Re. Vehicles

I don't know if I have told this story before. I do not think so, but although my American friend informed me that my blog regarding vehicles had reminded him of something. however I can not take credit really for talking about the vehicles I have had because it was a gentleman in Hospital who told me about his cars he had.
It is a very long story so here goes.
As those who read my blog know I am not 100% healthy. My Consultant at my local Hospital sent me for a MRI scan. Incidentally I have also had a bone scan besides all the normal scans like ultrasound and X.Rays. My consultant wished me to have my gall bladder removed as he thought it would help me. I of course agreed as he has really looked after me from the first day I saw him.
Anyway in November 2005 I was summoned to my local Hospital for a Pre Op. medical. To be honest, It was not as I would have expected, nothing great and intensive at all. Upon finishing the Surgeon who was to perform the operation came into the Nurse's private room, took one look at the results from my MRI scan just said. "Hu. Lincoln"and left. I remarked to the Nurse that I presumed that I would not be having keyhole surgery. She agreed.
In late February 2006 I was summoned to Lincoln for the Pre Op. This was totally different. The first thing the Nurse asked me if I was a diabetic as glucose was found in my urine. I informed her that to my knowledge I was not a diabetic. Well in Lincoln I went to about 5 different rooms. One I can remember was on the heart monitor. You are wired up to the machine for ages until the guy in charge was satisfied. I think the time I was there was over 2.5 hours. I know it was getting dark when I got home.
I received a letter informing me of the procedure. Normally one went to a day ward, had the operation and left either the same day or the next day. Normally operations were performed on a Friday. I, however had to report a day earlier as I was a diabetic and would not be allowed to leave until Sunday.
Well the Thursday arrived, I reported at Hospital, nothing was done really and I just hung around all day. Early Friday morning the Anaesthetist came to see me. He introduced himself and told me that he would soon be back and then we would walk, yes walk to the Operating Theatre. He told me not to take my usual medication.
A few minutes later the Nurse came and told me to take my medication. I informed her that the Anaesthetist had told me not to take anything. She just shrugged her shoulders and left. I guess that in the ward there were 6 of us altogether, some were not having anything else but tests to see if they needed the Operation.
I guess it was about 8.45am. when the guy came back, he told me to put my slippers on and also my dressing gown. Then off we went walking to the Operating Theatre. I remarked just how far it was and it was a good job he was there because I would never be able to find my way. Well we got to a little annex room where he told me that this, I guess she was a comforter, woman was waiting and he informed me that he would be back in a couple of minutes. Well this woman and I was idly chatting away for what seemed an age, Eventually she told me she was going go ring up and find out what was wrong. She told me that the Surgeon had been delayed but I would be in the theatre very soon. I was, he came out and took me into the Operating Theatre, showed me where things were, told me to get on the operating table, then he reassured me by telling me everything that was going to happen. He told me that soon he would give me an injection to relax me, then he would put the mask over my face he would then tell me when he was going to administer the anaesthetic. This he did. He told me that he was going to give me the anaesthetic and then he told me that he would see me in a minute.
The next thing I knew was being in the recovery room. As soon as one recovers one is wheeled back to the ward. This is what happened in my case.
When I had come round sufficiently, one of the guys in the ward asked me where I had been all that time because I had been away for well over 3 hours. Of course I did not know how long I had been away.
Well for the rest of the day, I was left alone, at night a male nurse came to see me. I asked him to look as I was losing fluid out of my body. It turned out to be the drain bottle that had not been fitted securely. He had to change my gown but told me that all was well.
He left about 9.00pm a little later a Doctor came to examine me and told the Nurse with her that the drain tube could be removed, she left and when she had gone I asked the Nurse if she was going to remove the drain tube. She informed me that she had no intention of removing the tube, she told me that she had not removed one for years and certainly was not going to start now. I just thought well that's it.
A little later an old man was admitted to the ward. By now there was only 3 of us and one was waiting for his wife to pick him up. This old man was in pain and the Doctors did not know what was wrong with him. He would cry out in pain every so often. So it was not a great night for having a sleep.
Saturday morning the male Nurse again was on duty, but he told me he would be moving to another ward as this one was officially closed. I asked him if he could take my tube out. He told me that although it was years since he had done it, he would try. He made a great job, explaining all I must do, he gave me extra dressings and told me it was important to let the air get to the would as if it had no air it would not heal.
Anyway he left soon after and the gentleman and I were alone. He was still in pain so I asked him to talk and perhaps the pain would go. This he agreed. He told me he was 92 and lived in Lincoln. It was this man who gave me the idea to tell about my vehicles as he told me that he would tell me all the cars he had bought.I will continue the story after the Wedding week end.

