can you do a service plus a MOT over check and then a proper test in say 3 months. No problem, bring it in next week. Since the car currently only gets an outing once a week I think all the safety bases have been touched to cover this period.

A garage in Barlick are offering a free collection/return service within a 10 mile radius. Card payments over the phone and the car 'disinfected' prior to return.

My son in law had his done the same way in Ramsbottom. Very efficient I thought

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

I need to do some cooking but will try to get a bit of shed in as well. Funny how you get to the stage where you suddenly realise you are getting close to an engine!