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Walls come tumbling down!

The wall attached to the house for the back has not been in a good way for a while, and it always gets worse in the summer, dropping away and making the gate unusable. The foundations are good, but the wall has been dropping forwards and away from the house, probably through constant battering of the gate door, and the mortar failing.

and so I resolved to do something about. Last weekend I thought about it, on Monday I ordered the parts, they arrived on Friday and today I began in earnest, first knocking down the wall …

Which took about an hour and a half, including time to clean the mortar of the bricks ready for re-use (not sure what yet, though)

Then I started to replace it with a fence. First, fence post supports fixed to the solid foundation, fence posts up, and lateral supports fixed.

That took a while, making sure everything was solid and straight, after which it was a breeze to put up the fence panels

I’m pleased with the result – it looks good, just need to finish off the garden side, which I am also facing with painted fence panels to improve the overall asthetic.

It’s been a busy week – I also fixed Sam’s bike – fitted new front callipers and adjusted the rear …

and I cut back quite a bit of ivy from the backwall (although you need the before picture, else you might not think I’d done anything!)

For reference, here is a pic of the garden taken earlier in the week , on Tuesday 18th August (before I set to work with the hedge trimmers)

We did have some rain on Wednesday, and whilst its not been scorchio hot, it has been another warm sunny week. On Friday evening Becky and I went for one of our regular after tea walks, it wasn’t supposed to be long, but we ambled for quite a while in the warm evening sun. this is Tor, taken from the field beyond the park run field.

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A busy, yet chilled, week

Its been a busy holiday week, with lots happening, but still a relaxed chilled week, with much time just sat outside reading (and occasionally snoozing)

On Monday (Fiat 500) and Tuesday (Micra) had their MOTs. Sophie’s Fiat 500 passed first time, the Micra needed near side front track rod – excessive play (which is a bit annoying as I replaced them both last year) and a bulb. In addition, the handbrake only just – on limit of adjustment, so I had that done, too. Anyway, by the end of the day that had a full MOT again.

Wednesday was eclipse day. Starting at around 6.14pm, we had a near total eclipse (circa 95%) of the sun. We watched, periodically, from our front garden, it was pretty impressive.

Although slightly frustratingly, just at peak coverage, and after a summer of heatwave and sunshine, a few clouds rolled in to dim the final spectacle.

It has been another hot, hot, hot week with mid-week temperatures in the 30s. Everything is bone dry and on Friday we had a national alert on our phones warning of wildfires, and to not have BBQs or outside fires.

Thursday I went to see the Odyssey at Strode cinema – I enjoyed the film, and rather enjoyed going to the cinema on my own.

On Friday Becky & I went to Bristol to watch the Bodyguard at the Bristol Hippodrome. I enjoyed it (as did Becky) but the acting was a little wooden and the performance a little stilted. Might have been better to just go and watch a Whitney tribute act, but that is a little churlish. It was a nice night out, good to see Bristol bathed in the beautiful evening sun, even if our peace was shattered shortly after 7pm by the emergency alarm, and you couldn’t cross the pedestrian bridge as earlier in the week it had broken when being lowered back into position.

When putting the washing out on Friday I thought I could smell something – when out in the garden again on Saturday morning my nostrils were assaulted again so I lifted a deck plank, poked my head in and discovered a large dead rat (at the front of the “washing line” deck.) It was pleasant removing it, but something that needed to be done.

Today, taking advantage of the continued dry spell, I stimmed the lawn, removing the dry, dead seed heads and stalks. The ground below is brown, barren and parched. There is a suggestion of rain next week (hence I did it today – much easier to do when dry) but I think it will be some time before it greens up again.

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Birthdays, Anniversaries and Holidays

Friday was Sam’s birthday (24!) and we all met up in Bristol and went got lunch at PizzaRova on the Gloucester Road in Bristol. It was lovely to spend some time together as a family, the food was good and the sun shone. Sam seems to be thriving in his flat and enjoying his job with Enterprise Car rental.

