Posts that Didn't Happen - December 2022

And finally - December . . . and a somewhat busier month on all fronts!

Started with some rearrangements down the Folly - with the idea of fitting the desk into a corner and making more room around the railway table - while Martin tackled the project to 'hard-wire' in the internet connection to the garage (from where it makes its way to the Folly itself).

Took him most of that first weekend (channeling through concrete and across the lawn), but by the end of it we had fast, reliable connections in place.  Plus I got the Christmas tree up!

It was a good job the cabling got done that weekend, because the next week brought some really freezing weather, which lasted for a good ten days, and saw temperatures as low as -7 on some mornings.

We haven't really had weather this cold for years, and we were soon turning on the rayburn (despite resolutions to save oil and not use it this year) to keep us warm.

More Folly rearrangements followed, finally fixing on a new layout which works, with the desk benefitting from the light from the window, but allowing more space for moving around.  Also got some blinds fitted to the window (and door):

Noises in the bedroom cupboard (where we store all the Christmas decs), led us to think we finally had mice. Martin investigated (my hero), and managed to capture the culprit - a small (very speedy) and rather cute shrew. 

No idea how it got in there (unless it hid in a Christmas box, while they were downstairs), but it was soon released back to the wild.

And then of course there was the run up to Christmas, with a couple of meals out (one with Epic, one with former colleagues), Christmas shopping, making up our own Christmas cards, etc., etc.

Christmas Eve saw us on the road to visit family in Cambridgeshire - no cooking for me this year, the brother-in-law did the lot (except for contributing the traditional Sticky Toffee Pud!).  Lovely to all be together for Christmas!

Back to Wales for 'Second Christmas' with family here, and for a few days R&R - catching up with festive tv, eating chocolate, finally setting up the model train, etc. etc. - then it was all over for another year.

Hope yours was a good one!

Posts that Didn't Happen - November 2022

November was generally a rather quiet month - starting with a bout of traditional wet and windy weather, an overnight visit from an old friend, and dinner out with the Archive folks.

Finally bought the new mobile phone I'd been pondering for a while - complete with 'panoramic' abilities:

Enjoyed some unseasonably warm weather around the middle of the month, which allowed us to get some final gardening tasks sorted, including cutting the grass, and digging up the last of the potatoes.  

Also took the opportunity for a sunny late afternoon walk along the prom, watching the starlings (which if you look very carefully you might be able to see in the photo below!):

The latter half of the month included a visit with family, helping out with this and that, and planning for Christmas.  Good to catch-up, and see everyone, including the Moo dog who remains obsessed with her people's shoes . . .

Posts that Didn't Happen - October 2022

October now - and autumn is with us . . .  

. . . giant scary spiders lurking about the house, leaves all over the lawn, and time to decommission the greenhouse and polytunnel, dig up potatoes, and chop more firewood.  

(We've been picking up pallets from my work and while some of the wood is destined for various projects, the less good stuff will add to the firewood stock.)

In other news, we had the chimney inspected and swept professionally - booking some maintenance work on the chimney pot (although that won't happen until next year now).  

We also both had flu jabs, and on one of the nicer weekends took a trip to Aberaeron, walking down to Llanerchaeron and engaging in some fungi-spotting:

Mid-October saw me off to visit family, with a horrifically wet motorway journey, the only saving grace of which was the news that Liz Truss had resigned after a week or so of saying she wasn't going anywhere!

Towards the end of the month there were sunny walks by the sea - where someone had decided to give the 'kicking' bar a crocheted coat!

I also caught my first cold since before the pandemic 😞

Finished October with some more floor cleaning (this time tackling the wooden floors), and hosting a Chinese takeaway for Halloween.

Posts that Didn't Happen - September 2022

And on to September - traditionally our main 'holiday' month, but also the month where there is usually a glut of garden produce to deal with.

So the first week of the holiday involved lots of sorting through apples, tomatoes and marrows - freezing some down, cooking up tomato and chilli jam, etc. etc.

Then there were other domestic tasks, such as cleaning the upstairs carpets; a Covid booster jab for Martin; and on the recreational front a fishing trip with his Dad up to Dinas Reservoir.

Other notable pre-holiday activities, included a walk along the prom taking in the sights of the Rali Ceredigion, which ran a short stage through town and round by the Castle.

Then it was holiday time 'proper' - bags packed, and on the road for our first slightly more extended break since before the pandemic.

First 'in-transit' stop took us to Malvern - lovely town, nice walk up to St Ann's Well with some great views - ending the day with a pint or two, and a very tasty curry.  All in all a good start!

From there it was a cross-country drive to Norwich - via the National Trust's Wimpole Estate - arriving late afternoon to news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II - truly the end of an era.

