Here We Go Again

Back from another trip across country to visit family - on my own this time, and once again it was a rather fraught experience car-wise - although I had a lovely visit with family and friends.

Along the way I ended up having the brakes 'done' on the car - we knew they were going to need doing soon, and as they had started making a bit of a noise, I took the car to a local branch of a nationwide company to get it sorted.  The work was duly completed (new discs and pads - calipers were pronounced ok) - no noise - all good (or so I thought!).

The problem came on the journey home, when 20 miles down the road the car slowed down, and didn't seem to want to 'go' at all.  

Managed to get to Huntingdon, where it became apparent that the brake on the front passenger side was 'stuck' (stock steamy image for illustrative purposes!). 

Fortunately there was another branch of said company not far away, but it was a good six hours wait, while everything cooled down, and new calipers (which were the problem!) were delivered and fitted.

Plenty of time for a mooch round Huntingdon - and for a visit to the local Wetherspoons (which has very nice loos!) where I sat reading my book.

Was finally back on the road around 2.30pm - new discs, pads and calipers on both front brakes (although, fair play, they only charged for the one caliper).  

Safe home again - and hopefully that's it for car troubles this year!

Preparing the Ground

With lots of garden 'projects' in the offing, the last few days have been spent preparing the ground as it were:

• A ton bag of pea gravel and some more paving slabs were ordered and delivered, to gravel over a problem area by the veg plot and create a new path across to the greenhouse.  

The gravel easily filled the area, with plenty left over for other projects - it's nice and deep too, so hopefully that will finally stop the weeds coming through!

Still deciding on the placement of the paving slabs!  

Looking at the new paving we also realised how overgrown the old path was - so project 'rediscover' the paving slabs was initiated!

• A new garden shed was ordered and delivered, requiring construction of a solid base to build it on.

We had the old greenhouse base (the greenhouse that got destroyed by Storm Arwen back in 2021) - and having never really done anything with the empty frame, Martin finally deconstructed it and started filling the base with stones and rubble from around the garden.  Some of the excess pea gravel also went in to level it off, and then some concrete mix was added to firm it all up.

Anyway it's all looking good - on to construction soon!

• Finally, decisions were made about turning the old polytunnel into a fruit cage, and a plastic grid base has been ordered for that (the rest of the pea gravel will be used to fill it).

Of course, this also required more ground levelling!  

Fair play to Martin, he's been working really hard . . .  but it is all coming together, and the garden is starting to look a lot tidier as a result.

More to follow . . .

Celebrations!

Last of our parents to mark that 'special birthday' . . .  family party, lots of food, cake and wine.  That's the 'full set' now . . .

Back and Forth

Ended the month with another visit to family across country - just a couple of nights this time.

Helped out with a few bits and pieces (shopping, appointments, etc.) and had a nice lunch out at a local pub, with a fine view of the geese grazing on the daisy mound by the public library.

Nice to see everyone again - short but sweet - back again soon . . .

Blossom

As you can probably tell, it's a bit of a slow month news-wise - so here's a picture taken this morning, of a tree loaded with blossom outside the Leisure Centre where I go swimming . . .

Definitely very Spring-like, so hopefully we can get out into the garden soon and start tackling some of the projects we've got planned there.  

Watch this space!

Stormy Seas

Not been the best of days - windy and wet for most of it - but even then there are sights to be seen.

Early evening walk on the prom - still very windy but more or less dry - and the waves were crashing against the prom walls in a very impressive fashion - tried to capture it on my phone's camera but this really doesn't do it justice:

Easter Journeyings

Good Friday saw us on the road to visit family once again - setting off early  to avoid the bank holiday traffic, and arriving in really good time as a result.  

Had a couple of days then enjoying some family time, and helping out with stuff like shopping and furniture rearrangements - while our Marci found a quiet corner to hide in . . .

Goodbyes said, we were back on the road again on Easter Sunday, heading across country towards Stratford-upon-Avon where we were staying the night.

Took a break to revisit Kenilworth Castle - stretching our legs, and enjoying tea and a pasty - before moving on to Stratford itself, where we duly booked in to our Travelodge.

The weather thus far hadn't been inspiring, but at least it was dry (outside) - unfortunately the same couldn't be said for 'inside' where a dripping noise was tracked down to the light fitting in the bathroom!

After some to-ing and fro-ing, we were moved to a new room, and also offered a complementary breakfast for the morning to make up for all the inconvenience.

Now we could enjoy the rest of trip without fear of electrocution . . .  including a few drinks and a curry that evening, and a wander round Stratford in the morning.  By midday (still full of that complementary breakfast) we were on our way home.  

Took the opportunity to visit another English Heritage site - Witley Court - along our way.

This would have been a very impressive historic house in its day, but was gutted by fire in 1937 and is now an impressive ruin instead - but still with lovely gardens, an extremely ornate church, and a fantastic fountain.

Really enjoyed our couple of hours meandering our way round - although we did spend a lot of that trying to take a decent photo of the fountain in action!  

Luckily we found a sweet spot in the weather and got to enjoy some sunshine before a rather wetter journey onward to home.