Busy, but not exciting

There's not a huge amount to report for today.

I kept myself occupied for most of the day, but I was only really focussed on a couple of activities. These consumed a fair amount of my day, hence "not a lot to report".

The day started with a quick run down to the surgery for blood tests.

I was back before ten o'clock, and put the first batch of honey in a water bath to liquify it. Whilst it gradually softened, I put a batch of jars through the dishwasher.

I then headed outside to the workshop and started job #2.  One of the workshop windows was broken a while ago and I fitted a piece of perspex as a temporary fix. As I will shortly be fitting the last set of security bars, I needed to reglaze the window properly.

While the jars were being washed, and the honey was melting, I removed the perspex panel and cleaned out the rebate ready for the new pane of glass.

This took me through until lunch time, and, conveniently, the first batch of honey was ready to pour in to jars. I then got another batch of honey in to the Bain Marie, and headed back out to the workshop.

The new window pane was puttied in place and I decided that the other two panes really needed to be reglazed too.*  That could wait until tomorrow though ... I don't find glazing windows particularly exciting!

I got the second batch of honey bottled and 30% made an appearance after a day out with Mummy Sheila. She advised that she had found some attractively priced garden edging in Alcester, so we headed off to collect it. 

The garden edging was a bargain at £1 per length** and I think there will be enough to finish off the bed that sits alongside the larger of the two greenhouses. 

While in Alcester we picked up another tub of putty, so it looks like I'll be carrying on with the reglazing of the workshop window tomorrow ... Oh Joy!

---

* The bodger who fitted them originally had simply held the panes of glass in place with a few tacks. No putty or glazing bars, just glass held with tacks!

** Second hand with quite nice patina ... they will be just the job

Who are you ...

 ... and what the hell have you done with my wife?

The weather was fairly dismal this morning, so after a quick visit to the local surgery and a period of pottering, 30% and I decided to pop over to The Valley in Evesham.

For the uninitiated, The Valley describes itself as a shopping and leisure destination ... That might be a slight exaggeration. It seems to be a strip of retail establishments mostly devoted to outdoor leisure wear. Throw in a couple of coffee shops and a garden centre and that is just about it.

Don't get me wrong, it's fine. It just seems a little odd that there is such a preponderance of outdoor clothing specialists in a single location. Especially when most of the visitors seem to be well in to their sixth or seventh decade and don't look particularly outdoorsy.

Anyway, back to the narrative.  The reason for the visit was that I desperately needed a lightweight, waterproof jacket. 30% had found a rather nice one on the Fatface website and we were going to see if it was as nice as it looked on a perfectly honed model.

We took Hobson, along as he does like an outing, and the entire site is dog friendly. To cut a long and boring story short; the coat was great and I also found a sweatshirt that was on sale too.  My bank balance is now somewhat lighter and my wardrobe is enriched.

We were back home by midday and lunched, before I decided that a short snooze was in order. 

On waking I wandered outside to find a woman that looked very much like my wife busily tidying the garden shed.  I was extremely disturbed by the fact that she seemed to be sorting out items and placing them in to separate containers. My confusion was further compounded by the fact that she then appeared to be labelling the containers to identify the contents.

It was at this point that I politely enquired as to whom she was, and what the hell she had done with my wife!

She looked like 30%. She sounded like 30%, but I'll tell you now, I have never, ever seen my wife produce an organised storage system in her entire life.  Her approach to storage is to cram random shit in to a drawer until it won't close, or until it jams shut!

She managed to persuade me that she was 30%, but I'll be watching closely to see if the mother ship returns and replaces the defective doppelgänger with the original model.

Having had a relatively lazy day, I did finally get busy in the afternoon. 

I took my chainsaw to an old cupboard that was slowly rotting outside the rear of my workshop. It has spent the past couple of decades being used to store plant pots and it is a complete wreck.  The organised version of 30% had stored the plant pots in the shed, so I was able to cut it in to three pieces and cart it up to the orchard. It will be burnt once it dries out.

I also found time to return an empty hive to Pete the Beekeeper; the one used to transport the new colony a couple of weeks ago.  While I was there I picked up another 30 lb tub of honey. So, it looks like I'll be bottling honey tomorrow.

Sorting the car and the veg patch

The veg patch is not looking its best, as a serious amount of weed growth has sprung up since last year's crops were harvested.

I took my first step in rectifying this situation when I sprayed the weeds a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have been waiting for the weeds to wither and the ground conditions to be suitable to get the Rotamatiser out.

Today looked like it could be the perfect day. The weather was forecast to be fine. We had had some rain in the preceding week, and the weeds were yellowing nicely. 

I still remember my first experience with the Rotamatiser and I'm really not sure whether I am looking forward to this job ... I know, let's find a diversion to occupy us for a couple of hours.

The diversion was actually pre-arranged, as we needed to pop over to Cheltenham to drop the 5 Series off for the replacement of its EGR Cooler.  There was an abortive attempt to do this in early February and today was the day it should finally happen.  

