A few that got away

Not very much to report I’m afraid as we have been preparing our end of year accounts and doing little jobs around the house rather than anything interesting. So first a few photo’s that slipped through the net. The first one is when Harriet went "wind walking" as Claire called it, and I guess more appropriate on the day. Claire was so cold that she wore her head scarf in a Muslim sort of way but it kept her warm. The second one is of Julia when she stopped the night. Notice her novel cigarette lighter that she uses for three reasons. It’s easy to find in her handbag, it stops people stealing it and it doesn’t burn her fingers in the wind.

We finally managed to replace our 50” TV with another plasma screen yesterday but it was a bit of a struggle to lift it on the wall again. They really are quite heavy so I had to get Claire standing on some steps before I lifted it up to her. Maybe next time I ought to help her a little more or get somebody else to help her. Anyway, we got it up, installed it and now our BT Vision has stopped working again so we spent another night in the conservatory where we both fell asleep in the comfy chairs. The next photo is of the garden after we have worked on it for a while; it does look much better now. It must have been 2 years since I weeded the edges because we weren’t living in it for a year then we went away for a few months. Last time I weeded the edges there were loads of young Oak trees sprouting up everywhere which took ages to pull up. This time I couldn’t find any at all but I guess that is because we have had such a severe winter. Everyone knows now that cold weather improves Squirrels memory. When they have an easy winter they forget where they have buried their acorns.

We also spotted a little industrious mouse collecting leaves from the flower beds and taking them under the end shed to make a nest. Much as I like watching it they soon spread if you don’t stop the problem early on. We still had some poison in the shed so I put it out near his entrance. I checked it at the end of the day and some had been eaten but not much. Mice tend to eat only a little of new food that they have never tried before then wait to see if they get ill. If they do get ill they will never eat the new stuff again otherwise they go back and fill their boots. The second day much more had been taken so I guess that’s the end of that little family. The manufacturers of the poison have to make it taste good and also not to start to work for over 24 hours. Still it’s a very good survival strategy, just one more reason why they are so successful. I will move the poison to another shed later today just in case we have more elsewhere.

We went for another bike ride yesterday and this time I remembered to take the camera with us and we have some pictures of our journey around Willen Lake. On the way there we went over the boardwalk across the swamps which reminded me of our trip to Brisbane where they have them through the Mangrove swamps. Ours aren’t quite as exotic, just swamps. The first thing we spotted at Willen Lake is the Peace Pagoda so I went down across the grass to take some pictures while Claire rode around the pathways. That was the last I saw of her until I was on the other side of the lake when she caught me up. She had been waiting at the top for me but I thought she had gone on ahead and I was to catch her up. That’s why it took her so long to catch me up because I was trying to catch her up; if you know what I mean. All this excitement and racing around made our stop at the Shop Ashore more enjoyable on the way home.

Did anyone see the very last “Frost” last weekend? If you missed it, here is a picture of it. It’s been on for 18 years now and has finally finished. Does anyone remember David Jason’s first TV series called “Lucky Fella” about two brothers living with their mum? It was hilarious but they only made a series of about 6 which was a shame. I hope they reshow the series again someday. David played the pathetic brother trying to get a girlfriend while his brother played the cool one that kept stealing them from him.

Good news! There’s another great book out again this week, well its so big it had to come in two volumes and it’s called, “The Naked Bloggers”. Even more sad tales about an average couple living in Milton Keynes, when they are not swanning off around the world every chance they get. In this one they managed to get to, Turkey, Majorca, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Cape Verde, Goa, a canal boat trip and the infamous camper van trip. As well as several weekend breaks and a couple of months working and living in Somerset. Most of the rest was about renovations and moving house. We don’t seem to have moved on much in the last few years. I was only saying to Claire yesterday that it’s a shame that we weren’t doing a blog when we visited Naples and Sicily as that holiday was very eventful as was our tour of the United Arab Emirates where we toured all 7 states and got engaged in Dubai. Never mind, maybe we will have to go back so we can share our experiences with you.