Little to report this week – term is up and running, weather is benign, no major dramas.
Sowed my grass seed on Wednesday, still no green shoots.
On the way to ref at Somerton this morning the car start making an awful screeching noise – like metal on metal. Reckoned it was either something to do with the brakes (sound eased off on their application) or a catastrophic failure of a wheel bearing. Sounded terrible. Arrived at ground, parked up, ref-ed. Got in car to drive home, no noise, and have since been out in it again, with no repetition, so perhaps just some gremlin that has been and gone?
The lawn wasn’t in a good state in Spring. And then the long hot summer happened. It got worse.
We’ve had sporadic rain of late, enough to see the lawn begin to green up – I’ve been mowing it for the last few weeks, but there were still some bare patches, particularly along the edge furthest from the house, where it had been moss, which has died ( a good thing) leaving baked hard earth ( a bad thing.)
So I figured I need to do some lawn maintenance.
I mowed the lawn today, then scarified it – raking out a whole pink trug of dead grass and thatch. I then applied a top dressing, of my own concoction: roughly 3 parts top soil to 1 part sharp sand. (I used two 35 litre bags of top soil and one “large” bag of sharp sand.)
Inevitably, it looks worse now than when I began, but hopefully it’ll help in the long term, and I have some grass seed arriving tomorrow or Tuesday and I’ll over seed the lawn. Hopefully the weather (& soil) will remain warm enough for fertilisation to take place – and I’m sure we’ll have enough rain to keep it moist, even if it needs the odd refreshing from the hose pipe.
Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be posting pictures of a glorious green sward ….
In other news, Sam started work today at Millfield Prep School as a general kitchen assistant: hope it went well, of to collect him in a mo.
Its been the best I can remember, so much done, so much to enjoy.
Its been hot, perhaps the hottest and driest since ’76. Whilst the lawn and plants may have suffered, the weather has been brilliant.
Parched lawn
The hols began on a high note with the World Cup …
… England making it to the semi-finals and making us believe again,
… and a day out with Sam to Yeovilton Air show (but coming back in the afternoon to watch England beat Sweeden 2-0 in the World Cup Quarter final)
Yeovilton Airshow
We had a few days in Cornwall, and the sun continued to shine …
Cornwall July ’18
… and then of to Majorca for the main event. A fantastic week in Pouerto Pollensa …
Majorca July ’18
Each and every day was brilliant, it would be hard to pick out a highlight. Me and Sam climbing Puig de Maria was great, Formentor was stunningly beautiful (although overcrowded), pool time, evening meals, catching up with “Tappers” (for 10 years we lived less than 10 miles from each other but never met up, but put us on an island in the med and we’ll make the effort!), but perhaps the highlight was …
Cala Boquer
We come home to rain, but only for a day or so, and then the sun came back out.
Sam turned 16 …
Sam’s 16th
… and they both got the grades they needed and deserved in GCSE and A level …
I did plenty of exercise, regularly running 10K (as well as spinning, swimming and refereeing) …
See front run, Puerto Pollensa, July ’18
… and amongst all that, I also found time to tidy up the front drive, and add a bit of gravel …
And so tomorrow, its back to school and work. It really has been a great summer holiday. Thanks for the memories!
So this week it was Sam’s turn to collect his exam results and because of (his view) or despite (his mother’s view) his efforts he did well securing 8’s in Maths & Physics, 7’s in Chemistry & Biology, 6’s in English Lang, History & Computer Science (and being just 1 mark of a 7 in Comp Sci) and 5’s in English Lit & French.
He was pleased with that haul, as were we and he will stay at The Blue School to do Maths, Physics & Chemistry as his A levels.
Thursday was A level results day, a day that we would discover Sophie’s destiny.
She didn’t disappoint, achieving (drum roll, please):
Maths A
Economics B
Geography B
And she got an A in her EPQ, and we mustn’t forget her B in AS Physics from last year. An excellent, and well deserved haul.