Dental surprise

As mentioned yesterday, I went for my State Pension then decided to go into town to make an appointment at my Dental Surgery. I was in all my glory, my old Railway overalls which I must admit I wear during the winter months. If my Mother was alive, she would give me hell for being so scruffy, but to be honest I feel at home in them. In fact I have them on now.
Well I arrived at the Surgery about 9.45am. I went and saw that the regular receptionist was not there. I was told that she was having a few days off. Well I asked this young girl if I could make an appointment to see my Dental Surgeon as I was having problems with my dentures. She asked if they were rubbing, to save any explanation I just said yes. What she said next surprised me. She told me that he could see me at 10.30am. this day if I wished. I of course said that would be fine, I would go and do a little shopping and come back. She then asked me to book in once I had come back.
I went to Lydl which is just a short distance away. I think I have only been there about 6 times or so. Anyway it has been revamped. The store is much larger and neater. I bought some Ice Cream, chicken thighs, bananas and some tomatoes.
When I was finally served at the checkout, the man told me that he shouldn't be there. I asked him why and he told me that it was his day off but as it was still busy he volunteered to work. He told me that in the East the Children had gone back to school but in the West, they were still on holiday. Whether it is true, I don't know but it would be strange if he had told me a lie.
Anyway I took my time and arrived back at about 10.15am. Waited my turn and about 10.40 went in. The first thing my dental surgeon said was Hi, I see that you are in your working gear. We both call each other by our Christian names and apologised for my appearance and informed him that I had originally came to make an appointment and the receptionist told me that there was a space so I decided to see you. He told me that he had a nice Easter, in the Yorkshire Dales. I told him that the sun had certainly caught his face.
I then proceeded to tell him my main problem. I told him that the tooth that was left in was now rubbing on my denture and causing a lot of discomfort. He looked and immediately noticed. He then said that if the tooth had to come out, it was a hospital job as it would have to be cut out near the bone. I just looked at him and said. " I expected this, I told my friend that I would expect to go to the(explain my phrase)sodding hospital, have to stay overnight and go through all that rigmarole". He told me that he didn't think I would have to stay overnight, but he was going to try to adjust my dentures and also take a piece out of the dentures. He did this.
Immediately I told him on fitting them once again that they felt much better. I only hope that this will do the trick. Mind you, they are not good. To be honest, I can understand people who try their dentures and give up, only using them for cosmetic purposes.
Finally I tried once again to upload some music. I managed to get much further than yesterday. Unfortunately that's where it ended. I got a message informing me to contact somewhere with I don't know how many numbers. Of course I didn't bother. More soon.

