Losing it?

This morning I decided to fill my garden waste bin by cutting some of the leylandi on the side of my front driveway. I was out for about 30 minutes and filled the bin, not over filled but there was plenty in it. I then went inside to have a drink.
 I suddenly thought that the day to collect the garden waste bin is a Thursday. I began to wonder if the last collection had been made this year so I went Online and checked to see when the last delivery is. Well it was,  almost a fortnight ago, so now I have  my garden waste bin almost full and it will not be emptied again until April next year. Typical.
 Not everything went wrong although I have had trouble with my replacement door, the seal has come off the bottom of the door, thus letting in the draught. Needless to say, I rung up the Company but it was an answer phone, so far nobody has bothered to contact me. I will give them some time but if they fail me I will contact Trading Standards.
  The other day I received my monthly bill for my Internet. This is the third time it has been incorrect so I decide once more to give them a call. There was a wait of about 20 minutes but as it was a freephone so it didn't cost me anything. Eventually I informed the guy what had happened. He seemed to be a more senior guy for after asking me the usual security questions looked at my account and noticed that I had complained before. He noted the last guy's name and told me he would be contacting him. He then asked me if I wouldn't mind holding on as he was going to sort this out straight away.
 After about 5 minutes he came back full of apologies saying he couldn't access my account directly so if I was prepared to wait another couple of minutes he would ring them and get this sorted out. He wasn't long this time but assured me that everything would be fine from now and the money they owe me will be credited to my account within 2 weeks. We will see. More soon.

Forgetting

This is the first raised bed where I buried the leaves ready for the A. frame to be moved. I had used a junior hack saw to cut some of the screws that were holding the frame to the raised bed but couldn't get to them all.

This is where the present raised bed is situated. It has been there for about 4 years. Prior to that it was where I propose to move it back to it's original place. By the way, notice the solar panels on both of our properties.                            

Here it is now in the old place, my mate managed to get a small wrecking bar to loosen the remaining nails and screws hold  the frame in place. To be honest, I was thrilled to bits that it all went so well. We, well mainly he, managed to man handle the complete frame and lift it to it's present position. I had the brainwave, (unusually for me)to put a couple of battens across the frame trapping the frame so that the winds, hopefully would not do so much damage. Only time will tell of course. Anyway we were both satisfied how it had gone. Well! I was amazed.    

My mate then suggested that we look at the driveway gates. It didn't take him long to sort that lot out. They are probably the best they have ever been.           

To top it all, I had bought a shoulder of Pork, was going to get something different but the main road was closed, resurfacing. It turned out to be a blessing for the Pork was fantastic. My mate loves the crackling, I do also but with my diabetes I can't eat that sort of stuff, but I did have a very small taste.                

I went to Town today to find the main High Street open again. To my surprise I noticed that about 25 metres had been left undone. Well I went to see my colleague in the Supermarket!!! He then told me that they had run out of money so the rest had to be left. To save money they had even reused the kerb stones.

What a state of affairs we are in. It was very quiet in the store when the road was closed he did tell me. I wasn't surprised at all.                                                    

I have just forgotten to post a blog these last few days. I guess it is called either memory loss or just plain idleness. More soon, perhaps!!                                       

 

Late November 5th.

 

 

 

 