As a side note I should add that I was bloody annoyed at the service I received from the BMW dealership and made my views clear in the customer satisfaction survey I submitted. I did receive a few follow up emails from BMW, but the Cotswold BMW Service Manager steadfastly avoided giving me a call about my feedback.*

Right, back to the narrative. 30% and I headed down the M5 in tandem and soon had the 5 Series abandoned in front of the workshop. We then headed back home and I had no excuse. It was time to haul the Rotamatiser from the shed.

Part of me hoped it would fail to start after ten months in the darkness, and it appeared I might be lucky at first. But a quick clean of the spark plug and a couple more depressions of the little rubber carburettor primer bulb had the damned thing grumbling in to life!

I had no choice but to spend an energetic hour wrestling the beast over the top half of the veg patch. It looked much better, but I felt like I had been trying to restrain a large feral pig that desperately wanted to be somewhere else.

Fortunately lunch then intervened and I did my best to ensure I took the full hour.

The second half of the veg patch was equally physical, but I have to admit that a) it looks much better and b) I definitely have a great sense of accomplishment. Let's not ponder too much about c) is the Rotamatiser any easier than hand digging? At least a garden fork doesn't attempt to fight back.

I managed to find time for a recuperative kip, before we headed back to Cheltenham in the late afternoon. The Service Assistant was very apologetic and stressed that the EGR cooler had definitely been replaced on this occasion. She added that a few "goodies" had been left on the passenger seat.

I returned to the car to find that I had been given a rather nice umbrella, a cooler cup and a collapsible boot box.

Do you think they realised how pissed off I had been?

---

* I wonder why?

Lazy Day

The weather was not great today and gave me the perfect excuse to do very little at all.

I wandered a short way down the road with the dogs and spent a good while in front of the computer bringing The Journal up to date.

We also popped over to see Dot and Buzzer to thank them for looking after the chickens while we were away.  A pleasant couple of hours were spent catching up on each others' news and, of course, flowers and wine were proffered by way of part payment.

The afternoon included a kip on the sofa and minimal tidying 

... I did say it was a lazy day.

Fishing & Bees

Today was our first fishing excursion of 2025.

Bubbles and I had arranged it a few weeks ago and shortly after eight this morning we headed over to the Lower Park Fishery at Beoley.  The lakes had been recommended by a dog walking acquaintance many months ago, and this was our first visit.

After a couple of hiccups* we eventually got ourselves set up on the bank of the Abbey Pool and fishing commenced. I am absolutely delighted to say that I caught the first three fish, starting with a small Carp and followed up with a couple of Skimmer Bream.

Bubbles eventually got with the programme and reeled in a couple of Tench, but poor Ben struggled; possibly because he insisted on using sweetcorn as bait rather than the traditional maggots.

I fished through until the early afternoon, but then had to pack up and head back home ... I really needed to get the two colonies inspected.

On arrival at home I was surprised to see TP's car on the drive. It transpired that he had met up with friends in Worcester last night and had decided to make an unscheduled visit to see us the dogs!

The weather was perfect for the inspection and I soon had my smoker lit and the various beekeeping bits and bobs assembled.

The first task was to move the newer colony from Pete's hive to one of mine. The first stage was to remove the supers and these were checked for stored honey.  They had some stores, but nothing to get too excited about. I then removed the queen excluder and carefully lifted Pete's brood box and floor off my hive stand. The new floor and brood box were installed and levelled up, before I started to carefully transfer the frames across from one to the other.

I soon found the queen so was reassured that she had been successfully moved to her new residence. I continued to add the remaining frames, checking each one to ensure that there were no queen cells ... none were found. It was then a moment's work to replace the queen excluder, supers, crown board and roof and leave the colony in peace.

I then turned to the colony that was established and installed last year.  All that was needed was a check on their stores and  a run through the brood box to ensure there were no signs of swarming.  I lifted the roof and crown board and was amazed at what I found. Even without removing any of the frames from the super I could see that they were packed with honey and the bees had even started to cap off the cells.**

The second, lower super was even better and I was surprised at how different the two colonies are. I suppose that the newer colony has only been here about ten days, and should catch up in the coming weeks. 

I then moved on to check the brood box and all was well in there. I found the queen and could see no signs of swarming. I may need to add another super next week, depending on how good the weather is.

After a busy week on the boat and a day of fishing and bees, one might expect a lazy evening in front of the television, but we actually went out for a bite to eat with Bubbs & Bobbyn at the Four Alls at Welford-on-Avon.

A good time was had by all, but it certainly wasn't a late one!

---

* It wasn't particularly well signposted from the Redditch approach and Bubbles and Ben had both ignored my instruction to bring cash for the machine that issues the day fishing permit.

** This is a sure sign that the nectar has been converted to honey and has had the moisture content sufficiently reduced.

The Caldon Canal

15th April, Day 1: Festival Park Marina to Milton

After a final whizz around at home, clothes and groceries* were stuffed in to bags and piled up in the hall. The dogs were loaded in to the car and we headed over to Redditch and dropped them off with Kate; the dog sitter.

