May came and went, with work in the garden, being one of the major features of the month: planting up the greenhouse tomatoes, and courgettes in the veg plot (and earthing up the potatoes that were planted last month); starting to deconstruct the old fruit cage, and move strawberries into trays; and Martin's first hedge-cut of the year. The iris in the kitchen courtyard 'well' also flowered - looking lovely!
Early in the month we took the new car on its first 'long trip' to visit the parents - did stop for a charge on the way, but were fully charged for the return journey and did it with 30% still in the 'tank', so happy that it will do the 250 or so miles without a stop.
The whole car saga continued to rumble on however - on a positive, we managed to sell the old car to a local garage, where it will be starting a new life as a courtesy car. Less positively there was the question of charging the new car - and of whether we should change our electric tariff to an EV-friendly option.
Eventually agreed a price for fitting a proper charger, with us sourcing the charging unit, and the cable needed to connect it to the house supply. With our consumer unit on the other side of the house to the drive, we had to order nearly 30 metres (going with 'Doncaster' cable, the leading UK brand).
[Random pic of a golden slow worm, we found on said drive one day - rescued and relocated to the compost bin!]
When the cable eventually arrived - very late - it was however a cheaper Egyptian 'substitute'. It was still suitable for the task, and given time pressures (Martin was due to fit it round the house, with the installation date for the rest of the works only a couple of days away) we accepted it with a suitable refund for the substitution.
In the meantime, we'd been in contact with our electricity supplier, who offered us a 'trial' of their EV tariff. It soon became apparent however that our wider set-up, with the solar panels and the battery, meant that what we gained on cheaper imports, did not make up for what we lost on our exports. It was only on contacting them to end the 'trial', that we were told we couldn't move back to our original tariff (which was 'closed' to new customers). Lots of toing and froing, and eventually they did move us back, although not without some billing issues, involving more stress and correspondence until it was finally sorted.
It doesn't all end there unfortunately - see next month!
In other 'news', bottled last year's Damson Brandy, making jam with the boozy fruit - also 'birthed' a new sourdough starter. And along the way I finished my latest Lego project - the
River Steamboat.
On the campervan front - we did a bit of work decorating the back barn doors - but we really are at the 'tweaking' stage now - just need to get out and about in it!!
The end of the month saw us mid-heatwave and anticipating the arrival of an air-conditioning unit (until the order was cancelled by the supplier!). The sunshine was lovely - the heat level less so - so it was blinds down / curtains closed as we tried to keep the house cool.
To end on a 'cute' note - here's a baby bunny chowing down on the plants in the kitchen courtyard wall (luckily I hadn't planted anything new there, so I let it enjoy its feast).