Easter over

Well Easter has been and gone, too be honest, now days it means nothing to me. When I was in business, Easter was the first chance of getting any money in the till. It seems as if it has been a good week end for all concerned. Let us hope that it is the sign of things to come.
My best pal and his wife came over for a few days. Late last year, he bought a touring Caravan and has put it on a site for the season, so I hope to be seeing them a few times this year.
They were both surprised at the sight of my garden, with the weather men saying that this year has been dry and in the east, February and March were the driest months for many years, April has also been bone dry too. Besides that, it has been abnormally hot, well perhaps not as hot as inland but in general, constant sun all day so in the greenhouse and polytunnel it has bee too warm for the early plants, they are not used to that sort of heat. A lot of them are under stress.
Mind you when they came to see me, the cloud came off the sea and it turned very cold, so much so that his wife, who went to take the dog for a walk, was perished when she came back. He told me that he was going back on Friday as Chesterfield was playing at home. Unfortunately, they lost but they have been promoted to Division One. I am not too interested in football. I much prefer Rugby League. There is no cheating much in that game, just honest endeavour.
I have been trying to upload some of my music but I do not know how to. Mind you, it is just as well really as I do have the most unusual tastes.
By the way, today I have just received the umpteenth e-mail from Vauxhall. They have informed me that they will no longer reply to any of my further requests. Mind you, not that they have really answered any of my questions. My last request was for them to give me their complaints department. Naturally they have ignored my requests.
It is a shame because I will do all in my power to get satisfaction. I will not bore you with the details but I have told them. Yes! them in plural. I have had, I think 5 different Customer Service Managers reply to me. I have told them some home truths, no lies whatsoever but just the truth. Mind you I did suggest to one that although she/he may have been to university, they did not have any common sense at all.
They have believed a man whose title was Bodyshop Manager. A glorified accident and repair engineer as far as I am concerned. Mind you, he did not see the damage until two weeks after the initial damage. They also refused to contact Autoglass who at first refused to repair the windscreen as they informed me the damage was not caused by a stone. Mind you they are only the experts.
By the way, their e-mail address is customer assistance. I told them they have done everything but try to assist me. We will see what happens.
I have enough trouble as it is. My dentures have not been good since day one, I did try to ring the Dental Surgery today, so tomorrow I will travel into town and go personally to make an appointment. It may be that I will perhaps have eventually go to hospital for I have a large part of tooth in my gum and the dentures are rubbing causing some discomfort.
Still such is life. More rubbish soon.

Vehicles

Today, I will tell all who read every motor I have had.
First though, I must tell all how I hot my driving licence. I went out to Hong Kong and was allocated a Bedford QL tipper. As I could not drive I was given a driver who was in charge of a grading machine.
Well one winters day after heavy rain, I was summoned with my driver to take the tipper to a place where we were toget some aggregate to repair the mud slips. I was to drive and he was just to supervise. Well I did this journey many times and one day this officer got into the passenger seat I just carried on as usual and when I returned he just told me to keep well into the side, gave me a piece of paper which I was to give to Admin at my base. Thuis I did. When it was time for me to leave Hong Kong for home ready for demob, we were given a card and told to send it to Ministry of Transport and we would get our driving licence. Well I was demobed in 1957 but did not apply for my licence until1960. It duly came and so I went out and purchased my first vehicle. a Ford Thames Van 100E side valve only 3 forward gears. I was not really fit to drive and went in the country lanes for several weeks to get used to a small vehicle. I had that van I think for 4 years. In 1964 I bought a Ford Anglia, it was less than 3 years old. Incidentally when I purchased the Ford Thames van it was 2 years old. I liked the Anglia, unfortunately when I went into business, I had to sell the car toy raise funds. This was late 1968.
I was without transport for about 18 months. To be honest, I can't for the life of me remember what the make of the next vans were. What I can remember is the it was a C reg. the mileage was 10900 miles. The mileometer was broken. I remember buying a brand new van from the garage, they gave me a good price for the old van as it had done little mileage. This was October 1994. It was like the other van a 5cwt. Well in 1976, I began to make a little money so decided that a van was not really for me so I decided to purchase a Datsun 120y sunny. Nissan was originally called Datsun. Well this was an estate car. This being 1976 there were no rear wipers installed in any vehicle at that time. I used to get angry as I said it was more or less just like having a van, regarding the rear view mirror. So in September 1978 I went mad and bought a Toyota Celica Liftback. They were very stylish. The nearest thing to that was the Ford Capri. They were not as nippy as the Celica and had a box like shape. The Celica looked great. I kept the car for about 7 years and then gave it to an ex employee. I then purchased a Jaguar XJS Auto sports. The 6 ltr motor with the Coventry climax engine. Mind you, it was not new, it was about 3 years old. It was certainly the most prestigious car I ever owned. It was surprising just how many doors it opened. I had no idea as to the power a Jaguar had when it came to prestige.
It was very expensive to run, tyres were around £200 each. I had a twin exhaust fitted, another huge bill and when I had air conditioning on, the MPG was down to 10. Eventually I sold it privately and bought a Citroen AX.GT. this was in 1986. A very nippy car, it would do well over 100mph and zero to 60 was less than 10secs. I had that until I think 1992. I bought another AX but this was a diesel. I didn't get on really too well with it so in 1994 I traded it in for a Peugeot 206turbo diesel. The most efficient nippy car I ever had, It would do in excess of 65mpg and zero to 60 in less than 9 seconds. Unfortunately my Mother was getting worse, she had been disabled for many years and found it increasingly difficult to get in and out of my Peugeot. So in I think it was 1998, I let my Sister have my old car and I bought a Honda Civic. I never liked it from the start but my Mother found it a lot easier to get in and out of the car, so that was it. I was stuck with it for the time being. However in late 2000 my Mother took a sudden turn for the worse, she went into a home for a short time but to be honest, I knew she would never leave. It was then that I decided to buy a sports type car. I went and bought a Hyundai Coupe 2 ltr. It was not as nippy as some I have had, but very sporty looking. Unfortunately, I had to go into hospital about 9 months after I had the car. I had an operation. found that it was painful and difficult to get in and out of the car so I decided to go for what I knew would be easy to get in and out of. Another Peugeot. This time a Peugeot 207G.T 150. Thp I think it meant that it was 150 brake horse power, I had the car for almost 4 years and this year sold it and have now gone for a modest car. As I am in my mid 70s I do not want a nippy car again so I have a Vauxhall Corsa Ecoflex, start stop. It is supposed to be very economical. I will let all know what the MPG is when I fill up. I did fill up when I went to Grantham about 3 weeks ago and all I have done is about 140 miles and the fuel gauge is still over 3/4 full. It is supposed to do about 70 to the gallon. Mind you it wants to. It is diesel and diesel here is 147.9 p per ltr. Petrol is 140,9.
Easter is upon us, by the way, I am still in dispute with Vauxhall regarding my windscreen. So perhaps I will have a week end off correspondence with their customer assistance? It is not what I would ever call it.
Happy Easter Holidays to all. I guess it will be next week when I next visit my blog.