We then headed back home, reloaded the car with our holiday trappings and headed over to Worcester to collect B&H. We soon had their stuff loaded in to the boot,** and were heading up the M5 towards Stoke-on-Trent.

We arrived shortly after midday and lunched in a pub overlooking the Marina, before checking in and collecting the boat; Ellie. 

The boat demonstration was kept to a minimum as I have had a fair bit of experience handling narrow boats over the years.*** I asked out demonstrator; Steve about a suitable route for our four night trip and he suggested that we might try the Caldon Canal. He warned that it might be a little shallow in places and also suggested that we cruise as far as Bridge 18 before mooring for the night ... this would ensure we had left some of the less salubrious areas of Stoke behind.

Midway through the afternoon we set off from the Marina and within four hundred yards we left the Trent & Mersey Canal and joined the Caldon Canal.  

All seemed to be going well, although I noted that the canal did seem to be quite narrow and winding.  We assumed that things would be less meandering as we left the city behind.  Our first few hours of cruising included a pair of staircase locks and the excitement of operating a lift bridge that dropped barriers across the road and halted traffic while we passed by.  When Steve described this it sounded quite complicated and seemed like we would be halting traffic on a major A road.  It was, in fact, a quiet road on an industrial estate and quite simple to operate. We did enjoy the momentary power of stopping cars while we chugged past the lift bridge at two miles per hour.

The evening included a couple of drinks at The Foxley Hotel, where a couple of local lads**** suggested that we try the Milton Chippy for our evening meal.

B and I headed up to the chippy and were received like long lost family. After a very friendly reception we wandered back to the boat and stuffed ourselves with fish and chips.

Here endeth the first entry in the log of the vessel Ellie and her foolhardy crew.

---

* There was a lot of booze!

** There was a lot more booze!

*** I used to be a boat handler/demonstrator for Cleaver Marine a their Evesham base when I was in my late teens. We also used to own a 58' narrow boat for a few years from 2004. This was moored on the River Soar and was used for mid-week access visits when TP still lived with his mum. Then there have also been the occasional holidays on boats over the years too.

**** Estate Agent Ollie deserves a special mention as, at the age of 22, he already has a signature car crash which seems to climax with an expensive high powered saloon car ending up on its roof ... we don't think he will make old bones!

16th April, Day 2: Milton to Lock 16, Oakmeadowford Lock

On Wednesday we left Stoke behind and started to pass through the Staffordshire countryside.  It was quite beautiful, although the weather wasn't playing ball.  The morning was very wet, with a cold wind, and there was one point where B & I moored up and came in to the cabin to thaw out.

The rain eventually slowed and we continued cruising under cold leaden skies.  

Yesterday we noted how the Stoke stretches of the Caldon Canal seemed quite narrow and twisty.  I can confirm that the navigation did not improve and there were many sections of the cut where two boats couldn't pass.* We also noted that many of the bridges and locks were on tight bends making for some challenging manoeuvring** to get the boat through with minimal scraping.

We also noted some rather poor etiquette from some of the private boats. This included mooring on tight turns and constricted sections, and also some very aggressive shouting from a chap who felt that we were passing his boat at too high a speed.  Ellie's engine was barely above tick over at the time. We did point this out and were rewarded with a threat of a hospital visit by Mr Angry.

Over the course of the day B & I created a whole back story for Mr Angry which involved a late night of internet porn and the fact that he was the last King of the Caldon Canal. He has a trident of power, wears a crown of duckweed and has two Canada Geese as guards ... Basically the man was a complete bell end.

We continued cruising through the fine countryside and moored just before the Oakmeadowford lock.

Our evening was spent attempting to reduce the amount of alcohol that we had brought with us ... we did quite well on this task.

Here endeth the second log entry of the vessel Ellie and her exploration of the wilds of Staffordshire. Note that some of the natives are hostile.

---

* Remember a narrow boat is only 6' 10" wide

** A narrow boat can be reversed, but it goes where it bloody well likes ... they have no steering going backwards.

17th April, Day 3: Lock 16 on to the Froghall tunnel and back to Denford

Thursday was as fine as yesterday was horrible.  The morning was warm and sunny, and we were on our way shortly after eight this morning.  Within a couple of minutes we had rounded yet another bend and passed through lock 16 on to the River Churnet.

The plan was to cruise on and moor in the vicinity of the Froghall tunnel. We had been alerted to the presence of Hetty's Tea Shop and it was suggested as a splendid place to have breakfast.

It was a lovely run on to Froghall and we arrived a little after ten o'clock.  We were lucky to see another narrow boat turning on the only winding hole* large enough to accommodate Ellie.**  I say "lucky" as there was no signage to indicate that it was a winding hole. It was actually little more than a v shaped indentation of the canal in to the hillside and not very obvious.

At this point I have to say that the canal gods were on my side and I absolutely smashed getting Ellie turned around and facing back towards Stoke.  We then moved her clear of the winding hole and moored her alongside the tow path.

