Post that Didn't Happen - May 2022

And now it's May, and mostly a month of garden things.

Started the month with a couple of 'projects' - finally doing something with other bits of the old oil tank - making a rhubarb planter out of the other 'end', and using the structural bits through the middle as supports for pizza oven / barbecue table sections (freeing up the breeze blocks).

We'd also invested in a small polytunnel to replace the growing space in the storm-damaged greenhouse - much puzzling over instructions ensued, but we got there in the end, and got it into position in the former small veg plot.

It all nearly went pear-shaped, when after going out on one windy day I got back to find the entire polytunnel (cover on), sitting right side up (as if placed there) in the field next door! 

Between us we managed to wrestle it back over the hedge, and here it is planted up, and firmly attached to some heavy base boards!

Other gardening jobs included some light hedge trimming, weeding out flower beds and the main veg plot, greenhouse maintenance, and planting up (tomatoes in the greenhouse and polytunnel - courgettes and potatoes in the veg plot).

Along the way had an extended visit with family, to help out while they had a new floor fitted, sat in the sun reading on the bench, and (slightly spooked by rising prices) staring to look for something new (and part-time) in the way of work.

The Folly meanwhile got rearranged (more than once) - taking it from a bare space, to something almost fully kitted out, and full of 'stuff'!

Posts that Didn't Happen - April 2022

Spring has sprung and we're into April - and it's all change . . .

Did some serious thinking last year, and decided enough was enough and it was time for something new, so handed in my notice (well in advance) to finish work at the end of this month.

8 April was my last 'working day' although I carried on with filing off and on before finally logging off for good on 19 April, with accrued holiday then taking me through to the end of the month.  

I had some lovely farewell messages, gifts and flowers . . .

. . . in particular, this reproduction estate map from the Welsh archivists, showing the local area and with our property actually marked on it!

So it's 'retirement' - for the time being anyway - a few months to enjoy the summer, furnish my Folly, keep on top of the garden, and read a few books.  Unfortunately that didn't seem to equate to time for blogging! 

Otherwise it was a month of work on the house and garden; including the acquisition of a new sail awning for outside the back of the house.

Martin also made a new garden table, and started work to repurpose the storm damaged greenhouse as a fruit cage.

Got some bargains in a local recycling store, and also had some furniture gifted from family for use in the Folly.

Stuff got moved in, with consequent reorganisation in the house as well, and a lot of time was spent on flat-pack furniture assembly for storage and workspace.

Nearly there!

Posts that Didn't Happen - March 2022

And on to March . . . 

Started the month with the death of my old Kindle, and the setting up of a new one with lots of enhanced features - the backlight will be particularly useful for reading at night!

Some baking - with my own version of Malteser Chocolate Cupcakes, which went down a treat.

And lots of 'Folly' related activity . . .

Martin had finished construction on the new wood storage round the back of the Folly so I painted it with wood preserver.  While inside the Folly I'd got the skirting boards stained and varnished and various 'gaps' sealed and caulked - plus a bit of additional 'cosmetic' pointing on the feature wall. 

We also got a 'garden path' laid down to the Folly - 'inlaying' the slabs by removing sections of turf - which handily could then be used to re-turf the 'scar' from the trench that was dug for the electric cabling back in December.

A path that will come in very useful in wet and muddy weather!

So, Two Year's On from the start of home-working and I was nicely settled in the Folly, with a proper desk set-up.

With the decorating done, I'm also beginning to move other bits and pieces in - next job, getting it fully furnished!

Posts that Didn't Happen - February 2022

So here's my February retrospective - a little later than intended!

Generally this was a quiet but anxious month - still waiting for the wood burning stove to be fitted for the first couple of weeks, and rather annoyed with it all.  Without heating, and a hole still through the wall for the flue, we ended up with condensation and mould on the newly decorated walls / ceiling.

On 11 February, the fitter finally showed up to get the stove in place and sort out the chimney - not that he managed to finish that, with some extra flue pipe on order, and the flue not properly concreted in as a result.

At least the hole through the wall was mostly filled, and we were told that we could light a small fire in the interim to get some heat into the building.

With walls and ceiling cleaned, and that fire lit, on 16 February I actually 'moved in' - or should I say 'camped out' (working from a makeshift desk), but at least getting some heat into the place.

Then 24 February brought the end of the world as we know it, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine - all that domestic angst now seemed so unimportant . . . 

It all got so upsetting I started avoiding the news entirely.

The end of the month did at least bring an end to the stove saga, with the flue finally in place and concreted in.

And with some sunshine, a late afternoon walk on the prom, and a stunning exhibition from the murmurating starlings - which I can never take a good picture of, so here's a photo of 'winged Victory' atop the war memorial instead.

Big Garden Birdwatch 2022

Having done it last year, decided we'd better keep it up . . .

So 3.20-4.20pm today was again spent peering out of the windows at the bird feeders - although this year without a mob of starlings trying to take over.