Spring blossoms

Let us hope that we get no late spring frosts because as one can see, the trees are full of blossom. The tree that is in a sort of cage is the cherry. I will have to cover it up before the fruits ripen. If I don't, then I will be inundated with blackbirds and they will not be happy until they have eaten every last one.

I thought I would show you these photos just to show how much care and attention I take when it comes to protecting my fruit and vegetables.

he main culprits, are wood pigeons and pheasants. The other pest is cats, they love to scratch and make a hole where I have set my carrots or beetroot. The soil is a fine tilth so it is perfect for them.

Mind you, carrots and beetroot are not germinating yet as we have had no rain for many days and the ground is very dry. Something different tomorrow.

Unseasonal weather

This is in my fruit cage, these are my cherry trees, as you can see both are well laden with flowers. Tomorrow, I hope to take a photo of my garden where my fruit trees are, most are now just coming into, or are in full bloom.

Now to the unseasonal weather, I don't know if I mentioned it but in February, I decided to set a few broad bean plants. I didn't even think the weather would be like this in April. I now don't think they will be bearing fruit. I tried this with runner beans about 10 years ago and found that they grew well and flowered well too but they just would not set. Well to be honest, I did have one set, but it didn't grow it just shrivelled up.

Well this year, it has been very hot in the greenhouse, temperatures well over 90f. The plants, although growing started to wilt a little when it turned hot but recovered at night so that in the morning they looked O.K. Now I have noticed, all are in flower and the flowers are dropping off before they can be pollinated. I will, of course keep all informed as to the future. I incidentally do have plenty more broad beans out in the garden. In fact, I have one bed that I set direct into the garden and covered them with protective sheeting. When I looked a few weeks later, there was only the odd bean germinated. I naturally thought the mice had been and eaten the seeds so I set some more. Not only did they germinate but the ones I set later have also come up so I should be well off for broad beans, black fly allowing.

I had a delivery of young Fuchsia plants the other day, unfortunately it looks as if 1 is not going to survive. I lost a lot of fuchsias in the winter, but recently I have noticed that about 5 have started to shoot from the base. Anyway, all but one of my fuchsia cuttings died. Mind you I noticed that I had young anthirrinum plants in one of the pots that had a fuchsia. Today, I transplanted a dozen plants so I will have plenty of anthirrinums. Last year too I had a few petunias from my brother in law. When they were about finished, I saved some seeds. They are so tiny, well I decided to sow them early this year. Now I have about 18 plants. plenty for me. I mentioned it to my brother in law, he told me that he had gone off them because last year was not the best year weather wise. I also had a couple of years ago, some wallflowers, all of them died except one, it also did a little last year, so when it set it's seeds I decided to save them. I don't know what they will be like but I have just set them in a prepared seed bed. I will wait and see what happens.