(just for info to remind me in the future, it then took a looong time to drive home, Google maps sending me via the Downs, under the suspension bridge and out to Chew Valley lake before finally getting home. A problem in Farrington Guerney apparantly)

I haven’t blogged for the whole of July as from 1st July to 5th August we’ve been away on an Ionian adventure, flying out to Zakynthos, the Kefalonia, Ithaca, back to Kefalonia, Lefkada, Meganisi, Parga, Paxos and finally Corfu before flying home. It was wonderful. I haven’t (yet) blogged on our travel blog, but do still need to do that.

One of the reasons for our trip was because it was our 30th Wedding Anniversary on Monday; our very first holiday together in 1993 was to Corfu (Roda) and (part of) the rationale of our trip was to visit the islands and places we had been to before we had children. It was a wonderful pilgrimage to the past, and I loved every minute of it,

This was us 30 years on, enjoy each others company in a taverna on the beach in Kalami, Corfu, 3rd August 2026.

And this was us on 3rd August 1996, at Farrington Gurney Church.

We haven’t aged a bit!!!

As we flew back over England, it was clear from the brown fields below us that whilst we’d been away, the UK had enjoyed/endured a very dry summer and we were now in a drought. Sophie kindly collected us from the airport, taking us home to a very dry garden.

The front trugg looked very sorry for itself – after extensive dead heading and watering, it is showing some signs of life. (Sophie had been home, off an on, whilst we had been away, but was absent for about 10, dry, days, and this is when the damage was done.)

But a few sunflowers out the back …

… and the fig tree …

had survived due to my automatic watering system in that part of the garden. The tree has been yielding a hefty crop – much of it gone to rot in our absence, but some surviving to the plate.

It is good to be back, and we are well acclimatised the the hot and dry weather that persists, but if I could go back to Greece tomorrow, I’d do so in a heartbeat!

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OMD (and omg its hot!)

What an eventful week it’s been!

On Friday, Becky & I went to Bristol, met Sam, and the three of us went to see OMD at the Harbourside. It was, no surprise, excellent as they belted out hit after hit, after hit long into the night, ending at 11am. Just for the record, they were ably supported by the Undertones

Sam seemed in good form, it was good to hear about his job, what he actually does, and that he seems to be enjoying it, and living in Bristol.

A trip to see OMD is more exciting than what a do in a normal week, but this has been no normal week. It has been hot, hot, hot, hitting in excess of 36 degrees on Thursday, and we have been living under a red heat alert on Wednesday and Thursday. It has been uncomfortably hot; fortunately it was the last week of term with Y9 out on camp, Y11 and U6th departed after exams, leaving only Y10 and L6 in school, who were allowed to leave early if they wished due to the heat so work was easier than it might normally have been. We were allowed to wear sports/PE kit, meaning days in shorts which helped, but as the week wore on, and despite best efforts of closed curtains, blinds and windows during the day, the temperature inside both at home and school crept inexorably upwards.

Although Wednesday and Thursday were the most blisteringly hot, Monday was hot but come the evening, circa 5.30 pm, we were hit by the most intense storm, the like of which I have not seen before. It went dark – so dark the street lights came on – and then the rain began to fall in buckets, lightening lit the sky, thunder roared and the wind whipped trees and plants in a frenzy.

Even after the storm had passed, the sky continued to rumble in angry torment – not the odd rumble of thunder, but just continual noise from the sky. It really did feel like the end of days.

Friday came, and it was the end of the school year – hooray! This has been a better year than last, of course not easy, but much more tolerable than last year, in a large part due to a better year group. This time last year I was questioning why I did it, and I knew this year could be pivotal, but after a much better year, next year (which is still a blessed 10 weeks away!) holds no fears and my current thinking is to then do another 10/11 cycle after that. Very different from how I felt this time last year. Anyway, term finished, the temperature started to drop a little and I found a cooler spot to sit outside and read.

Sophie came home on Saturday, as we are off to see Scouting for Girls at the Cheese and Grain in Frome this evening – as I said, a very eventful week – and last night the three of us took advantage of the lower temperatures to go for a walk at Ham Wall

And then tomorrow I need to start packing for our next adventure, 5 weeks in Greece.