It was then a short walk in the sunshine to Hetty's Tea Room. There we chose a table in the morning sun and breakfasted on splendid breakfast baps. Further supplies*** were taken on board and we took a moment to appreciate that we had reached the furthest point on this monumental journey of exploration.

We had completed seventeen miles and passed through seventeen locks. We had endured wind chill of -2 ℃, passed more Canada Geese than they actually have in Canada and also managed to enrage the King of the Caldon Canal. 

I think it fair to say that there is the making of one hell of a sea shanty about this voyage ... or at least a half decent folk song!

Our return journey continued in the fine sunshine and we moored for the being just past the Hazlehurst Aqueduct in Denford.  This evening the crew revolted**** and refused to enter the galley. As a result we dined at a lovely little pub called the Hollybush Inn.

Here endeth the third log entry of the narrowboat Ellie. 

---

* A point in the canal network where the navigation broadens to allow a boat to be turned around. You will be a familiar with a three point turn in a car.  It can easily be a seven or nine point turn in a narrow boat ... with no steering in reverse and very little spare room to manoeuvre!

** Ellie is sixty two feet in length

*** A slice of coffee and walnut cake and three blueberry and lemon scones, with jam and clotted cream. Note: It is important to keep an accurate record of the ship's inventory.

**** B&I had already established that the crew are revolting!

18th April, Day 4: Denford back to Stoke

Friday's weather forecast did not look good, so B&I donned oilskins and sou'westers and bravely endured a fine drizzle on the rear deck.

The plan for today was to return to Ellie's home mooring in Stoke by nightfall, so we were ready to leave bright and early on Saturday.

At this point I should mention that B&I decided that Ellie should be renamed the Lady Margaret Thatcher.* Over the past few days we had noticed that there were moments when she just refused to turn. After a process of elimination and checks we realised that it was when she encountered the shallower stretches of the canal. 

The shallow water was still sufficiently deep to allow her to cruise, but created enough drag that she would be very reluctant to respond to movements of the tiller.  There were a number of occasions when we needed to thrust her in to reverse to avoid bumping the bank and to have another attempt at a turn. 

There were also a couple of points when she did run aground and needed to be pushed in to the middle of the cut using the pole.

Back to our homeward leg. The trip from Denford back to Stoke was a little under ten miles and we eventually moored up a little after six in the evening.  We did feel the need to stop once more in the fine hamlet of Milton and sample the grog** at the Millrace Inn.

We gathered our thoughts on our journey of exploration and B commented that if he had attempted to navigate the Caldon canal with just support from H, as a first solo outing, he would never step aboard another narrowboat ever!***

I will say that it is definitely the most challenging section of canal I have ever travelled.

With that thought I will end the fourth log entry of the narrowboat The Lady Margaret Thatcher.

---

* For any reader under the age of fifty, Thatcher was famous for her "This Lady's not for turning" quote.

** For medicinal purposes and to keep out the chill.

*** B loves messing around in boats and really fancies holidaying with H on a narrowboat. The past couple of trips have allowed him to get some experience and develop his boat handling skills. We now jokingly assess his skill level as Barely Adequate, or possible Remedial.

19th April, Day 5: Stoke back to Worcestershire

We were up early and soon had our kit packed and piled in the back of the car. An all you can eat breakfast was consumed at the nearby Toby Inn before returning to the hire company and completing the checking out procedures. As we chatted to the Reception staff we started to explore the canal holiday options available to us and the Llangollen canal seems to be a possibility.

We Also chatted to Steve about the challenges of navigating the Caldon Canal and he commented that "if you can do the Caldon Canal, you can do any of them!"  ... Cheers Steve! It would have been nice if you had told us that it was a little tricky before sending us off.

I am a reasonably experienced boat handler and, whilst I did really enjoy the trip, There were very few moments when one could relax and chill. You needed to be focused and concentrating for much of the trip.

The car journey back home was uneventful, and, after unloading, we headed over to Redditch to pick up the dogs.

We then had a very lazy afternoon which included a lengthy kip.

Here endeth the final log entry of the narrowboat Ellie.

Post Script

Next year's trip may well be to the Llangollen canal ... everyone seems very keen.

Preparing for our mini break

It is the day before we leave for our short Spring break with B&H.

There is plenty to achieve before we head off up to Stoke for yet another holiday in Britain's Industrial heartlands.* 

Buzzer and Dot came over to dinner yesterday evening. This was in part payment for, and to allow instruction in, the minimal care our chickens will need over the next five days. 

Today we need to work our way through all the other must do jobs,

The day started with a trip over to the BMW dealer in Worcester, as we had noticed that the X3 engine stop/start mechanism** doesn't seem to be operative.

On our return I headed out to the workshop, gathered tools, and, with minimal assistance from 30%, fitted the security bars to the rear of the store room.  I now have just one more set to fit, but need to replace a pane of glass first ... that can wait until we return.

