Holey Moley it's cold out there. It's unusual for us, in out wet and windy, temperate climate to have such a prolonged cold snap and whilst I'd rather this than wet, I'm not happy. I'm a skinny little runt at the best of times (10% body fat according to the bathroom scales) and I really feel the cold. Even in the summer "The Emma" will be sat in shorts and a T shirt and I'll have a Jumper and hat on! I've been outside laying on the floor working on the van for most of the week and I've had 2 long sleeve thermal tops, a jumper, overalls, thick coat, long johns, 2 pairs of socks, wrist warmers, woolly hat, neck warmer and gloves on and I'm still cold. "The Emma" says I make a lot of washing in the summer, well, good luck getting that lot dry! Work on Project Patio has fully ground to a halt this week, there's no point playing with concrete when it's below freezing. Although I did end up having to wheel barrow 120 paving slabs and a ton of sharp sand from the end of the road to the back garden in the week. Due to some inconsiderate T***t blocking the rear entry road with their rubbish parking, preventing the delivery lorry from getting in. Cheers mate! On the plus side though, that was the only time this week I've been warm. Either way, the stopping of play on project patio has at least given me the chance to finish off the heating installation on the van. After the mid week Rivnut fiasco I made some good progress and can happily say that it's all in and finished. Obviously due to the lockdown situation I've not been able to try it out in anger. But, having run it up on the drive a couple of times everything seems to be working as planned and there's no rattles or problems when driving the van so that looks good. I've added another chapter to The Van Plan pages on my web site - Click here, for the relevant page if your interested in the full details. Despite having to dress up like the Michellin man every time I venture out the front door and the ongoing lockdown situation, I've still managed to get out and about over the weekend. Saturday I managed a chilly 16 mile run around the local roads in the morning, followed by a local 50 miles on the bike on Sunday and I've got to say that cold or not, it is beautiful out there. The low laying mist has been freezing in the trees leaving them heavily frosted, which coupled with the mist looks magical. Unfortunately my rubbish phone camera won't do it justice so you'll just have to take my word for it. It's certainly cold on the old fingers though, especially on the bike. Having had plenty of chance to experiment over the years I can confirm that 2 pairs of cheap gloves seem to offer the best warmth (1 thin wool pair, with a cheap fleece pair over the top seems to work well). I've got gloves that cost a small fortune, gloves that are allegedly water and windproof and gloves that are supposed to be the bees knees, but good old wool seems to be the best! If only I'd known that on day 1 I'd have saved a fortune and it just goes to show that not only is simple often the best option, but you can't believe all the marketing hype either! As an aside, and if your looking for something to do that doesn't involve going out side, I've stuck up a few bits looking back at what I was up too in 2020 on the website. Unfortunately, 2020 wasn't very interesting, mainly due to the Coronovirus kerfuffle limiting the adventures, but there's a few good pictures there and a load of old waffle. So if your really bored, or having trouble sleeping, click on the link below for instant relief!
Click here for 2020's reminiscing.
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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
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