I have got rid of most of my tomato plants. I gave some to my nurse friend, some also to my Postman and the only ones I have to give to are my next door neighbour. My neighbour on the other side, I do not know whether to offer her any as she is hoping to sell soon. I think I will wait a few weeks to see if she wants a couple of plants. More soon

Grouch Marx???

just a little note, I have been in contact with Vauxhall. I have sent several e-mails and they have replied to me. The funny thing is that I have had 3 different Customer Service Managers reply to me. Am I wearing them out? Now to something completely different. Don't ask me what bought it to mind, it may be that I was today making bread rolls. This happened I guess over 50 years ago. I was on a local shunting duty as a fireman, the job was so easy and to be honest, rather boring as there was nothing much to do. It was a Monday, so my overalls were nice and clean just back from the laundry. Anyway my Driver suggested that if I wanted something to do, why didn't I go to the local flour mill and ask the Manager to show me round. To his surprise, I said I would and without further ado off I went. I saw a guy and asked him if the Manager was available, he showed me to his office. I went in and asked him, that if he had time, would he be so kind as to show me round the mill. To my surprise, he readily agreed, put his whit coat on and proceeded to take me to the milling department. I was surprised just how noisy it was. The first sort of cylinder, similar to a washing machine but of course much larger. Here the whole wheat was spun round and ground it to a rough meal. The second bin then ground it to a fine flour, something like a rough wholemeal flour. The Manager told me that this was the finest biscuit flour and was sent all over the country. I asked him if it was possible to make bread flour. He then told me that, unfortunately, the wheat grown in this country was not of sufficient quality to be able to make bread. The place where wheat flour for making bread was produced was in fact Canada. Now of course, better seeds have been bred so that it is possible to produce bread flour in this country. Well we came to the last cylinder and just as he got there, the seal broke and flour started to pour out, he was covered, I thankfully only had a little on me. What surprised me though was just how quickly the mechanism stopped. Unfortunately, the Manager hurriedly ceased my tour, I thanked him and that was that. Mind you my driver had a bit of a laugh when he saw me with flour spattered in places. There was another time I went to see something but it was not such a pleasant visit. It was to a glue making factory. I went and asked if they could show me just how glue was made. You can imagine the smell. First, bones were boiled in a vat, not clean healthy bones I ca assure you. They seemed to be in vats boiling for several days. To be honest, after about 20 minutes, I made my excuses and left. Of course my Driver was laughing as he knew just how the pace did smell. Unfortunately, they were the only 2 places I managed to visit. I suppose I was lucky really to have had the opportunity. Finally, today, I had my new potatoes, they were beautiful. More soon.

Wow!!!

Yes! these are new potatoes. I have never had them so early before. To be honest, I noticed that this potato plant was not looking as healthy as the other ones in the greenhouse. I thought it had the star of blight. So to be on the safe side I decided to pull the plant up. I was surprised to see that there was a potato on so I got my hands in the soil and found what you can see above, Enough for a meal for me tomorrow. I grow all my produce in the polytunnel and greenhouse in John Innes No.3 soil based compost. It does not dry out so much and the taste is very near to the garden soil.

I took also a photo of the greenhouse, I know that it is in a mess but I only took it to show, firstly how well the potatoes look. Secondly if you enlarge the photo, you will see that the grape vine is just beginning to grow. Also there are a few salad plants there too. More soon.