As it had been a little drier the few days before, on Saturday I decided to try to get rid of the wood that was strewn over part of my orchard. I checked to see if there was any sticks that were not too wet. I was surprised that I found just enough to get a bonfire started. The main lot of the wood was wet but decided to have a go.
 I had just a little cardboard box and a couple of newspapers. I was pleasantly surprised how well the first lot burnt so hurriedly went to fetch some of the rotting wood. Sure enough the heat generated soon dried the wood and the fire burned briskly.
 I decided to try to get rid of some of the branches that I had trimmed from my trees, sure enough they went well. I finally decided to get a couple of tree roots. One was an Elder that I had dug up several months ago so no problem there I thought. The other was a Laurel shrub. Plenty of waxy green leaves but to my surprise this also went. I don't know if you can see but I made the bonfire so that an Ash tree that I had cut would take the brunt of the heat. I was hoping to damage it sufficiently so that it would perhaps die.
 Well I am sure that this tree will die. It is my aim to have another bonfire in the early Spring near to a Hawthorn hoping that I can succeed with the demise of that too.
 After I had burnt all which took me nearly all day I thought I would take cuttings of my geraniums(pelargoniums) so on Sunday morning I took 48 cuttings, just in time really as we have had a few frosts. This morning being the worst. Although I got up at 7.30am. to rain I went out to feed the birds well before 8.00am. and noticed that there was ice in the bird bath, not a flimsy bit but quite thick. I went back inside to look at the outside temperature. 1.9c. This didn't surprise me but wondered why it was rain falling and not snow.
 So I have 4 dozen geraniums in pots, mind you I will lose a few as some just don't like it and gradually die. I will be happy with 3 dozen though. More soon.

Sun

With it being sunny on Thursday I decided to collect a few more leaves and dug a trench where the runner beans will be next year and bury a couple of bags of leaves.
 The A frame which has had the runner beans on for the last 3 seasons was damaged when along this coast  a month ago when we had severe gales so I decided to move the A frame to another plot. Anyway although the ground was very wet I managed to dig a trench each side and buried a black bin bag of leaves either side. It was a nice but a little windy day so managed to get it all done with before Noon.
 I came back inside and went to check mail, there was a little and thought I would check my LPG tank for fuel level. I have to do this because the Company wishes me to inform them when the fuel is down to 20%. It is still too full.
 When I tried to open the front door, there was some resistance, I managed to open the door and noticed that the Postman had left me a couple of Marrows. He had told me a couple of weeks earlier that he had 2 for me but as the time went by I thought he had forgotten but I am pleased he hadn't.
 I have been trying to catch him everyday since but keep missing him, it is that I just wish to thank him. To be honest, we do give each other gardening produce, whether it is seeds or vegetables, more likely that is what I give him, he will give me small plants that he grows from seed but these Marrows are great.
 I thought they would be hard to cut, not a bit of it, not as easy as a fresh young fruit but easy to cut all the same. I know this because today I had Marrow for my dinner, with other things obviously.
 My mate will be pleased because he loves a stuffed marrow and as my photo shows, they are large and quite a reasonable size too. Anyway they will certainly give me several meals in the next couple of weeks. More soon.

Satellite

I must admit I was somewhat surprised to see that posted through my letter box on Friday last week was a replacement remote control for my Sky.
 Anyway I decided not to do anything about it as on Wednesday this week an engineer would be calling.
 Last night I had a recorded message stating that the engineer would call between 8.00am. and 10.00am. The engineer would contact me before hand.
 Sure enough at 7.45am. the phone rang, the engineer informed me that he would be at mine in about 50 minutes. It was nearer an hour later that he contacted me again asking whereabouts I lived. Actually he was very near to where I was.
 The fist thing he told me was to look at my dish. I told him that it was fine, he then told me he was going to change it for a new one as it was getting a little rusty. Let's face it I have had that dish for around 20 years.
 He then went in and told me that he was sure that the dish was the problem as I was receiving a poor signal. I then told him that my mate had checked the signal strength and it was fine. He then said something that made me think. He told me that he didn't take a lot of notice at those  signal strengths.
 Anyway he did a few tests then went outside he told me he would have to drill into the wall because he had to attach a sort of rope to make the ladder which he had to reach the dish safe. I could see what he was doing and told him that in frosty weather it would be a great idea.
It didn't take too long for the replacement dish to be fitted. So once again he went inside to the box. I told him about the replacement remote and also told him that I could not use the mute or volume. He said that it was because it hadn't been set up and he would set the new remote up so that all was on Sky as normal.
 I was surprised because it seemed as if replacing the dish has made the set work properly.
 When I think of it I realise this gradual reduction in  the signal to the box would cause my system to be a little sluggish. Now all seems to be working well once more.
 He did give me his telephone number just in case my faults had not gone away for good so that means for now at least, no more waiting for Sky to put you on hold for 30 minutes or so.
 More soon.
P.S. Must admit I am thrilled at the spelling check I have because I have NEVER posted a blog without first correcting spelling mistakes.