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Father’s day

Today is father’s day – we are seeing both bambinos at the end of the week, Sam is joining us to see OMD in Bristol on Friday, and Sophie is coming home on Saturday to come with us to see Scouting for Girls at Frome Cheese & Grain (all nicely dovetailing with the end of term which finishes on Friday) We did have a video call this morning

and then I opened my presents of Coke, chocolate, snacks and book, all making me a happy dad!

At the tail end of this week the temperature have begun to climb, meaning the first meal outside on Thursday since half term,

Today the temperature has continued to climb, and the sun has shone, giving as a hot, hot, hot day, circa 28 degrees, and set to get hotter next week, with the mid thirties forecast. Scorchio!

On Friday Becky and I walked down the hill to Strode cinema to watch “My mothers wedding”, an Ok film that I enjoyed but wouldn’t rave about, and on our way home, just before we got home, we spotted a slow worm struggling on the slip road outside our house.

it was clearly struggling to move on the hot tarmac and would soon be squashed by any passing car. Attempts to encourage it onto the grass verge were fruitless, eventually after many woosy attempts by me, and with the help of a disgarded paper towel, I was able to pick it up and take it to the relative safety of the the grass verge.

I hope its doing OK!

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Cleaning

I’ve been on a bit of a cleaning campaign of late. It begun with me purchasing some citric acid to give the washing machine a good clean, and get rid of the flakes that used to settle on the washing when the cycle had finished (it worked a charm, the inside of the machine is now gleaming and washing is coming out flake free) I then begun descaling the kettle and my iron, and have moved on to using citric acid wherever I think it may help – which is a surprisingly lot of places!

Yesterday I had a crack at cleaning the render on our bedroom window, and the side of the house. This time not using citric acid, but Sodium Hypochlorite. Around our window it did look particularly bad:

So I mixed up a batch – probably about 7 to 1 ratio – and using my Karcher whilst up the ladder I was able to apply the cleaner. Not perfect, but much, much better than it was. And I’ve learnt a lot in the process. I mixed up far to much mixture, and I probably didn’t include enough suficant (washing up liquid) to keep it fixed on the render. I’ll probably give it another go when we return from Greece, but for that, as I’ll be working on a much smaller area, I’ll probably get a pump sprayer which will be easier to manage and to direct on to those few areas that need doing.

In other news, the Monstera is currently sitting proud in the sitting room.

The weather’s not been too good. On Monday Becky and I got out for an after tea walk, but then for much of the middle of the week the weather was poor – cold and wet – before improving steadily since Friday evening and today has been a lovely sunny day*

Yesterday Sophie and Becky went to see Harry Styles at Wembley.

*I think the good weather today has led to a plague of flies (not house flies or fungus gnats, something in between size, perhaps 3 mm long). We think they have flown in as we’ve had the back door open. They then flock to the glass windows and doors; the best way to deal with them is to hoover them up. We first had them 3 weeks ago, a worrying new trend?

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Disaster (again!)

Its happened again!

Sam’s Monstera plant has come crashing down off the drawers in his bedroom. So I’ve brought downstairs and re-potted it into a bigger pot. It’s now currently in the siting room, tied to a book shelf so it won’t fall over again, but this won’t be it’s permanent home (not sure where that will be)

In other news, the weather’s not been wonderful – a little chilly and interspersed with some heavy downpours …

My wildflower lawn is looking good …

… and my seedlings, both sunflower and pumpkins, seem to have “”taken” and look healthy …

I do love the summer term, but I don’t normally get as much exercise as in the other two terms. Not this week, though. On Wednesday afternoon I went for a run – albeit not quite 5K, to the B & Q roundabout and back, yesterday I refereed at the Ashcott FC charity football tournament – three hours solid of officiating, half of it in the middle and half on the line, and today I went for a swim, getting in 30 lengths – a kilometre – before breakfast. With a little over three weeks ’till we head to Greece I need to get my self beach ready!!!!