Ups and downs

Well to be honest only one up. Today I went for my State Pension and found that I had been given a rise of just over £3.00 a week so from just under £100. a week to just over the £100. The first downer was a reply from Vauxhall. I will write it down exactly as it was sent to me. First though, I will remind you that I had my windscreen crack and eventually after going to Thurlby Motors in Lincolnshire, they informed me that it was caused by a stone. I knew that it was not so but as the dreadful tsunami had just happened, I said I would have it done through my Insurance. Autoglass was organised to replace the windscreen. When they arrived they refused to fit the windscreen. After another lengthy delay they told me that they would inform Autoglass to fit the windscreen, at my expense which they did. When the man came to fit the screen he told me to take photos as in his opinion, the damage was caused by, I think he said too much mastic in one place. This was pointed out when I wrote to Vauxhall also requesting them to contact Autoglass to get an independent assessment as to how the damage occurred. I also pointed out that the man who I saw was less than polite. Here is the reply I received. Thank you for your e-mail received on 11th. April 2011, regarding your Vauxhall Corsa.(I have omitted my name and registration Number.) As you can appreciate Autoglass are not part of our retailer franchise, therefore,we are unable to contact them regarding this matter. However, we have investigated this matter with Thurlby Motors who confirmed that it has not proved possible to attribute the windscreen damage to a manufacturing or material defect. It is for this reason that we will not be able to offer any financial assistance towards repair costs. If you remain dissatisfied with the dealerships findings, we recommend that you contact another Vauxhall Dealership who will be happy to provide their opinion on the windscreen damage Thank you again for contacting us and allowing me the opportunity to clarify our position in this matter. Yours sincerely Becky Lancaster Customer Service Manager. End of e-mail. Now if anyone wishes to make a comment or wishes me to furnish more information, I will gladly do so. I did send a haughty reply stating that it was totally unacceptable what she had written to me. I made comments too. To be honest, I thought that the most important thing in any business is the Customer. Not so on Vauxhall U.Ks case. It seems to be. "Sell the car then ignore the customer from then on. However it is important to inform them that they must have their car serviced to make sure that it complies with the warranty." What they do not tell you is. That if you have your car serviced and only authorised Vauxhall parts are used, you do NOT have to use the Dealerships. I will never recommend anyone to buy a Vauxhall Motor becaue of the lack of assistance I have received from all concerned with Vauxhall Motors. Now to the second downer. As readers will know I am in the process of changing my LPG supplier. Not quite that simple. I must admit that it is my fault. This is what actually happened. In April 2009 a Steve Walmsley a Director of Northern Energy came to visit me and offered to provide me with LPG for the next 2 years, this was signed about 20th. April 2009. I received from them a week or so ago another contract to run from 25th. April 2011 for the next 2 years. I decided to shop around and found Ennergas and signed up with them for the next 2 years. This morning I received mail fro Northern Energy informing me that I was in contract until 1st September 2011 and sent me a copy of the contract. I do vaguely remember this form coming, I thought that it was a hard copy of the original that I had signed in April. Of course this supersedes the original contract. To be honest, I suspect some office girl typed the date of September 1st. That was the date she was typing the contract, unfortunately I omitted to notice this. I rung them up and told them what had happened. They agreed that it was unusual and could not fully explain how it had happened. I then told them that I would NEVER purchase another litre of LPG. I was determined to leave them and that all they could do is charge me rental for the few months remaining. Immediately I finished talking to Northern Energy I rung Ennergas and informed them what has happened, they were sympathetic and I told them that I would contact them in August so that the change over could eventually proceed. What a funny day I have had. Still it is better than sitting around doing nothing. More soon.

Short and sweet?

With the weather being unseasonably warm, I thought once again I would show my flowers. Polyanthus are the main ones out just now, I can honestly say I think this is the best show I have ever had of them, thank goodness the blackbirds have not taken all of the flowers. They generally peck the flowers off, why I just don't know but they do. In the borders are Narcissus. I think they are called Honesty. They smell absolutely wonderful and the air is so sweetly scented early in the mornings.

Until this afternoon the weather once again was very warm, but around 3.30pm the winds got up and clouds came. no rain though but when the clouds blew over somewhere 7.00pm it certainly turned a lot colder.

My cherry trees and plum trees too are in full flower, well to be honest the plum are nearing the end of their flowering. Also the apple trees are in bud. Frost is forecast over the next 2 evenings. It is not possible to cover them up , I could probably protect a couple or so, but what the heck. If there is a frost, so be it. I will almost certainly be safe with the frost tender vegetables in the greenhouse and polytunnel.

