Acrobatic Squirrel

We've had a  visiting squirrel giving us some entertainment over the past couple of days. It has come into the garden and run along the top of the fence and then it stands and stares at the bird feeder from the left-hand side of the garden, Garry and Shelley's side. We re-installed the bird feeder a few weeks ago and used a thing in the ground which has four 'spikes' in it which you push into the ground and then put the central pole of the feeding station into this and lock it in place using the butterfly nuts and, considering the wind we've had blowing through the garden recently, the thing seems to be working successfully. It has stood firm and hasn't moved. I'd suggested we move the entire thing further away from the fence because of the fact we had a squirrel actually jump from the fence onto the bird-feeding station. Quit a feat and actually could have impaled itself on the finial which tops the feeding station. Amazed when I saw this with my own eyes. This new squirrel has managed to actually climb up the pole and hang upside down from the bird feeders, and climb down and change direction several times before running away into the long grass near the fence and then, somehow or other, climb back up onto the fence and was last seen running away along the branches of the over-hanging trees. And throughout all this, Alfie was asleep on the sofa and totally oblivious of all this going on outside the window. I did manage to get some photographs of this incident, but unfortunately the results are not as good as they might have been.

Alfie came in the house and there was a really bad smell. We couldn't find out where it was coming from. Had he rolled in something stinky? Dogs have a habit of doing this. It's not nice. So we had to stick him in the bath, much to his displeasure. He currently looks like a drowned rat (although I've never actually seen a drowned rat.) Running around the house shaking himself and rubbing himself against bits of furniture. But it's as well to do this as we couldn't spend the rest of the day with that awful stink.

Fence Repair and Other Matters

The sound of D.I.Y. had almost disappeared yesterday, thankfully. On returning from church mid-morning we were expecting to hear more hammering and sawing, which wouldn't have been surprising as it was a very mild and sunny day over-all. We had considered going for a swim but we didn't in the end. 

During the afternoon we were settled down for a rest when there was a knock at the door. It's usually whenever we are settled and quiet that we get either a phone call or someone comes to the door and disturbs things. I ran downstairs and found Shelley, Gary's wife (our neighbour on one side.) she said she wanted to speak to us. It appears that Gary is going to replace the fence which divides our gardens. As it's on our left, it is actually our responsibility, and our landlord should legally deal with this. But if we contact him he will make so much fuss and would no doubt get a cowboy builder to to the work, that in the end it's easier for us to get the work done. Gary will do the work and we'll pay for half of the work. At £40 it seems cheap. As it cost around £200 to have the fence at the end of the garden replaced (nearly two years ago I suspect, but it might have been less than that.) definitely a good deal. He will do the work over the next weekend. Having looked at that section of fence, it doesn't look as if it would survive much longer. It's very wobbly and definitely unstable and if you were to touch it it would most likely just crumble into a heap of sawdust or shavings. I don't think the fence around the garden has been replaced since the house was constructed, which I imagine would have been in the late 1970's. So it must be well over 40 years old. I notice that a lot of fences in the Eaglestone area have recently been replaced, so if that's a sign of how old the fences are, it's no surprise that ours needed replacing. Our landlord is somewhat of a skinflint, as you will have realised if you've read my earlier posts. He certainly doesn't like spending money (well, who does, in all honesty?) It's just if he does get someone to do any work they are never properly qualified and don't do a decent job. A case of 'make-do and mend. But if you get a cowboy to do the work you end up with poor-quality workmanship which then needs further work doing and it will cost more to remedy the problem. Just not a cost-effective method of repair.

I have seen the large yellow signs dotted about along the Gridroads and within Eaglesone, telling us that there's going to be yet another marathon running through here next Sunday as well as Monday, which is the  May Bank Holiday. All very well and nice for the runners, but yet again we won't be able to get out with the car when this is on. I know there's people out there who get all hot and bothered if you even dare to suggest that this event is re-routed along the Redway. But I bet if I was to go and park my car immediately outside their homes so they couldn't get out, they wouldn't be over-pleased. The last time I wrote about this matter on here it seemed that I'd made a rude suggestion. It's just that some people don't like it when someone disagrees with them, sadly. Not allowed to have a contrary opinion. Oh dear, I'd better end here before I get a brick thrown through my front window! Oh well, I suppose if we want to go out on either day we'll have to leave well before this event takes place.