The car was ready for collection shortly after lunch, so back to Worcester we went. It seems that everything is working properly, but the technician was a little evasive when 30% asked if he had actually experienced the stop/start mechanism working.  We think that the battery is no longer working at peak efficiency, hence the internal systems are minimising preventing the stop/start usage to maximise battery life.

Back at home I dragged the lawn mower from the shed and whizzed around the lawns at the front of the house. We then continued in a gardening vein and finally got some seeds planted. These are going in a little later than last year, but I am hopeful that the plants will catch up as the weather warms.

We now have French and Runner Beans out in the greenhouse, along with a couple of melons and some cucumbers. The Utility Room is now home to several seed trays with tomatoes (Alicante, Marinade and Sweet Aperitif), Savoy Cabbage, Cauliflowers, Celery and Celeriac.

The one thing I didn't get to do was to inspect my original colony of bees. They should be inspected every seven or eight days, but the weather wasn't particularly good, and I didn't want to risk chilling the young brood.  

I will now spend the next week hoping that the damned things aren't preparing to swam.

---

* It may seem odd to many, but the industrial sections of the canals are as fascinating as the more popular rural stretches.  We had a fantastic time around the outskirts of Wolverhampton last year.

** The irritating thing that cuts out at each and every junction. I'm actually quite happy that it doesn't cut out, but the car is under warranty, so we may as well have someone look at it.

Catching up

 A couple of weeks ago I was pinged by Gary. Gary was the one and only person I managed to form any sort of friendship with during the eight months I worked at DXC. I've already covered my opinion of my final months of employment, so feel free to refer back if you want a brief summary of how not to manage a virtual team.

Anyway, back to Gary's ping. Gary is a very keen rifle shooter and his Gun Club was having a friends and family day today. He wondered if I fancied a trip up to Derbyshire to come and shoot his latest acquisitions.

"It would be nice to catch up with Gary," I thought, so I found myself heading North on the M42/A42 at about nine o'clock this morning.

It was lovely to meet up with Gary and everything he said made me realise that I had made the right decision and retire back at the end of March last year.  Gary feels much the same way, and plans to make his exit next year ... unless some fuckwit really annoys him somewhat earlier!

As for the shooting, that's an interesting question. Gary has a keen interest in historic rifles and I tried out a WW1 German rifle and a Mosin from the second world war.  These rifles have iron sights and it is a real challenge to get a decent grouping on the target at a range of fifty meters, especially with my crappy eyesight.

The final gun to be tested was a modern combat rifle with telescopic sights. These are incredibly accurate and even I could manage a very respectable grouping around the bull's eye.

The interesting this is that these rifles have been developed for just one thing, killing people and I'm really not sure how I feel about them. It is impressive how rifles have been developed over the years, But I am conscious that this is just another way of saying that it is now far easier to kill with them.

I know that I have shotguns and they can be deadly, but they were designed to put food on the table, not invade a neighbouring country.

What I can report is that shooting at a rifle range is not for me. With enough cash and time one can buy a modern rifle with sights and get it perfectly set up. One can then hit the centre of the target repeatedly with little chance of a miss.* 

I must confess that I would get bored quite quickly, and much prefer the challenge and variation provided by a moving clay target.

But it was still lovely to catch up with a mate from work.

---

* I accept that over longer distances it becomes more challenging

Not that sort of hive

This morning started with a visit from our friendly neighbourhood heating engineer; Will.

We bumped in to Will at a Land Rover meet at the beginning of March, and happened to mention that we wanted to get rid of our dreadful Drayton Digistat and upgrade to the flexibility and control provided by a Hive thermostat. "I can do that for you" Will replied, and he turned up at eight o'clock sharp and spent the next couple of hours fitting the components and giving me a whistle stop tour of the Hive app and its capabilities.

It is fair to say that I am impressed by the functionality compared to the crappy thermostat it has replaced. It will take me a while to familiarise myself with the app, but I have a strong suspicion that it will reduce our oil consumption, and make the house warmer too ... watch this space.

I headed out around the Three Miler after Will's departure, and then whizzed  over to Bubbles place of work, as he had kindly agreed to fit a new tyre on the 5 Series.  Having fitted the tyre free gratis, Bubbs even gave me a hand to give the car a quick wash, courtesy of the car valeting facilities at our friendly local Volkswagen dealership.

On my return I mowed the lawns at the back of the house and re-puttied the window at the back of the store room.

It is fair to say that it had been quite a busy day and, after feeding dogs and shutting up chickens I slumped on the sofa with a rather good pizza.*

---

* 30% was at the cinema this evening, so I was home alone ... and really couldn't be bothered to do anything other than cook a pre-prepared pizza.

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!

---

* 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.

More Bees

I was out of the door quite early this morning as I had yet another appointment at the Ophthalmologist's.

For once I was seen promptly, and even more surprising was the candour of the delightful young lady that carried out the various tests. She was absolutely flabbergasted at the number of appointments I have had. I pointed out that their automated booking systems keeps notifying me that I need to make an appointment and here I am ... AGAIN!  