By the way. if you look closely on one of the photos you will see the demise of my carnations. Like most gardeners, this winter was the coldest for many years and have lost many hardy perennials. I am waiting though to see what I have lost. I think I have a fuchsia that I thought had died, just beginning to shoot from the base. Mind you, I have definitely lost a lot of fuchsia's.

That is it for tonight. More soon.

Summer day.

Fancy that, the temperature today was 21c or in old money 70f. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the first cabbage white butterfly. This must be the earliest I have ever seen one as they do not over winter but hatch out in the late spring. I must admit I did see several small tortoiseshell butterflies and the first peacock. It makes one feel a little better to see that winter is finally over and hopefully better days ahead. I certainly hope so because my cherry and plum trees are now in full blossom. So the last thing I want is a frost. Mind you, I didn't go out this morning as I decided to start my spring cleaning. Well start is about it. I managed to emulsion the bathroom and was absolutely worn out when I had finished. to be honest, after I had removed all out of the bathroom, I had a small rest because I needed it. Mind you, I will say this, it does look nice again. Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I will paint my kitchen/diner. these are the two rooms that seem to get dirtiest first. Mind you, living on my own they don't get that dirty. It is 2 years since I last did them. Later I went into the garden, did nothing though but noticed that the first asparagus was trying to show so that in about 2 weeks I should be harvesting asparagus. I went into the greenhouse, noticed a small frog or toad, took it outside so that it can go where it wants, it will be happier in the open garden. Also noticed in the greenhouse that the grape vine is just beginning to break into leaf. My Italian friend told me not to prune until the spring, I do believe that he told me wrong because where I have pruned the vine, liquid is ooozing from the cuts. Oh well I live and learn. More soon.

A new supplier

It is funny but for many years I never thought of changing supplier but I seem to be changing my LPG supplier regular. I have been with Atlantic Energy for my electricity for several years. I don't know if I mentioned it but about 3 years ago they fitted a new meter and I was charged day rates for my night rates and night rates for day rates. I rung them up several times telling them that I was not being charged enough. Eventually I got hold of a mature lady and she sorted everything out. What she told me was that if by any chance I had spent extra, they would cancel the extra as I had reported the matter to them. As it happened, all was well. I am very satisfied with them. Unfortunately I can not have dual fuel as I am on LPG. Well in February I went online to see what was about and found this site. Decided to e-mail them. The next day, I had a phone call, I explained that my contract ran out towards the end of April this year so he told me to contact him on April 1st. and this was not April fool's day. I duly rang up on Friday 1st April. To my surprise I was told that the man who I should be contacting was on holiday. I laughed and told the young girl that I guess this was his April Fool's joke on me. She assured me that the holiday had happened recently but she told me that another guy would contact me if I gave her my phone number. True to their word within a few minutes a guy called Andy contacted me and informed me that he was in the area on Monday and if that was O.K he would visit me. I told him that was fine. He came to see me, I filled in a direct debit form because it was easier to pay that way, we signed things and he told me that in about 3 weeks all should be in place for me to order fuel. He suggested that I should wait until I was down to about 25% which I thought was sensible. The initial price was a lot cheaper than the last bill I received from Home Heat a subsidiary of Northern Energy. When the price finally went up more than 50% above the unit price I was first given, I went online and found that the price I was being charged was more than the average price for that month. Let us hope that I will be happier with this Company. I will not name them until I have dealings with them. By the way, those who read my blog will know that in September last year, I had a new energy efficient boiler fitted. Namely a Greenstar, Worcester Bosch Group. I do think it has saved me quite an amount of money this winter and would recommend anyone who has an old gas boiler to upgrade as it will save you money and I think I will get my money back in about 6 years if I live that long. More soon.