10th Anniversary of my Heart Attack

Goodness gracious. How time flies. Sorry to use a really over-worked cliché, but it's true. I can't believe it's ten years since I had my heart attack. The night of 17th and 18th of May 2006 was when it happened. I have written quite extensively in an earlier blog post on here about what happened on that night and how the paramedics came and I ended up in the C.C.U. (Coronary Care Unit) at Bedford Hospital. I feel a good deal better than I did then. Actually, I feel as good as I've felt in a good long while. No real problems.

I've been mowing the grass at the back of the house. (I still refuse to refer to it as a 'lawn.') I did a cut yesterday, and to be perfectly honest with you, it looked really poor. As if it had been nibbled by some strange creature. Scrappy, to say the least. So I've cut it again and now it looks a good deal better. Not really like a lawn (it's never going to be that as it's just horrible grass.  Tough and terrible.) But it looks a good deal better. I've also been Stimming the long grass around the edges and cut some of the twigs that grow up along the fence. It's taken me a while to get the hang of the Strimmer (actually it's not a Strimmer, it's a Qualcast machine. 'Strimmer' is a registered trademark, but it's like 'Hoover' being used as a generic term for a vacuum cleaner.  But it works in exactly the same way.) It was worth buying a more expensive one as the extra power this one has means it does the job far better than a cheaper, lower power machine.)

The shed where the mower and strimmer are housed is beginning to cave in. Or at least the roof is. It has a hole in it. During the winter the wind took some of the roofing felt and left the remains, rotting and just past it, in the garden. So, what happens when the whole roof caves in? I don't suppose our beloved landlord is going to get it repaired. The lady next door, whose shed backs onto ours, had hers reroofed by the Council (they presumably own her house. They repaired the fence when it was blown down by a really severe winter wind some while ago.) The shed is full of the odd belongings of former tenants of this property, such as ancient portable televisions, baby baths, etc etc. Similar leaving are in the other shed, including a really old mattress and other bits and pieces. The meter cupboard, which is at the front of the house, contains similar junk. Why couldn't either the landlord or SmartMove, the agency we originally rented from, have this stuff removed before we moved in? It surely wouldn't have taken too much to get a skip and just throw the stuff away. Too much trouble to expect such a service, without us being charged. Gary, our neighbour the 'other side' suggested he repair the roof of one shed and take away all the junk within and then make one shed waterproof and then put a door in from his garden side so he could use it to store his things. But then he had second thoughts, having spoken to someone further along the street who knows our landlord and said that it might not be such a good idea because once they found out they'd want to charge rent. Also, I imagine that it might contravene our tenancy agreement, sort of 'sub-letting' or something. But it still means that we can't put anything of ours in there, including our bicycles which are still kept in the entrance hall of the house.

Worsening Weather

As I've mentioned in the earlier post, we now have a repaired fence. It's taken long enough time to find someone to do the work, that is, within a reasonable budget. We knew our beloved landlord wasn't going to do anything about it as he's tight-fisted, to say the least. As a result of the work we are now hoping to transform the garden so at least we can use it to sit in and enjoy. I think 'garden' is a somewhat loose term as it's got no beds or flowers in it or any vegetables in order to qualify it for 'garden.' I spent some time yesterday removing some rather unsightly objects from the 'space', such as a really ugly black plastic dustbin and a pile of four white plastic chairs which has been in the garden since we moved in. Also, an ancient barbecue and unsightly rubbish which is now inside the shed, or at least, what remains of the shed. The door to this hangs on one hinge, but at least this unsightly paraphernalia is out of sight and out of mind. I had considered getting the local council to remove it all, but it would have meant lugging it all through the house and placing it on the grass at the front of the house, and it would have meant a payment of around £20 for the council to come along and remove it, so the idea of it all going in the shed seemed a far better option all round. It seems that we have to contend with former tenants of this property who left oddments of furniture such as mattresses and the like in the shed (why they couldn't be disposed of to the local tidy tip I can't imagine. None of these items, particularly the mattresses are well past their best and not fit for use, having been in the shed in all the time we've lived in the house.) Well, when we look out of the lounge window we now have a better view without the junk in the garden and a decent fence in place. I had spent some time yesterday mowing the lawn and had intended finishing it today, but the weather has turned wet and it's impossible to mow grass when it's wet as well as being somewhat dangerous considering the fact that the mower is electric. So I will now have to wait until the rain stops and the grass is dry enough to cut.