She’s off to Reading University to read Economics in late September, and already the excitement is building. She’s got a place in her first choice Hall of Residence (Bridges)
The above photo was taken on 13th July, but I’ve been very remiss in posting of late – largely because the summer has been so wonderful, weather wise: wall to wall sunshine.
Alas, after rain today and yesterday, it seems that the heatwave is over, although their are hints that the long hot summer is not quite done yet and good weather – even if not as hot – may return.
The pic above shows the lawn as a brown and dusty barren patch. What it doesn’t show is all the dead branches and leaves in the smoke tree. That can be seen in the pic below (taken today)
We’ll have to wait ’till next year to see how it turns out.
It’s been a wonderful summer, lets hope theirs still more to come.
She had her last exam on Friday (Sam had his last exam last week) and so the whole house breathes again and begins to relax, at least until mid-August when results start coming in.
I’ve got another week to go – feel I have finally broken the back of the year: still a busy week ahead, but the glistening prize can be glimpsed glittering in the distance …
In other news, its hot, hot, hot, and set to be all week (lets hope it last well into the hols and doesn’t breakdown at the end of the week.)
England beat Panama 6-1 today in the World Cup, two wins in the first two games, already qualified for the knock out stages, despite history, enough to make one begin to dream …
Ran 10K today in 47m 6 secs, reckon my knee is better!
‘Till next week, when the long summer holiday loom …
Sam had is final GCSE exam on Friday, his last day at the Blue School, the last time Sophie drove them both in to school, the last day they went to school together. Sophie has another couple of exams this week, then its all over for her too.
No pick of the week from last week as Becky & I went to “Pub in the Park”, mainly to see Scouting for Girls who were, as ever, excellent. They originally topped the bill, but were bumped down the order to make way fro Squeeze, who were good, but not as good as Roy and his mates. First up were The Rifles who were good, well worth watching and would, I reckon, be a great act in a small, intimate venue.
Weatherwise, its been an odd one – started of hot & sunny, but by Tuesday that changed and it has, at times, been wet, wet, wet. But yesterday and today have been scorchio – brilliant azure blue skies.
Midweek I set to building the new (final?) deck and graveling in front of the sitting room French doors. All materials bought from Bradfords, am pleased with the results.
Yesterday I ran my first Park Run. Enjoyed it, running with others was an enjoyable change, and good for my pace. Ran the 5k in 22:49, the fastest I have run since my injury and it did help me run a little quicker today (ran my 7K loop.) Will run the Park Run again in the hols.
And we’ve got a robin nesting in one of the small metal trugs opposite the kitchen door. Its been flitting in and out all week and now there are eggs in the nest. Hope they survive the attentions of the neighbourhood cats …
On the garden front, at the start of this week I pulled up the Forget Me Nots and at the end of the week, planted runner bean and pea seeds.
Mini brake warning light came in so booked it in for the pads to be changed. Alas, the anti-rattle spring had corroded into the brake caliper (dis-similar metal corrosion: spring is aluminium, caliper, steel) so had to have a new caliper as well. Ouch! No change from £470. At least the sun has been shining, allowing some top down motoring, which is fun.
On Friday, I was the very proud recipient of the annual Sue Woods Spirit of Millfield Award for contributions to Millfield Sport and beyond.
For the last four years I have been the fixtures secretary for Millfield Football, booking fixtures, food, transport, kits, pitches … Always the first to arrive at our Kingweston pitches and the last to leave, meeting, greeting and hosting opposition from Premier League academy sides, through to local schools. I’ve also managed to find the time to referee a fair few games, too.
I am proud of the part that I have played in Millfield Football, one of the nations top footballing schools and to receive a sports award from the top sports school in the country was a particular honour.
Half term has now begun, after a ropey start weather-wise, the sun has begun to shine, a week to put the feet up & enjoy the garden.