Disturbing news

I went to see the couple who took over the business from me 11 years ago. I was saddened a little when the guy told me that once again he had just recovered from a hear attack. It happened about 3 weeks ago. He told me he finished up in Hull and has had a stent fitted and the Dr. told him that this should cure the problem. His wife, who incidentally had a Birthday that day was concerned. As it was Mothering Sunday as well as her Birthday, she had very little time to tell me her worries. She stated that she of course was worried and that as he had DVT on his last holiday abroad she would never fly again with him so that a holiday in this country was all they could have. This means taking a holiday out of the season. I told her I would have a word with him. Anyway, I suggested that he should think of selling and retiring. All he would say was that he loved it there, he would get more staff in. He also told me that his Daughter, who incidentally I saw and we spoke, and her partner would love to run the place, but he told me that she has a good job earning £36.000 plus bonuses I told him that her partner, who has a good job would be on at least £50.000. Double that and add some he told me. I just told him that never in a thousand years would they earn that sort of money there. He has a high position in a Council in the midlands. I guess that the total income per annum would be in excess of £200.000. The difference between the rich and poor is ever widening. Now to something different. I like a laugh as I have a funny sense of humor. The local weather man is funny and takes the micky out of the announcer. The weather man has just started tweeting. This guy tweeted to him telling him that he was going fishing the next day and if he would get wet. The weather man replied. "Only if you fall in." He did not know how to send it personally so it went out for all to see. His boss was none too pleased. I however fell about laughing. This other thing made me laugh too. On Saturday it was the final of the World Cup 50 over Cricket Competition. The final was between India and Sri Lanka at Mumbai so it was packed. The two captains went out to toss to see who would bat first, with them went the mascot, match referee and the commentator, named Ravi Shastri. The coin was spun by the Indian captain and when it landed, the Match Referee seemed to be in a quandary. After a discussion it was decided to spin the coin again as the Match Referee did not hear the call. The Sri Lankan captain won the toss and decided to bat. Now in the course of the tournament Sunil Gavaskar was one of the commentators and told of the time when he was captaining a school eleven. He too went out with the opposing captain to toss to see who would bat first. He said that he had to toss the coin 4 times before the call was made. The opposing captain was a stutterer and so couldn't get the word heads or tails out. I laughed for ages. I know we shouldn't mock the afflicted but you must admit it was funny. Oh well more soon.

Leopard changing spots?

I get here about once every 2 months a small newsletter telling me what is on and what has been happening. This one had a photo and a name that I recognised. It was in the mid 70s that this milkman used to call on us. As I had a business he would always bring the milk in a crate. He was a friendly guy and when he was collecting the weekly cash, I asked him if he would like to let us have the small change and we would give him notes. He readily agreed. Well this went on for a few weeks, then he came in one morning. He left the leather pouch which held his money, went down the street, which was a dead end and called on us on the way back. My Mother remarked how trusting he was. To be honest, I didn't even give it a thought as I am as honest as the day is long. He would never question what we said and this went on for a couple of months or more. One day, another milkman served us and I asked him where the other guy was. All he would say was that he left under a cloud. I didn't ask anything more of him. It was about 6 months later when there was a piece in the local paper. He had pleaded guilty to embezzling money from the Milk Company that he worked for. It stated that he had hidden money in one of his car tyres. I just thought no wonder he trusted us, he was helping himself to other things. Several years later, I learned that he was on the Council. Yes a Councillor. I didn't think that it was possible to become a Councillor after a conviction however he did. A few years later, after I had left the immediate vicinity he was MAYOR. Now this newsletter has a photo of him and it states that he was awarded the Community Award voted by the readers of a Newspaper. It also states that he is President. Maybe the leopard has changed his spots. Mind you, I bet nearly all have no idea of his shady past. Now to something different. I went to Grantham to see my Sisters the other day. My friend, who is mean and really money mad tells me that fuel is very expensive in Skegness. I told him that it is about 7p a litre cheaper than it is here in the country. With this in mind, I took particular notice of the prices shown on all that I could see filling stations. To be honest once I left Alford, prices were very much of a sameness until I arrived in Grantham. That was about 136p a ltr for petrol and 1.43p for diesel. In Grantham there are 2 filling stations that are very competitive, a Jet station and ASDA. Both of these were 1.31.9p a litre for petrol and 1.35.9p for diesel. These were just 2 pence less that Tesco and Morrisons in Skegness. I did inform him. I also told him that the local garage had reduced by 2p diesel. Before it was reduced the cost per gallon was more than 50p here than in Grantham. I sometimes wonder if the RPM is a help to us living in the country as there is a wide disparity with everything and at the seaside most jobs are paying only the minimum wage. I know what some might say. You can move. Well not really as houses are not moving and to find a property about the same price as I would get for this would be hard. The good thing is that in general, it is much quieter here. More soon.