Today the weather has been glorious, resulting in our first lunch in the sun of the year. I’ve taken advantage of the blue skies to paint the gate. Late yesterday afternoon I got it into my head to do it. so I wire brushed it and washed it ready for this morning. I’ve applied two coats of Cuprinol grey paint (found in the shed from when we painted the shed. Nearly a full tin and, once stirred, as good as new) I’m pleased with the result, it was beginning to look a little weathered and tired (perhaps the look I too often sport!), now looks a little smarter and more cared for.
Returned to school on Wednesday, but before that on Tuesday it was time for a bit of tree surgery, lopping off some branches from the tree in the corner above our compost bin. Does look better, although if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t think we’d taken anything off.
The garden is looking good, the lawn in particular, with drifts of forget-me-nots, swathes of daisies, a few tulips to provide a splash of colour and the first of the alliums about to flower. It has been lovely to spend much of today outside, soaking up the sun, reading, and also finding time for a small little snooze!
(and just for info, to give a point of reference in time to my blog, this week, on Monday the Pope, Pope Francis, died.)
I’m writing this a day late as we had a little car drama yesterday. I’ll get to that in a moment …
I have had an enjoyable week at home, on holiday, largely just pottering about outside, getting a few jobs done. The weather has not been stela, but on the whole it has been dry, so I’ve been able to be outside much of the time. Fearful that it might fall down, I tackled the exterior of the porch, replacing some rotten fascia timber, replacing much of the window putty with silicone sealant, painting the woodwork and replacing the guttering and downpipe with clean, new white plastic guttering. It does look so much better now, although I still think its long term days are numbered.
I also refereed on the YDL league on Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon – good to keep my hand in at refereeing adult men’s football. Ran on Sunday, a 5K run, good to get the legs moving again.
On Tuesday I replaced the oil pressure switch on Sophie’s car, and the yellow warning triangle has gone away – hurrah! But possibly the only thing that did go smoothly with respect to her car …
We’d booked it in to have the timing belt done on Monday, which happened, but as we were collecting the car, the spotted the oil leak, did a little investigation and determined it was the crankshaft/main engine seal (I thought it might be) so it went back in on Wednesday to have this done. They also found a leak at the corner of the oil sump, so fixed that, plus the clutch plate had got contaminated by oil, so that was replaced, too. By Thursday evening we had the car back, all done …
We then enjoyed a pleasant Good Friday, Easter Saturday and after lunch on Easter Sunday – having spent the morning soaking up some sun in the back garden – Sophie headed back to Cardiff.
About 40 mins after leaving, my phone rang. It was a distraught Sophie: on the middle lane of the M5 the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, and the car went into limp mode. She made it to the next junction, and pulled up in a layby before calling me. The car was throwing engine misfire codes, but could be reset with the OBD device. Becky & I drove to meet her, Sophie got in the Ka with Becky, I got in the Fiat with the intention of continuing to Cardiff. However 5 mins on the M5, as I got above 70 mph, the same thing happened to me. We swung round, and all came home; Sophie then went back to Cardiff in the Ka, giving me some time to ponder and fix the problem.
First thought was spark plugs and or coil pack (again – I’d changed these last summer) but further research on the internet suggested this was a fairly common problem on the Fiat 500 after a timing belt change, and all that was needed was for the ECU to re-learn the position of the various sensors using a “Phonic Wheel Relearn”, using MultiECUscan (which I procured last year) The more I read, the more convinced that this was the problem, so today I carried out the procedure and then drove the car to Cardiff, swapping it for the Ka which I brought home. This being Bank Holiday Monday, the traffic on the way up was heavy and, before the M49, I only managed to get up to 70 once or twice (my aim was to go on the motorway and get to 80+mph to see if the fault came back), once on the M49 I was able to open her up and travelled at 80 mph for some while. Again, after the bridge, and then again after the “Newport 50 stretch” I was able to get up to 75- 80 mph, with no problem at all, so I am confident the problem is fixed …
So, I’ve been to Cardiff and back today, a bit of a slog in the traffic, but I’m glad its all done and the status quo is returned to normal.
We’ve spent the last week in Crete – flew out on Saturday 5th April, and returned yesterday on Saturday 12th April. The weather wasn’t wonderful – had a couple of days of chilly rain, whilst the UK enjoyed unseasonal warmth – and the bits of Crete (Rethmyno and Heraklion) are not the prettiest parts of Greece, I still had a lovely time, a week away to forget about the trials and tribulations of work. I blogged on Hap-pea-travels, you can read it here: https://hap-pea-travels.co.uk/greece/a-cretan-recharge-day-1/
This picture ^^^ was taken as we flew back. that is Milos and Kimilos, two of our favourite islands from our summer trip across the Cyclades.
Sophie, Sam and Poppy all came “home” on Friday, Sam & Poppy were here when we got back on Saturday evening, but have today headed back to London. Sophie was at a friends in Andover on Saturday, but is now back for the week, and will work from (our) home this coming week, until she stops for Easter.
On Wednesday, Becky and I went to Bristol to see Deacon Blue at the Bristol Beacon. It was great – perhaps not as “high energy” as the other times we’ve seen them – although they did still belt out the old ’45s – but given that this was the last night of term, and hence I was a little lacking in energy myself, it was a perfect night out. Really enjoyed the evening: great music, in a great venue, with wonderful company (and the added bonus of knowing that by lunchtime the next day I would be done with work for the term.)
Am posting a little early this week – its Friday evening – as tomorrow morning we jet off to Crete for a week. Although the weather has been gorgeous here today, and promises to be good for the foreseeable future, I’m really looking forward to getting away to Greece, a change of scene and a change of pace. Kalispera!
