That doesn't sound right.

This morning I was out for my constitutional earlier than normal. 

The reason for this is that my dear wife had volunteered my time without consulting me first. I don't really mind, as the job is for Mummy Sheila, and she is a dear friend. I just wish that she had asked me first so that I had got an accurate view of the actual task.

My current understanding ranged from, "she wants a stump cutting down to ground level in her garden" to "what she really wants is the entire stump removing".  When I asked about the size of the stump I was rewarded with vague gestures that indicated that it could be anything from a small twig to a two hundred year old oak.

Should I take a chainsaw, or a pair of secateurs ... fuck knows?

Before heading over to Sheila's I donned my bee suit and lit my smoker. Pete had commented that the new colony was huge and that I really should add another super before we headed off to Stoke.* I therefore whizzed up to the orchard and gave the new colony a little more space. I'll give them a proper inspection when we come back from our mini break.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, stump removal for Sheila.  I threw a few tools in the back of the car and headed down in to the village. Sheila was the perfect host and made me a coffee while I assessed the job. It was a Cherry Laurel stump about fourteen inches high and about four or five inches in diameter.  It was about fifteen minutes work with a spade and axe to loosen the stump and it was soon pulled free from the border.

The timing was perfect as my coffee was now at drinking temperature, so I sat in the sun and caught up on Sheila's news ... incidentally, I am now "Shiela's Hero"

This afternoon I headed out on my bike for a ride and did not enjoy it. The traffic was horrendous and I am not wholly convinced about the R1250R's gearbox.  The gear changes can range from slick, silent changes to horrendous graunching, grinding, clunking changes that make me wince. It has got to the point where I am constantly waiting for a horrible gear change and constantly assessing how I am riding the bike, rather than enjoying it. 

I have never had a bike with such an intermittently rough gear box. I really cannot work out what the problem is, although I do know it is better if I change gear at higher revs ... The problem is that the bike is still being run in and should not be over revved. 

I got home frustrated and got on the phone to Motorrad immediately. It is booked in for them to take a look on 28th April.

So that is a run through of Friday's events. I did also manage to fit my replacement intercom in to my helmet and get it paired to my phone. I can now try a test of the BMW Connected Ride Satellite Navigation app, provided I can put up with the god-awful gearbox!

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* I haven't got around to mentioning that we are off the Stoke on Trent next Tuesday for a few days on a narrow boat with B&H.  We originally planned to pick up the boat from a much closer Stoke ... Stoke Prior, but lock closures meant that we couldn't really go anywhere. 30% used her powers of persuasion to get the hire company to change our booking and we are now able to explore the canals around the other Stoke.