It's been a bit of an odd's and end's weekend this week. With nothing planned, the van off the road and plenty of odd jobs to catch up on, I've actually been at home for a change. Not that that means I've not been busy, I've got plenty done, not least a good few hours of cleaning parts for the van, ready for it to go back together as soon as the engine gets back. Not particularly exciting, but it's another job ticked off, and this weekends work will hopefully pay dividends when it does finally go back together. In between the scrubbing, I've identified and repaired a couple of chafed wires that would have been a nightmare to find with the engine in, replaced the gearbox and drive shaft seals, made up a new Engine earth lead to replace the original which was worn 3/4 of the way through and fitted new track rod ends and ball joints to replace the ones I had to saw off to get the drive shafts out! As I said, nothing exciting but hopefully steps in the right direction. In other news, the allotments really starting to come into it's own and in addition to Strawberries for breakfast every morning for the last week, we had Broad Bean and Pea risotto, with a bit of left over gammon, for tea on Saturday. You really can't beat the taste of freshly picked and podded peas and broad beans and I look forward to the broad bean crop every year. Not only are they the first of the veg to harvest but their amongst the tastiest, in fact I'd rather wait all year for fresh allotment ones than be reduced to buying them. Looking around on the plot we should be picking Courgettes by this time next week and I don't think that the Cucumbers, Beetroot and summer Raspberries will be far behind, so there's plenty to look forward too. The Tomato's have set the first fruit, so it's just a case of waiting for the sun to do it's thing and ripen them up, and the Runner Beans have made it to the top of the canes too and have flowers on. In fact it's all finally coming along nicely and everything's now planted out in it's final place. I suppose that I should really start thinking about next year and get some spring flower seeds sown if we are going to have any colour at home. Wallflowers, Foxgloves, Aquilegia, Spring Pansy and Primula's all need to go in in the next few weeks, if they're to be ready for planting out in the autumn, it seems like it's never ending sometimes, but when you get to see the rewards of your labours, so satisfying. Whilst we are talking about enjoying the rewards of your labours, the back garden, scene of last winters "Project Patio" is really starting to come to fruition now. There's still a few odd jobs to do, but sitting out there of an evening with the Bumble Bee's busy collecting nectar from the Foxgloves, Sparrows flitting around picking bugs from the apple tree and the amazing scent coming from the first of the Nicotiana and Dianthus, it really makes it all worthwhile. In keeping with the mantra that it can't be "all work and no play" I took the opportunity whilst the sun shone on Saturday to get out on the bike for a few miles. Nothing too serious, just a pootle around the local area really, on a route that I'd not done for a while. And a great little day out it was too. The country lanes look magnificent with the long grasses in full bloom along the verge side and the hedgerows are alive with birds, busy tending to their young. It all looks so inviting, lush and green, that it almost becomes impossible to remember back to those cold, wet and grey winter days when everything was dead and dying and spring seemed so far away. That's what I love about the UK though, the change in season and the character of the land as the year progresses. From the browns and greys of winter, through to the vibrant greens of spring, onto the yellows of summer and the harvest time, through to the gold's and ochre's of Autumn, it's ever evolving and changing. OK, I'll admit that it rains a lot and the wind drives me nuts most of the time, but I'm not sure that I'd swap it for anywhere else! Whilst we are on the subject of being out and about, I've been past this church at Welford a few times over the last couple of years and it always catches my eye due to it's round tower. Having done a bit of building work I can confirm that building in the round is actually a lot harder than it looks, as it's difficult to keep things square and level, which probably explains why you don't see many buildings built this way. A quick bit of Googling from the comfort of my armchair throws up some interesting facts about it, including the fact that it's one of only 2 round towers in Berkshire. Not the most interesting fact ever, but that now means that I'm going to have to plot a route and take a trip out to have a look at the other one doesn't it. Sometimes I think that I'd be better wandering around with my eyes shut! Whilst I think about it I've finally caught up the missing blog post from earlier in the month and even if I do say so myself it's a good one. I'd recommend that you grab a brew, find a spare couple of minutes and go back in time to earlier in the month to enjoy My Big Hard One!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
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