Old enough to know better

The old wrought-iron gate attracted a lot of interest on Freegle, and went off on Wednesday, miraculously, in the back of a VW Polo.  At which point things began to go tits-up.  I managed to lock myself into the back garden, where all three doors were locked, my mobile phone was locked inside the house, and Martyn was out of earshot.  I rashly decided to climb over the wall and fell heavily, twisting my back and bruising my best feature.  I’m OK when I’m moving about, but getting up and sitting down elicit coarse words.

Thursday’s daub went reasonably well, though I wouldn’t class it as more than a sketch.  That completes my acrylic assault on the Canal Latéral à la Garonne, I think, so I may need to apply myself to the Cool Britannia theme that Miss has suggested.

Meanwhile, the seed potatoes are ordered for next spring, and I’ve harvested runner bean seeds.  The garden needs rather a lot of attention, but won’t get it until my back and backside are hurting a bit less.

Local trades

I mentioned the other day that we’d found a tame brickie nearby, and that he’d done a decent job for a sensible price.  By similar means (google ‘joiner’ and location) we found a chap five minutes’ walk away who has provided us with a seemingly solid wooden side gate to replace the rather manky old wrought iron job we inherited, and which a would-be burglar had little trouble lifting off its hinges, padlock notwithstanding.  (Fortunately, Martyn heard what was going on, and scared him off.). The new gate has a substantial latch and two bolts, and the price was not exorbitant.  In times when the talk of cowboys and rogue traders is all too common, it’s nice to know there are some good ‘uns close at hand.  Meanwhile we wait to see if anyone on Freegle wants a tired old wrought iron gate.

Of the motor trade, I am as usual less than complimentary.  OK, they lent me a nice little automatic Škoda for the day (though that turned out to cost me a £12 ‘admin fee’), but they tried as usual to get me to buy extras not listed in the service schedule, and tried a second time after I’d already declined.  The good news was that the Ateca passed its first MoT, and that the work was finished earlier than I’d expected.  The day before, I heard a talk about modern slavery and people trafficking, and have resolved to do my own car washing henceforth, except when it goes in for service, and gets a wash and sweep out as part of the price.

Out in the garden we have had the last of the tomatoes, but the beans continue to crop like mad.  Roast hen tonight with some home-grown veggies and some bought ones.  I shall put in our order for next year’s charlottes in the coming days. I did a bit more dead-heading between showers the other day, and the rudbeckias haven’t quite finished yet.  The grass wants a cut, but with all the rain we’ve had, it can want for a bit longer.  The leaves have begun to fall, but the majority has yet to land on our immaculate greensward (irony).  The other autumn ritual is the trimming of the poxy leylandii.  Our man is on notice, but has yet to call and fix a date.  We’d ideally like rid of them all, but until next door replace their rotten fence, the green boundary is preferable.

As for the ever depressing world of politics, I must keep my own counsel for a few more months.  Suffice it to say that I’d give my pension to be a fly on the wall at the weekly audience.

Elderly pursuits

We met on Tuesday morning in Wadhurst - eventually - for a German chat session, as we do twice a month.  It took longer than usual to get there, since traffic was held up following what we now call a road traffic collision at the junction I needed to take.  Another member of the group, who was about ten cars ahead of me in the queue, got there about 10 minutes after me: someone coming the other way had told me what was happening, and advised a detour, so that I was only about a quarter of an hour late.  I’m hoping that the motorcyclist involved has recovered: he didn’t look too good when my fellow converser drove past.

There were only four of us at the conversation session, but we had a pretty good chat in the time available.  I’m hoping a co-hobbyist may join the group.  She has recently joined the U3A, and is looking at both French and German conversation.  Unfortunately, the French group clashes with my art group meetings: a shame, since my French is going to need more maintenance now.

After the German Klatsch, I had then to get home to collect Martyn, and then Celia and Andy, for our lunch date at the Bull at Three Leg Cross near Ticehurst.  Nice, friendly pub, where the others each had two courses of very good fried fish.  The burger I chose was good, but could have done with less exposure to the flame.  Decent house Merlot.

Wednesday’s entertainment was getting the car MoT’d and serviced.  It passed, but has come back with a software update that changes the characteristics of the stop-start thingy.  For the past three years, the car has shut down at the lights and applied the parking brake, kicking in again when you tapped the throttle.  Now, it starts up again as soon as you take your foot off the brake.  I wasn’t told to expect this, and £250 pounds and a fat estimate for other jobs later, am now less enamoured than ever of the motor trade.

Thursday’s art club session was good: we even had a visit from Miss, who provided Martyn with some free but not entirely welcome tuition....oh well.  I finished off a fast and loose piece based on a view I enjoyed  of the Canal Latéral à la Garonne near Meilhan-sur-Garonne when Annie and I went for a walk there one early morning last summer.  The days were getting very hot around then, so we made the most of the dewy mornings.

I might have mentioned that we have each done a snowy painting for this year’s Christmas card, and it is formatted ready for printing.  The printer cartridges have arrived, we have enough card in stock, and the envelopes are ordered.  I just need now to organise a mortgage for the stamps which, each year, cost about a week’s state pension.  Worth every penny, though, since we love sending greetings to family and friends, and receiving theirs in return.

Frustratingly enough, I was stuck in a hobby-related meeting all afternoon yesterday when I’d rather have been in the garden.  Today has been unremittingly wet.  I cropped a handful of beans before the rain came on too heavily this morning, but the dead-heading and grass cutting remain outstanding.  We’ve changed the beds and done five lots of washing, at least, so the day has not been wholly wasted.  The knees are registering the damp climate, however.  It’s a bugger, gettin’ auld, however preferable it may be to the alternative.

Reassuring

When the news is so unremittingly depressing, a Macmillan coffee morning is a good reminder that there are good and generous people all around us.  We had good fun preparing it too.  On the savoury side, there were sausage rolls, a couple of pizzas and smoked salmon palmiers.  The sweet stuff (which went less well) included a Victoria sponge, blueberry muffins, apple and sultana filo parcels (apples from our tree), a couple of lots of biscuits and Martyn’s famous scones.  We bought the pastry and some of the jam, but by and large it was all from Pâtisserie Forges-l’Evêque.  We had over twenty guests: friends, neighbours and colleagues, so the atmosphere was quite festive. We were very lucky with the weather, so we had the doors open, and the party spilled out into the garden.  We sold quite a few packets of seeds, saved from flowers in the garden, at a pound a pinch.  We think some people who couldn’t come will have donated from their mobile phones, and I have a couple of promises of cash.  I banked £375 yesterday, so we may finish up with over £400.  Not bad, since our target was to beat last year’s £195.

I wasted a 40-mile round trip on the hobby yesterday.   Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had a jobbing builder in to do some tidying up of brickwork on the back of the house: filling the holes left by the redundant overflow pipe and cooker hood vent.  Money well spent: the place looks far tidier now for it.

Today, the gas man cameth and installed the Hive equipment, which should correct the anomalous thermostat arrangements and allow us to control the heating remotely from our phones.  So we’ll be able to leave the place on frost protect when we’re away, and wind the wick up when we’re a couple of hours from home.  All clever stuff.