Yesterday was reasonably fine and dry for most of the day. Which is what prompted me to get on with sorting out the garden. I got about three-quarters of it done. At around the time I usually go to meet Carol from the Academy, the sky darkened and it spotted with rain. I was going to walk over, as it's only a ten-minute walk, but had thought, it's no good walking, because we'll both get soaked because there was a very dark cloud looming over Milton Keynes. As I stepped out of the front door there was a rumble of thunder. Not good. Poppy doesn't like thunder. It's no good. I know she doesn't like it, but there wasn't a great deal I could do about it. I decided I'd have to drive over, even though it actually takes longer to drive than walk, which seems absurd. You can't get out through the exit which is opposite the Academy because of the traffic, so I have to drive round the estate and go out near the shops. By now it was raining hard, so it was just as well I had chosen to drive. But the joke was, by the timeI drew into the carpark at the Academy the rain had stopped and it was bright sunshine again. Just shows how crazy our weather is in this country. I got out of the car and saw Carol walking towards me. Suddenly there was an almighty clap of thunder and she screamed! She ran towards me and wrapped her arms around me. She doesn't like thunder or lightening! To be honest it never bothers me. I actually like a good thunderstorm. There's something elemental about it. It's exciting. But I don't think Carol would say that. She got in the car and she was glad to be going home.

I am in the process of transcribing my written material onto word processing. It's a somewhat time consuming job and not all that exciting, to say the least. But it must be done. I have several sequences written and I'm currently editing and revising these bits and pieces. I can do around 20 minutes at a time but no more as I can't type for much longer. My hands begin to ache. I think, if you were working in an office, you aren't supposed to work on a computer for more than 20 minutes at a stretch. So I have left off for today and will continue after the weekend.

Repaired Fence and Leaking Washing Machine

We are supposed to be having the fence repaired today at long  last. Well, we found someone through the internet who could do the work for us. As I write this at 8.50 there is no sign of the man. We have even been to the A.T.M. to take out the cash to pay for it. So, when is he going to appear? I wait with baited breath, because, if you've followed this blog for any length of time, you will know that this matter has been a cause for some sort of concern for quite a while. Even when we were with Smartmove, the rental agency, someone had come to have a look at the fence with a view to having it all repaired. That was a good FIVE YEARS ago, and the state of the fence is, well, words fail me. I have even been out with the new Canon digital camera and taken some photographs so we can have 'before and after' shots when the work is completed. If it's completed, because I was expecting the workman to be here by now. At least by 9 o'clock.

Then there's the other problem. I did two loads of washing on Monday, and after the second load, I discovered some water on the floor near the machine. In the slot where the recycling bin and rubbish bin stands. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's coming from the outflow pipe because it has a really poor connection with the pipe which takes the waste water from the sink and the washing machine. It looks like a really botched, amateurish job, no doubt done by our landlord who has to get the cheapest job on this sort of thing. Which means that it will cause the sort of problem I have already described. Just to save a couple of pounds. So, I have someone coming later in the morning, again, found through the internet. Never mind. These things are sent to cause us the most problems. Just have to sort it out even though it is the landlord's job to get it fixed. If I had rung him, it would be days before it was done and we need to use the washing machine again soon.

It's now 9.03 and still no sign of the fence man. Is he going to turn up? Keep reading to find out. The excitement is too much.

I have put the dogs in our bedroom because I don't want a repeat of what happened when the workmen came to replace the boiler and Alfie got out. He was easy to get into the room upstairs, but Poppy, being her usual stubborn self, refused to comply. I had to pick her up and carry her. But least they are in there and safe until the work is done. That is if it is done. I do hope so.

The workmen arrived a few minutes later. Three of them. As I write this they are carrying fence panels around to the rear of he house.

It turns out that they also do plumbing and one of the men has been looking at the plumbing behind the sink and the washing machine and what he has said about it is worrying, to say the least. The piping needs replacing. Another botched job in order to save a few pounds. It must be done, so I will have to get them to come back at a later date. It isn't actually the washing machine which is leaking. It's because there is a back-up of water and muck caught in the pipes because there is insufficient fall to allow the water to drain away as it should.