Here's our tally for 2022:

7 Goldfinches (=)
3 Blue Tits (down 2)
3 Chaffinch (=)
2 Blackbirds (up 2)

2 Great Tits (down 1)

2 Jackdaws (up 2)

2 Siskins (up 1)

2 Sparrows (=)

2 Wood Pigeons (up 2)

1 Collared Dove (up 1)

1 Dunnock (down 1)

1 Jay (up 1)

1 Magpie (down 1)

1 Pheasant (up 1)

1 Robin (down 1)

1 Starling (down 14)

1 Woodpecker (Greater Spotted) (=)

0 Coal Tits (down 2)

Posts that Didn't Happen - January 2022

 So here's my January retrospective . . . and can't say it started well:

After being super-careful not to take Covid to family for the 'Christmas' visit - it turned out they already had it, and I brought it home with me.

At least I escaped with a relatively mild experience - just felt like I was getting a cold for a couple of days, then it went away.  No real cough or aches and pains - I've had much worse from a common cold!

Took a while to test negative, but Martin never caught it - neither did my sister (the brother-in-law was patient 0 and felt pretty bad), or Mum (Dad tested positive but didn't have any symptoms).

So hopefully that's our brush with Covid done with!

On a more positive note . . . 

Phil is still around and about the place, enjoying his peanuts.

And Martin entered his half century - marked by a Chinese takeaway with family (post self-isolation!).  We'll have to plan for his proper celebration trip when the whole Covid thing allows. 

The Folly also now has decorated walls, electricity, lighting and internet, a fully fitted vinyl plank floor, and skirting boards.  In fact the builders and electricians are all done and dusted.

Which just leaves the wood burning stove, which is proving to be a bit more problematic.

Can't say we've been impressed by the fitter. 

The builders had been done for a couple of weeks before he finally turned up to lay the hearth - then he couldn't get the flue to attach to the outside wall and had to come back twice to get some struts in place to attach it to.

As it stands there is still a hole through the wall and no flue - but at least the stove is out of its box, and in the Folly awaiting further developments. 

In 2021 I Mostly Read . . .

So let's start with the reading list for 2021:

October-December 2021- mostly playing sudoku, except for one 99p foray into Kim Watt's Beaufort Scales mysteries, with book 1 Baking Bad, which was ok, but don't think I'll bother with any more (despite the dragons).

September 2021 - in our quest to decide whether or not we want a campervan - Mike Hudson's How to Live in a Van and Travel interesting and informative.

August 2021 - a couple of 'lifestyle' offerings - Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life - interesting stuff (basically keep moving!). Followed by Kate Humble's Living Simply.

June-July 2021 - Yes, you've guessed it - another 99p job. The Unhappy Medium by T.J. Brown. This one is markedly better - the premise is interesting and new (to me anyway), the writing is more sophisticated, and it strikes a humorously sarcastic tone in its view of modern life. For whatever reason it isn't however really gripping me, and I'm taking a rather long time to finish it. I will though!

April-May 2021 - And another one (inbetween the more serious Neil Oliver), Lynn Morrisons Murder at St Margaret. Described as a 'cozy' humourous paranormal mystery, it was alright - it kept me reading to the end, and I didn't actively dislike any of the characters (the wyvern was a bit annoying), but it was a bit derivative, and nothing special. I think the author is American as well, and there were a few bits where it got the British setting wrong. It's the first in a series, but I probably won't bother with the others.

April 2021 - On to another 99p-er, this time Neil Oliver's Wisdom of the Ancients: Life lessons from our distant past - maybe it's because I'm getting older, but a lot of what he says in the first couple of chapters really chimed with me - will see how the rest of the book goes.

April 2021 - Time to finally read some of those 99p Kindle purchases. Starting with David Mitchell's Slade House - a series of interlinked literary fantasy short stories - slightly spooky, but certainly kept my attention! Will have to look out for its companion piece The Bone Clocks going cheap - it was good, but now £6.99 worth of goodness.

January-April 2021 - Tolkien all the way. Were in the process of re-watching all the films (Hobbit and LOTR) - then read Ian Nathan's excellent narration of the process of making the three LOTR films, Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth. So, having watched the films, and read the 'making of' book', it was time to look back at the books and see where it all came from. Really interesting to contrast The Hobbit, with the three Lord of the Rings volumes, and in the case of the latter, see how the book translated into the film - who actually said that speech, where had they made changes. I have of course read LOTR many, many times, but not for a few years, and I was particularly struck this time by Tolkien's use of language, and the saga-like tone that he brings to it. I did rather skim the Appendices though - something to look at again when we get a chance to see what Amazon have made of Middle-earth!

January 2021 - Last of the current Dresdens - Battle Ground - epic battle indeed, almost the entire supernatural world facing off against a Titan and her Fomor armies in the battle for Chicago. There were some light-hearted moments, but we also say a heart-breaking goodbye to a much-loved character (had to happen sometime). On now to the last of the short stories in Side Jobs and Brief Cases - shedding some light on a couple of story points in the books too. All good stuff - hopefully book 18 (Twelve Months?) will make it out sometime in 2021.