Had a couple of days in Norwich, exploring the city, and visiting the Cathedral - where the sights included the Cathedral Cat, Budge, enjoying a nap; tributes to the Queen; the Book of Remembrance (actually turned to a page with my Great Grandfather's name inscribed); and this rather macabre 400 year old ode to mortality:

All you that do this place pass bye
Remember death for you must dye.
As you are now even so was I
And as I am so shall you be.
Thomas Gooding here do staye
Wayting for God's judgement daye.

From Norwich we moved on to the Norfolk coast . . .  meeting family for a beach walk and lunch at Winterton-on-Sea . . .

Visiting Cromer (with its roaming Goats) . . . 

. . .  National Trust properties at Felbrigg and Blickling . . .

. . . and Sheringham, with its murals and historic steam railway . . . 

Loved this piece of WW2 signage at Sheringham station - no 'leaves on the line' excuses back then!

Left our cabin on the coast for a couple of night's visiting family in Cambridgeshire, before returning home again.

Back to the reality of hedge cutting and wood chopping, and my own Covid booster jab - before returning to work the Tuesday after the Queen's funeral.  Life was more or less getting back to normal, then the 'new' government under Liz Truss released its budget, and appeared to be in the process of bankrupting the country.

In other news, we had the end outside wall of the Folly rendered (as you can see it wasn't in the best of nick before all the Folly works started).

The addition of the chimney for the log burner hadn't helped matters, but now we have a nice solid wall - just need to paint it!

Finally, the end of the month saw us down by Tan-y-Bwlch beach enjoying some late September sunshine (while waiting for the car to be MOT'd!) - watching the sea, and the passing Hercules aircraft . . .

Posts that Didn't Happen - August 2022

August brought me back to reality, in the form of a new job - something a bit different for me, haven't really 'done' sales before!  Mostly it's the customer service side though, rather than direct selling - working Monday to Wednesday, answering online enquiries etc.  

Anyway, they're a good bunch of people, the stock is often fascinating and the days swoosh by - plus it's putting a few more pounds in the bank (for now at least) 😊

Also got back from the Folk Festival to find that my crop of courgettes had (as ever) transformed into the annual crop of marrows . . . cue the usual round of recipe hunting . . .

Mid-month brought a family visit, coinciding with some more gloriously hot weather - although far too hot by the afternoons to do anything much.  

Visit over, travelled home via Powis Castle, and the backroads round by Nant-y-Moch reservoir, looking beautiful in the summer sunshine . . .

The rest of the month passed with work, some intermittent sunshine, cooking, jam making, a rather annoying car breakdown, and a little light pantry reorganisation.

Ended August with an evening walk up Consti  (first time this year for me, after months with a dodgy foot), watching the sunset over Cardigan Bay.

Posts that Didn't Happen - July 2022

Most of July was just getting on with life . . . a bit of gardening, keeping the veg plot, greenhouse and polytunnel in trim . . .  putting up pictures and a cabinet in the Folly . . . cleaning the kitchen floor . . . etc. etc.

It was marked by some glorious weather though . . .

. . . some a little too hot for comfort.  

Sat in the sunshine when it was bearable, and made the most of my leisure time (having had a job offer, which means that August will actually see me back in work - of which more in the next post!).

Ended the month with a few days away visiting family, ahead of a return to Cambridge Folk Festival - although did enter purdah the week before (being slightly paranoid that I'd catch covid and wouldn't be able to go).  

Had a lovely few days, relaxing with old friends, listening to music, and eating far too many of the best onion bhajis ever!

Posts that Didn't Happen - June 2022

 And we're into June (only six months behindhand!).

Started the month with more garden work, including the first full trim of the hedges, and clearing out some old raised beds, which 14 years on were finally rotting away (and infested with ground elder).

Early June also saw the return of CycleFest to Aberystwyth - and we had a wander along the prom taking in the sights, which included the Welsh Circuit Race Championship. 

On to a birthday trip to visit family via Ironbridge and Blists Hill Victorian Town - had a good wander round the recreated Victorian town (all really interesting), enjoyed a cream tea in the sunshine, before moving on to Ironbridge for the night.  

Another really scenic spot, a cider or two, rounding it all off with a curry :)

Back home after the family visit, and a relatively quiet rest of the month - keeping on top of the garden, sitting in the sun reading, etc. 

We also harvested the first cherry from that cherry tree we had planted out of its pot and into the front garden last year.  Hopefully there will be more to come (if we get to them before the birds!).

Finally, decided it was probably time to go back to some sort of work (hopefully part-time), so the job search has begun - something to help pay the winter oil bill!

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!