I have had another plumber come and look at the leaking pipe, as contacted earlier this morning. He had a look and now tells me it should be dealt with by the company who installed the new boiler. So I have rung them and they should come and look at the problem and should repair it for nothing as it's their fault there is a leak. I'm somewhat annoyed that the joint (where the boiler is plumbed into the outflow pipe) is so poorly finished hence the leak.

Some time later. The gas boiler fitter came out and looked at the leaking problem and then said that the pipe is most likely blocked. I'm not surprised, looking at the weird arrangement of plumbing. It needs to be unblocked. It is the pressure of any water building up inside, and particularly when the washing machine is emptying, which is putting a strain on the joint which is where the leak is coming from. So it looks as if I'll have to ring our landlord and get him to find a plumber himself to sort this thing out. I only know that he's going to get a cheap job just to save money, but without the thing fixed we can't use the washing machine which is really out of the question.

Now that the fence is restored to some sort of normality, we're intrigued by Alfie's reaction to it. He went out as soon as the workmen had left and he had to go out and see what all the fuss and commotion was about. He had been in the bedroom with Poppy but couldn't see anybody but could obviously hear. He stood and looked at the fence and seemed to be saying 'What's that thing? It wasn't there yesterday. I seem to remember I could see things through there.' Very comical, to say the least. And he keeps on going out and staring at it. A Very sharp little dog is Alfie.

Howling Gale and Getting Dark

I'm writing this at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I don't usually write this blog so late in the day, but why not break a habit? I suppose it's because I have something to write early in the morning. I don't altogether like it when the clocks change in October. I don't particularly enjoy the winter, although I enjoy Christmas. Dark evenings and getting up in the dark. And today there's the howling gale.  Storm Barnaby. Or so I'm told. Why have they started giving storms names? The first one last week was called Abigail or something. It seems they are to be alternately female and then male. But what on earth is the point of giving it a name in the first place? In America they give hurricanes names. So why do we have to copy everything that America does? And if we must have names for storms, can they have better names? Barney just makes me think of that awful mauve dinosaur thingy that used to be on television. Awful. Barney just doesn't suggest a storm of any magnitude to me at all. And what are they going to use for the next batch of bad weather? Camilla? Perhaps not. Cathy? Dennis? Edith? Fred? Gladys? Harold? Anyway, the wind is getting far stonger and at this rate the fence the opposite side of the garden to the side that got blown down last winter looks as if it' going to land up the same way.

Workmen Repair Neighbour's Fence

I have been indoors for most of the morning. Working on this blog mostly. Did some washing-up and other things when I heard this noise outside. As we're used to strange sounds from one side, Gary doing D.I.Y., drilling, lawn-mowing, trimming, hammering etc., there didn't seem anything odd about it. But it being a Monday, it seemed even more odd as he would have been at work. I just thought I'd look out of the window to see what the noise was, along with some music, from a radio I presumed, and saw a workman in our garden, digging a hole (the opposite neighbour to Gary and Michelle) the bit of fence which has been looking very un-fencelike for months, perhaps even years, having been removed and Marion (the neighbour that side of us) saying (when I went out to see what was going on) that they were from the Council and were replacing that particular bit of fence. Unfortunately they can't do our fence. When, I wonder, will our beloved landlord get someone to do the work? He keeps on saying that he has a 'friend' who can do it. But what has happened to this phantom 'friend"? If he can't be contacted, surely he could find someone else to do the work. The last time a so-called 'friend'  of his did some work for him in this house, look what happened- it was when the washing-machine was plumbed in. The idiot who did the work had no idea what he was doing. He didn't know that the transit bolts on the rear of the machine had to be removed before the thing was plumbed in. They are there to prevent the drum in the machine moving about when it's being moved and when I came to use the machine the thing came away from the unit it was fixed under and when it spun at speed it pulled away from the piping it was plumbed into and caused no end of damage which included a more or less permanent drip which wasn't repaired until we got a proper plumber in to repair the damage. Just get a professional do do the work. Not some botch-up boy. Anyway, not wishing to complain about the work, but it would have been nice if they'd come to our front door and told us what was going on, as it was something of a surprise, to say the least. The gas boiler still needs a safety certificate. Another thing that the landlord promised to get done but hasn't. It's now well over a year since he took over the management of this house but not having a gas safety certificate is illegal. I suppose he's trying to get another 'friend' to do this. They must be Corgi registered so no wide-boy amateur can do the work, or is supposed not to. I wonder if he's aware of that. I very much doubt it.