She reviewed my case history, cancelled my next appointment,* and told me to ignore any appointment requests until the late Summer, as I do not need to be seen for another six months. 

Back at home I managed to get a few minutes of 30%'s time and got another set of window bars secured to the second of the store room window frames. 30% was off to spend the day with the coven, but I only needed her assistance to get the first couple of screws in. She disappeared shortly afterwards and I fitted the remaining spacers and screws at my leisure.

I then headed out for my daily walk with the dogs.

I had planned to go out for a ride on my bike this afternoon, but really didn't feel up to a couple of hours in the saddle. I therefore decided that an afternoon of gentle pottering was a better idea.

My new honey box was stocked and returned to its place on my little roadside stall. I refitted the celotex panels in the garage roof and then cleaned out the putty from the window frame at the rear of the store room. I plan to get that re-puttied and the security bars installed at some point over the weekend.

So that should have been it for today.  30% and I were settled in front of the television when we heard a ring from the front door bell. It was Pete the Beekeeper. He had decided that this evening was the perfect time to deliver the colony of bees that he promised a couple of days ago.

We soon had them sited up in the orchard and spent the next half hour discussing how well the colonies seemed to be doing this Spring. He once again refused payment for the colony, or the two nucs that he gave me in the Autumn and instead advised that "I owe him a favour".

I'm more than happy to oblige, and I am sure that I will come away slightly better informed about bees and beekeeping.

---

* A duplicate of today's appointment

Time for a haircut

This morning started with a run over to Stratford with Whiffler and Hobson.

We have reached that point in the month when they serve as models at the dog grooming school. For the princely sum of twenty quid they are bathed and groomed by one of the student groomers. We understand that grooming a Standard Poodle is the final exercise in the dog grooming curriculum. They are a large dog and the cut is complex, so it is the final, pre-graduation exercise.

They usually come back looking pretty good, although there have been a couple of occasions where I have had to grab scissors and clippers to finish off a half arsed job.

Anyway, I got the dogs dropped off and then headed out around the Three Miler with The Rat.  She seemed to enjoy being walked on her own, as Hobson does have a tendency to play rather roughly ... whether The Rat wants to, or not!

The afternoon saw me standing on a step ladder applying putty to the window frame at the North ish end of the store room. I then made a start on fitting the security bars.  I got as far as fitting the top spacer batten and temporarily removing a downpipe , which will make the installation far more straightforward.

The early evening saw me head up to the Parish Education Centre for the final Tai Chi session before a two week Easter break.  I really am enjoying Tai Chi, but parts of it leave me totally wrong footed.

---

Post Script

I suppose, for the sake of completeness, I should mention that 30% collected W&H and they looked absolutely splendid. Clearly groomed by someone graduating with Honours.

Billy Elliot the musical

No surprise that my morning got underway with a walk around the Three Mile with the dogs.

I returned to find that 30% had made a start on emptying a small log store that sits beneath one of the store room windows.  The log store needs to be moved so that I can get access to the window frame, replace the missing putty and install the next set of security bars.

I assisted with clearing the log store and spent the remainder of the morning stacking the logs on the log pile in the car port and the final few were carted up to Rose Cottage.

After lunch I carried out this week's inspection of my colony and was delighted with what I found. I lifted the crown board from the super and found the hive crammed with bees. On checking a few frames in the super, I could see that they were already being filling with nectar, and I would estimate that the bees had half filled it in the past week.

In the brood box I found the centre six frames filled with brood and I also caught sign of the queen wandering across the comb.  I couldn't have hoped for a colony in a better state and their temperament is unbelievably calm.* I gently reassembled the hive and added an extra super on top ... with all that brood they will certainly soon need the space.

After finishing my inspection, I returned to the old log store and decided that it wasn't worth saving. I then had an internal debate about whether it was worth careful deconstruction and saving of the timber. Fortunately good sense won and it was smashed apart and sacrificed to the fire gods up in the orchard.

The rest of the afternoon was spent clearing the cracked and crumbling putty from the store room window frame now it is accessible.

This evening saw a visit to No.8, Pershore to see a screening of the film of Billy Elliot the musical. I was interested to note that the female members of the audience outnumbered the men by a factor of 10:1. As for the screening, it was absolutely amazing. Obviously the story is the same as the film, but I found that the political and social turmoil of the miner's strike seemed to be given greater emphasis in the musical version.  The actor playing Billy; Elliott Hanna was very believable and showed incredible stamina for a performance that was close to three hours.

It was an amazing show and I would definitely recommend a viewing.

---

* Colony temperament can vary wildly and I have had some evil tempered colonies in the past. Ones where the entire colony is out of the hive and stinging you as soon as the crown board has been lifted, despite copious quantities of smoke.

Getting on with stuff

At the moment I am tending to get the dogs walked early, so that the rest of the day is free to do what ever is needed, or for leisure pursuits.

However a text alerted us to the fact that a dozen bottles of 2020 Governo* would be arriving some time between ten and eleven o'clock, so dog walking was delayed. 

