Week 99. Gosh.
Cold and clear days. November is here.
A weekend in Westbury. Dad ‘n’ daught DIY.
Tuesday = weeknotes, a walk down to the Abbey and back with Phil, and an early start to my working week so that I could finish up at 4.45pm. That gave me 45 mins to drive to Ewyas Harold, post my eBayed crockery, and get my COVID booster jab.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
AND I sussed out how two pieces of string could provide The Ultimate Saucepan Lid Storage Solution!
AND booked Phil and me into a weekend course with Chainsaw Sam in Jan.
Our Internet went on a go slow on Wednesday so I decamped to dad and Jean’s. Lifesavers. We ended up cancelling VWW and although the internet was fine during the day on Thursday it had another glitch in the early evening which put paid to Family Zoom.
Dropped off apples, chutney and mincmeat with T&J first thing on Friday (meeting J’s mum setting out with her metal detector) before heading over to Winchester for a morning of Dad & Daughter DIY. We had a lovely time ticking off two things on The List:
- Repair the broken wooden tray leg
- Make a worktop to go on top of my filing cabinet now it’s sitting more snugly between the wardrobe and the wall.
It turns out that the tray is one of many old Cadbury Marshmallow manufacturing trays dad got from work. I’m seeing the small stools he made for me and Tom (curved seats) and my Dolls House (roof base) in a completely new light.
DIY done, I got treated to an excellent pub lunch out with dad and Jean with my first visit to The Bunch of Carrots. VG.
Back home to set up the worktop. A PERFECT FIT:
The (late) afternoon’s main achievement was moving more stuff up into the loft, and tidying up the spare room. At Last.
I spent the weekend down in Westbury visiting C. We had a good time – went into Bath, had a potter around then settled in a pub for a late lunch and some pints. I had to put the COVID risk to the back of my mind – the train was packed and I only saw 2 other people wearing masks. The pub was very busy too. Urgh.
Fab drive there and back in the MX-5 though. The Wye Valley down to Tintern was gorgeous with the trees in their autumn splendour. And I spotted the Sex Education convenience store.
Lounged around in the sun-warmed conservatory for Sunday afternoon. Recuperating.
Dad came over on Monday for the last of the initial trio of To Dos: turning old decking from the Garden Railway Line into a planter for the sage bush. A beautiful sunny day, and a very satisfying morning for us both.
We also hatched a plan to turn some of the surplus loft boarding into shelves, which we’ll do once I’ve got some wall brackets.
After lunch I headed out to do the Cockyard Circuit. Glorious sunshine. Bright blue skies, green fields and warm russet leafed trees.
Should have taken my camera. The one on my iPhone doesn’t do justice to the beautiful colours.
Packed up more eBay crockery sales in the late afternoon, then sorted out flights and pre-flight hotel for Picos 2022. That plan feels like it’s come together all too easily!!
TV: Mainly the excellent Money Heist (season 1), a bit of Master of None, trying out On the Verge (meh) plus Doctor Who and Bloodlands (Phil needs to catch up).
Podcasts: History Extra, In Our Time and Lingthusiasm (earlier episodes much more interesting than the latest one I’d sampled initially).
Photos: Herefordshire week 99 on Flickr.
Phil: w/e 2021-11-21.