The fence was completed. I'm surprised how quickly the work was done and how thorough the workmen were, apart from leaving some of the bits of the old fence behind in our garden. Did they forget to take it, or was it that they couldn't get back into our garden once the new section was built? Perhaps. But it doesn't matter. I just wish the rest of our fence was repaired and to the same standard. The new section looks very solid and secure and it will take quite a strong wind to manage to blow it down like the old dilapidated fence was back in the winter.

Wet and Windy

There was howling gale outside and rain dribbling down the windows  and making quite a noise all night. I'm not sure whether the so-called 'Weather Bomb' hit the British Isles last night, but it was very wet. As I write this at 7.41 a.m. I have driven Carol to work and there is some rain but only a slight amount and the wind seems to have dropped, thankfully. I doubt our remaining fence will be standing if there is strong wind as I suspect there will be. There is another section which looks to me to be on the verge of falling over. It is very rotten and won't survive much longer. Still, we wait with baited breath to see whether the landlord actually comes to get the fence replaced, but I doubt it.

We are ready for Christmas. We put our Christmas tree up last weekend. We have had real trees in the past, but we never seem to have a great deal of success keeping them alive after the Christmas season. Although they are watered and fed, they never seem to last long outside. We have had two which came from local garden centres and have come growing in pots, but I don't know what it is you have to do to keep them alive. When I was a child and living in Cardington we had a Christmas tree which lasted for years, planted out in the garden and brought in for the Christmas season and then re-planted. It seemed to thrive quite well and grew considerably. Maybe that is the secret; you have to plant them out in the earth. I think the roots need to be freed from the pot they are planted in. I just don't understand why the trees we've had have never survived. Just such a shame as I prefer a real tree to an artificial one, although the one we have, which we bought last year, isn't too bad. At least an artificial one doesn't shed it's needles. We got a really decent set of lights in Sainsbury's and so we do at least have enough lights on it to make it look really good.

Large Lorry With Fencing On Parked Outside Our House

We really thought we were going to get our long-promised fence. There was a very large truck (H.G.V.) Heavy Goods Vehicle (a large lorry or truck to my overseas readers) parked right opposite our house overnight. It had 'fencing' written all over it and pallets on the back. It wasn't clear when I looked whether it had actual fence panels on it, but by the time I noticed it this morning it had gone. So, no chance that our beloved landlord has purchased and actually had them ready to replace the crumbling wreck of a fence we have surrounding our garden. No such luck. After yesterday's ordeal early with Alfie our Yorkie doing his disappearing act through the hole, it might have solved this particular problem. Never mind. One lives in hope. I have come to the firm conclusion that they have now forgotten all about the fence being repaired.

It's again another overcast day. Grey and gloomy is about all I can describe it as, unfortunately.

Alfie Goes Walkabout Again

It's 5.45 a.m. and I go downstairs to make tea, as I do every morning. Alfie follows me down to the kitchen and goes to the sliding patio doors expecting to be let out. I set up the mugs on the worktop along with filling up the kettle at the sink (now, fortunately, running away smoothly.) Having finished at the worktop I let Alfie out, but as I do so next door's cat is seen disappearing over the fence. Alfie shoots off across the garden, chasing the cat, barking noisily. I call after him, but he ignores me and then he disappears through the hole in the fence. I am not exactly over-pleased, as you can imagine. I chase after him, calling for him and going to the hole in the fence. No sign of small Yorkshire Terrier, as it's pitch black and with the small pocket torch I attempt to shine the rather ineffectual pool of light produced by the torch through the hole into the trees behind the fence and lining the Redway behind the garden. From previous similar escaping dog events from Alfie, I would have expected him to yap when I call his name. I panic as I'm not sure where he is. I return to the house to see whether he has gone back into the bedroom, as he has a habit of hiding either behind the sofa in the lounge or upstairs and under the bed. He will hide in these places if he thinks he has done something wrong. Meanwhile, Carol has come out and is vainly calling for Alfie but still no success in finding him. Our other dog, Poppy, is in the kitchen and barking noisily near the patio door. It's as if she's trying to tell us something. We can hear Alfie's bark from somewhere, but it's not clear where. Then I go out into the garden, having by now changed out of my slippers into my trainers as I went across the wet grass in them and as a result got my feet sopping wet. I go to the clapped-out shed, which has the door hanging off as the hinges have given up and it's been kept up with a variety of oddments to keep it shut. I can hear Alfie inside the shed and have to pull the door open as best I can and there he is inside. I have to pull him out of the shed through the narrow gap in the door by catching hold of his collar and dragging him out. I still have no idea how he manages to get into the shed, but as he's so small he can get through almost any small hole. But I'm just glad to have him back, safe and sound. I know he wouldn't go far as he's not the world's most brave little dog and would not have survived very long when it's cold and wet. Relief all round. I actually get to complete the making of the tea which I had been attempting to make when all the bother over the escaping Alfie began. He doesn't wander far when we go of a walk and he's let off his lead. He will run ahead and keeps within eye contact of use and will run back to use when called so it's odd that he was in the shed and didn't respond by barking when I was calling him. I was just so worried that he might have run off and got on the road and got run over which would be tragic and doesn't bear thinking about.