I whiled away the time by fitting another set of bars to the front window of the store room. I amazed myself by managing to complete this task without destroying the flower bed that sits beneath the window. I have now finished the front of the outbuildings and only have three more windows to go. Unfortunately there is reglazing and putty replacement to be completed, so it will not be plain sailing.

Next I got my bike booked in for a service on the 22nd of May and clarified that I need to have a minimum of 450 miles completed. That should be no problem as I am already close to three hundred and fine weather is forecast for the week ahead.

A walk around the Three Miler filled the remainder of the morning and a short nap followed lunch.

The strong breezes that have accompanied the recent fine weather finally abated today, so I seized the chance and got the veg patch sprayed with its annual treatment of Roundup.

We continued in the gardening vein with a trip to the local Nursery to pick up this year's vegetable seeds. Our purchases included Parsnips, Celeriac, Leeks, Runner Beans, French Beans, Celery and Cucumbers ... it'll be interesting to see how many of these are harvested.

On the way home we popped in to see Pete the Beekeeper for a chat. I also arranged to take another 30lb tub of honey from him and he advised that he has another colony for me. I think I'll be picking that up at some point early next week.

---

* We first discovered this beautiful Italian red at the Blenheim Palace Game Fair last year. And now have a few cases tucked away.

beekeeper Pete

24 hour rolling news.

 It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that Sunday was going to be a quiet one.

I was up at a reasonable hour, as the chickens needed to be fed and let out.  I then drank several cups of coffee before making a tentative attempt at tidying up the house.

It is fair to say that the tidy up took most of the morning, but by the time we had finished the house looked presentable and my dinner suit* was back in the wardrobe along with its cummerbund and braces.

A kip was required after lunch before I headed out with Hobson for a constitutional around the Three Miler. 

It was during this walk that I regretted the fact that 30% had published a short account of the Honey Box Theft on Facebook. Her post had received a lot of reaction, and many comments in support of our little stall, basically decrying the morons who stole it.

Unfortunately every person I met offered their sympathies and requested the details of the event. I swear I had the same conversation three times in the space of thirty minutes!

It's a good job there's a lot going on in the World at the moment, or we'd have a BBC News Crew camped out on the village green getting Vox pops from the dog walkers.

---

* It originally belonged to my father. He had it tailored by Hepworth's in Evesham back, I assume, in the late 50's or early 60's. It is a beautiful suit with a narrow satin collar. I believe it is referred to as a shawl collar. Anyway, by the early 1980's there was no way my father would ever fit in to the suit again, so I acquired it and it has served me well ever since. The joke is that I was, shall we say, successful with the ladies whenever I wore it ... I am now banned from wearing it unless I am in the company of my good lady.

The Murder Mystery

Today is 30%'s birthday.

TP has arranged a Murder Mystery party for this evening and much of the detail and invitees have been kept secret from 30%, so it is very much a semi-surprise party.

I was out of the house early this morning, as I was shooting with Bubbles and Ben at the Cotswold Shooting Ground at Childswickham.  The shoot started really well and my score card was looking quite reasonable until we shot the last couple of stands. They were incredibly challenging and my score suffered badly. I ended up with 46/80 ... at least I got over 50%.

Back at home I caught up with the Birthday Girl, who was hosting visitors ... Mummy Sheila and Mr & Mrs Tweedy.  Coffee was consumed and news was exchanged.  Mr T was an absolute star and, having given me some LED strip lights a couple of weeks ago, he handed over a set of connectors that he had specially ordered to make their installation straightforward ... he is wasted on his god-awful wife!

In the afternoon I walked the dogs before returning and helping with the preparations for the party.

The Murder Mystery was loosely themed on a 1920's house party and I played the part of Bebop Badoo; a jazz pianist with a gambling problem. 30% played his wife, Booboo Badoo; a Jazz singer and songwriter.

The whole evening was incredibly funny and everyone made a huge effort to get dressed up as required by their character. The star of the evening was TP's friend Matt M. He was playing the part of the Butler and went to collect the pizza order from the Deliveroo driver, staying in character the entire time ... The Deliveroo driver was not impressed!

It was a very late evening, but 30% absolutely loved it. She has claimed that it is one of her best birthdays ever. Hats off to TP for organising and hosting the event. He did a super job and we are both very proud of him ... he even baked a birthday cake.

A pleasant day and Morons

Friday's main event was to be a ride out with Bubbles.

We both had a couple of things to take care of in the morning, so the loose plan was to meet up mid morning at the cottage.  

As an aside, I really must find a better way of describing our home. The term the cottage just seems a little odd. Our last house down in the village was lovingly referred to as The Pile. This was because it was most definitely crumbling when we bought it, and much of my free time was spent restoring it. Things haven't changed much in our new place, so perhaps I need to refer to it as Pile #2, or the last post ... because I'm not bloody moving again!

Anyway, back to Friday. First mission was a trip in to Redditch to pick up a birthday card for 30% and a tub of putty from the hardware store.  