Phone calls.

I don't often use the phone but these last few days I have.
 I went online at moneysupermarket.com to see what deals there were on Motor Insurance.
 A couple of years ago I got a good deal, moneysupermarket asked me if I  would like them to save my details which I agreed to. Well last year I went online and saw that my current Insurer had a quote a few £s cheaper than the current price I was paying. Naturally I thought there was no need to bother with another Insurer. Wrong. When my renewal documents came I noticed that the quote was in excess of 40% more expensive than the online quote. I immediately rung them up and asked them what their game was. The guy on the other end was a little embarrassed but told me that if the quote was, like for like, they must match the offer that was online. This they did.
  This year I was prepared in advance as to what might happen. Once more they gave me a quote even less than last years. It was not quite the cheapest but I thought if they could match that I would stay with them for a third year.
This time it was not a free phone number but an 0844 a 5p+ a minute call. After the initial options I was straight through to the right operator. I explained what had happened the previous year and expected that something similar would happen this year. She asked me what was online and wanted the details, sure enough the difference in price was over £90. Surprisingly enough she just told me that the price online was O.K. and as long as there was no material difference that price would be fine. I immediately paid up bu debit card.
 Today, I have received my policy documents together with the original quote of over £90 more, but I have also received my Motor Insurance Certificate valid until December 2014.
 Yesterday I also received  a note informing me that my Satellite protection was due and if I did nothing would continue for a further year. As I have had a little trouble with the system I decided to call them.
 After being on hold for about 25 minutes getting increasingly annoyed so that when the man on the other end asked if he could help. I let him have it with both barrels. I told him under no circumstances should he request me to re-boot the system. He could tell I was irate and tried to placate me but I kept on at him. Eventually he then informed me he would arrange for an Engineer to visit me but would have to connect me to another department. I warned him that it had better   not be long. It wasn't and I told the woman on the other end that I though the system was not working properly and this was probably in conjunction with my remote and the guy should have one just in case. She informed me that he would not carry a spare remote but would post one on to me within the next 5 days. We will see. The engineer should be here on Wednesday morning next week, More soon.

A visitor

 

 

 

I probably would not have bothered to post these photos if it hadn't been for my ex. neighbour calling on me yesterday. I was actually on the phone, my mate had called me and we had been talking for about 20 minutes when my door bell rang.

It put paid to our chat but I was pleasantly surprised to see the ex. neighbour. She had lost her Husband who died at an early age a few years ago. They had 2 Daughters and both of them had left home, one was married and moved to the next Town, the other decided to go into the Police Force so of course she was not at home either. They had a 4 bedroomed house with a parcel of land which they purchased from the local Farmer I guess it was about 4 acres. It was just a paddock for the horses which the 2 girls had. Naturally when they got a little older, boys were more important than horses. Anyway it was too large a home for her to live alone so she decided to sell the property, move to the next small Town just a few miles away. Her Mother and Father lived there so it was handy.

Unfortunately her Mother suddenly passed away, she was full of life but went suddenly, her Father was lost because he had told me previously that he had given up driving as his Wife drove so there was no point in him driving anymore.

Anyway when she was here talking she told me that her Father reminded her that the last time he saw me I was doing my block paving. I told her I had once more just done the paving for the winter. She did remark that it looked nice. She also commented on my bathroom as she used the toilet. That was nice of her. Generally folk never say anything about toilets, sinks etc. unless they are filthy then they make comments to other people about the state of the place.              

She stayed well over an hour talking about old times, to be honest the time flew and it was so nice to see her. I guess I will not see her soon because she wished me a Merry Christmas.                                                                                             

Now to the photos, I hope you will notice the before and after look. These had been done a few months earlier. It takes a long time to get the steel brush into each block. A tedious job, not only that but increasingly hard. I showed much of my driveway just to show how big an area there is to do. Still it will do until early Spring next year. More soon.