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Glastonbury

Pic of the week 26/6/22

On Sunday I went to Glastonbury. It was brilliant. Met up with Sam, who had been in since Wednesday , we walked up to the top of the hill, to the iconic Glastonbury letters and chilled out eating lunch looking down on the festival sight below.

I, along with about 100,000 others, watched Diana Ross which culminated with a joyous 15 minutes of Aint no mountain high enough, and I will survive,  before I headed home.

It was a dry Glastonbury – there had been no more than a couple of showers all week, the ground was parched hard and on Sunday the sun shone bright (by 3pm I was regretting forgetting my suntan cream)

A great day, a life affirming day, I day I shall long remember.

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Father’s Day

Pic of the week 19/6/22

Today is Father’s day and I have had a pleasent day with both children home, and Sophie making me a tea of Chicken Kyiv and chips – v nice!

I’ve spent the day pottering, as I like to do, a bit in the garden, planting up the last of the geraniums and lobelia and some pumpkin plants from a neighbour.  I mowed the path in the lawn (I love the pic above from earlier in the week), I was going to strim the long grass down, but my strimmer has now strimming wire, so that will have to wait.  I intend to strim it once and then let it grow again for the rest of the summer.

The chicks are certainly growing, it doesn’t look like there is much space left in the nest. Its been about a week since they hatched, I wonder when they will leave the nest?

A sad day – the Micra Dci got taken away yesterday, got about £240 for it.  I liked that car, and shall miss it. But I did fire up the pug today and “drove” it around our drive whilst there was space.  Just trying to stop things seizing up before I can give it some proper attention in the hols.

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Cars and chicks

Pic of the week 12/6/22

So, we finally got round to getting Becky a new car.  In the end, she hasgone for a 2010 Ford Ka in a rather nice shade of blue.  The equipment level is quite limited (no central locking, wind down windows etc) but its low mileage, looks good and is hers.

I have spent a happy day examining the Pug (as I shall now call the Peugeot 205).  Had it up on sticks, took the wheels of, had a good look at the suspension and steering.  Think it does need some work – mainly where rubber boots etc. have perished, and I still think the heavy steering is not just because there is now power steering: I suspect the grease in the rack and pinion has dried up and degraded, and I think the strut mounts may need replacing.  But I spent a bit of time cleaning everything up, and working out what each bit does.  I think I have a fun couple of months ahead.

Chicks

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted a nest in the ivy hedge on the back wall, near where I hang the washing line.  Normally, a rather beaky bird has been sat on it, but occasionally they’ve not been there and I peeked in to see a few blue eggs.  Today, as I hung the washing up, I took a little peek: mum wasn’t sat on the nest and I could see a few small, and very helpless looking baby birds.  Pleased to say that by later today, the beaky bird was once again sat on her nest.

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Cars and teeth

Pic of the week 5/6/22

So half term draws to a close, and what a busy (and enjoyable ) week it has been. Although today has been wet, on the whole the weather has been good this half term.

I went to the dentist and hygienist for the first time since Covid – I felt sorry for the hygienist as she scrapped away years of debris that had built up on my teeth – and the dentist booked me in for a couple of fillings – one upper and one lower on my left hand side. It does feel good to have ones teeth checked over and sorted out.

I also spent quite a while mucking about with cars – first changing a rear suspension strut on the Corsa )could only get one (LHS) out, RHS one bolt stubbornly rusted fixed) and then changing the water pump as it had sprung a major leak and was pouring water when the engine was running.  This was a fairly major job – not because of the pump itself: 9 bolts, several hoses and one electrical connector, but because of what had to come out to gain access to it.  I needed to remove the engine mount (supporting it on a jack first), the pulley and belt and all this needed the engine moving up and down and then up again.  But I did it, and not only did I do it, I enjoyed myself whilst doing it.

So, today, I bought myself a 1991 Peugeot 205 1.8 diesel. Welcome to my mid-life crisis! The interior is pretty immaculate, the exterior less so: the bonnet, at least, will need a respray. Its only done 58,000 miles and mechanically is pretty sound – I drove it from Curry Rivel without incident, but the steering is heavy, v heavy and I don’t think this is just due to a lack of power steering, and its not as “gutsy” as I though it might be, but I think a thorough service will see it return to its former glory. At £820 (bought sight unseen of eBay) I think it will make a good summer project car and I am looking forward to getting started on it.

Becky went to Italy (without me!) in the week – she and Jo reliving her inter-railing days from 30 years ago (so its not only me that’s having a nostalgia fest!) She enjoyed it. A cock up with EasyJet allocating her seats to someone else on the outbound flight, and my complaint to EasyJet rumbles on (at least their flights flew, many, many flights have been cancelled this week – lack of staffing at airports and airlines)

On Saturday we were visited by her Scottish cousins (and aunt & uncle) on route to Cornwall – hence the picture – and in the afternoon we (B, J & Sophie) went to see Top Gun: Maverick – the nostalgia trip just continues to roll on!

Back to school tomorrow for the final half term of the year. 4 weeks to the summer holidays: now that’s doable!