The sortie was successfully completed and I was back at home before eleven o'clock. 

Bubbles arrived shortly after and we soon headed out on our bikes. Our route was very similar to the loop I took with Buzzer a couple of weeks ago. The only difference was that we reversed the loop and headed out towards Stratford and on to Shipston-on-Stour before joining the original route at Moreton-in-Marsh.

It was a great ride out and I the R1250R is another eighty miles closer to its first service. This must be completed before the Germany trip in June, so I really do need to a) get some miles on the clock, and b) get the bike booked in to the workshop ... I don't want to be hearing "sorry mate, we can't fit you in for a month"

TP joined us in the afternoon and will be spending the weekend with us.

That would be it for Friday, apart from the fact that some arsehole stole my honey box from outside the house at about eight o'clock this evening. We heard a car pull up outside and thought it was TP coming back early from an evening with his friends. The car pulled away and we thought no more about it.

It was only when I took the dogs out for a late night pee that I noticed that the honey box and contents was nowhere to be seen.

It's fucking annoying because there was very little monetary value to four jars of honey and a couple of quid in change. It's probably kids who think it's an amusing prank. I think it's fucking moronic. What the hell are they going to do with a few jars of honey? They'll probably end up chucked out of the car window a few miles down the road.

Making a start ... again

 The day has finally arrived when I actually managed to continue installing the security bars on the outbuilding windows.

I first started this little job back in September 2024. Actually, scratch that. The windows bars were originally commissioned and delivered back in 2021. They then sat in the car port untouched until last year, when I installed the first set.

I was enthused by this initial installation and soon made a start on the next set of bars. It was at that point that I realised that I would need to install spacers and use much longer screws to enable the bars to be fitted. The reason being that the central decorative bar protrudes back a little, and interferes with the central glazing bar of the windows. The spacers set the security bars 25mm from the frame and give enough room for the decorative central bar.

I therefore needed suitable material for the spacers. I quickly settled on roofing laths. They are the perfect size and are pressure treated ... ideal for the timber clad outbuildings. Unfortunately they are four meters long and I estimated that I needed over seventy meters of laths.*

This meant that I would need to have them delivered and the onset of Winter meant that installing the bars got put on the back burner ... I really do not like working outside in the cold!

Anyway, the weather has improved. I got my shit together and ordered various items of timber, and today I finally had enough time to continue the job.

There was a fair bit of measuring and head scratching to ensure that the bars would be perfectly positioned around the window, and that the timber spacers fitted perfectly. It took about ninety minutes to get the first set of bars installed ... and I am bloody delighted.

They look brilliant AND provide a deterrent to any ne'er-do-well who thinks the outbuildings might yield easy pickings.

By the end of the day I had installed two sets of bars and was ready for a lazy night on the sofa. That wasn't to be, as we had tickets to see Henning Wehn at The Regal in Evesham. It was a very funny evening and Wehn made the ball-ache of parking in Evesham worthwhile.

---

* This may be a slight miscalculation as I seem to have a lot of laths. The alternative scenario is that I may have included enough laths to make a section of trellis ... and forgotten about that mini project.

I'll get to it eventually

 I really do have plans for this week, but life just keeps getting in the way.

What I'd like to be doing is installing the security bars on the windows of the outbuildings, but this project keeps getting put off.*

This morning we were out of the house early as I needed to pop in to the local surgery for a blood test. We then headed in to Worcester as 30% has another consultation with an NHS Neurologist. After another review of 30%'s medical history they are still uncertain what the problem might be, but tests and scans have been scheduled and medication prescribed too.

I suppose we need to be relatively reassured that none of the medics are hitting panic buttons, and to let matters run their course.

The remainder of the morning was taken up with a trip to Bromsgrove to pick up some Layers Pellets and a couple of slabs of shotgun cartridges ... I'm shooting at the weekend.

The afternoon saw nothing other than a wander around the lanes with the dogs. 

Then it was a quick rest before this evening's Tai Chi class. The lesson was the usual mix of concentration and misplaced feet. There are moments when I feel that I am making headway and then it all goes to pot.

---

* Actually I'm not sure that I would "like" to be installing the security bars. It is just that they have sat in the car port for about three years and they really need putting up. The more I think about this job the more I realise that it is quite complicated, especially if I am to get them installed to my satisfaction.

Another quiet day

 All Fools Day was far from busy.

I managed a brisk walk around the Three Mile with the idiots* in the morning and mowed the lawns at the front of the house in the afternoon.

That was about it. I did have a slight urge to start installing the security bars on the outbuildings, but there is a bloody cold wind, despite the clear skies and sunshine ...  that can wait until later in the week.

I also realised that I need some cartridges for clay shooting on Saturday.  It's been a good while since I last bought any and they are now very expensive. It looks like I'll be heading out to the gun shop tomorrow.

---

* A collective and affectionate term for the dogs. If you saw them leaping around with excitement as I put on my walking boots you would understand how they have earned this appellation.