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A busy, brilliant, half-term week

A hot (very hot) half term week draws to a close and it has been a busy and brilliant eight days, the highlight of which must have been seeing Take That in Southampton on Friday evening.

It was an incredible show, excellent music, but more than that, a real visual feast of drama and circus. It was wonderful

It has been incredibly hot this week – record breakingly so, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees on the first few days of the week. We took advantage of the long hot evenings and took ourselves of for a walk after tea each day, with Combe Hill woods being a particular favourite on a couple of occasions.

We even persuaded Sophie to come with one evening, although that was a shorter “round the block” walk

I’d collected Sophie from Bristol airport on Wednesday on her return from her holiday in Majorca, which ended in upset when her suitcase didn’t make it back from Palma airport. Anyway, much stress, a few tears, a form and a couple of phone calls later, the suitcase was returned to us on mid-morning on Thursday, having been found the previous evening still in Majorca.

Another mini-disaster was when I went upstairs and found the cheese plant on the floor of Sam’s room. With all the hot weather we’ve been having windows wide open (when not in the sun) to create a through flow of air. This must have been enough to blow it off the chest of drawers onto the floor …

It was also a week of practical matters – on Tuesday the Ka passed it’s MOT, I had my hygienist appointment, and an eyes test; my eyesight has improved a little over the last two years! I ran once, less than I planned, in part as my back hurt on my return, and swam once which was good – felt like I was stretching out my bad back and also engaging a few other unused muscles. Sam started his job and is enjoying it, which is great news.

I planted up the rest of my geraniums, and planted out the sunflower and pumpkin seedlings. The “lawn” is looking magnificent with the love in a mist in full flower …

(and because I’m a vain bugger, he is a pick of me reading out “my” names at last week’s Summer Celebration)

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And relax …

Half term has arrived. The term has passed quite swiftly – only 5 weeks and the summer term always has a different (easier!) vibe to it: Volleyball not Football buys me a lot of time, plus a couple of exam classes mean preparing lessons and marking is reduced, and with the better weather everyone’s mood is improved. But I still enjoyed a little afternoon snooze outside on Saturday once it was all over (Summer Celebration in the morning ’til 1pm ish)

The week’s weather has been extreme. It started perishingly cold (and wet, but annoying not volleyball cancelling wet) on Monday and Tuesday, but by the end of the school week it was warming up, and Sunday was scorchio!. (I’m writing this in the garden on Monday morning as I didn’t have time (!) yesterday)

Sam and Sophie both came home on Thursday, Sophie to get ready to go on holiday with Lucy to Majorca on Saturday, Sam to collect the last of his stuff for his new flat. (He starts his new job tomorrow, Tuesday)

But by Saturday afternoon we were home alone again. We have decided to make the most of the weather and go for a walk after tea each evening. On Saturday we parked in the YHA and walked to the windmill and back, beautiful vistas across the levels in the evening sunshine.

and last night we walked to the weir and then followed the water to the road and the river Brue. It was still very warm, and very, very picturesque.

We’d spent the morning having a good cut back and tidy up in the garden – with our many absences due to travel, only one day weekends, and some wet weather of late, the garden has been a bit neglected and there is still much cutting back to do, but it looks neater, and provides a pretty background to enjoy reading, eating (and occasionally snoozing) in the glorious sunshine.

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And he’s off …

Sam has moved out, into his new flat in Bristol. On Friday he headed off with a packed Micra to collect the keys and begin settling in.

Today (Sunday) we went up to help him build his IKEA furniture that arrived yesterday

The flat is on Gloucester Road, above a coffee shop. It’s quite a spacious 1 bedroom flat, a little bit shabby round the edges, but has a bit of character, is light, and will hopefully prove to be a good base for his new job that starts soon.

The view from the sitting room window!

Having built his bed, shelves, mirror; helped it tidy and organise himself, we headed home with a car full of cardboard and other packaging to take to the tip!

And in entirely unrelated news, my Christmas cactus is in full bloom …