As I've said on here before, our landlord had promised faithfully to repair the fence and after something like five months we are still waiting for something to be done. The state of the fence has deteriorated considerably since we had the visit when they surveyed the fence and we signed a new tenancy agreement and when we moved away from renting the house through Smartmove rental agency. I can't in all honesty see why it has taken so long to get things fixed. We know it was difficult to get new fence panels after the high winds of earlier this year, when no doubt a lot of fences got blown down in the same way that ours got blown down. We spent some time looking for replacement panels in various garden centres and builder's merchants in and around the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire area, but I can't see why the landlord couldn't have done something to at least fix the fence even if it's on a temporary basis.

Wild, Wet and Windy Weather

The past couple of days the weather has been wet and windy. A section of garden fence is now almost vertical. As I sit and write this post I can see through into the area that borders the Redway behind our house. The other day I couldn't find our Yorkie, Alfie. He had gone through the gap and did manage to get back through into the garden, but he has a habit of wondering off through any gaps in the fence as he's a very inquisitive little dog. He went through into our neighbour's garden as I reported on here a couple of weeks ago, and he did come back through. We have to keep and eye on both dogs whenever they go into the garden, because the the possibility of them getting through the fence. The landlord had promised to replace the fence a couple of months ago, but, as yet, there seems to be no chance of this work being undertaken. There isn't much left of that section of 'fence' (for want of a better word) as it is so rotten it will not stand up to much more being done to it such as having nails driven into it.

Still Raining

Considering the flooding in other parts of the country at the moment, particularly along the River Thames near Chertsey and Staines and in the Somerset Levels, we shouldn't complain here in Milton Keynes about flooding. We have had very little, although there has been a considerable amount around Newport Pagnall and Olney. As I sit and write this I can see out of the window from the lounge and the rain is falling as hard and fast as ever, some running down the window. The garden is like a quagmire. Whenever the dogs go outside they come back caked in mud. Neither of them wants to stay outside for long, and who can really blame them? The fence is looking very unstable. Along the right hand side of the garden an entire section of the fence was blown over a couple of weeks ago. We managed to right it and prop it up as best we could and put some old garden chairs against it and it seemed to survive in this condition for a few weeks, but it came down only a couple of days ago with an almighty crash which I heard when I was reading. This fence-section is now in such a poor state of repair that there is really no point in attempting to right it again. The upright planking has come adrift from the cross-pieces which hold it together. It, along with the remainder of the fence, is in a very sorry state and I predict that a further strong wind will see it completely disintegrate. Alfie has been tempted on several occasions to wander through the gap in the fence whenever he goes into the garden, but I think he now knows that he must stay in the garden and not go through the gap. We have all manner of items propped up against the fence in an attempt to either shore it up or plug holes in it. Having said all that about rain, it is still relatively mild. There have been days when we've been out to the car first thing in the morning and discovered the windscreen has a layer of ice on it, but those days have been few and far between. I drove to Waitrose this morning and saw primroses had bloomed along the side of Chaffron Way. Considering we are barely halfway through February it seems very early to see signs of flowers blooming. Definitely a good deal milder than this time las year when we had a very long spell of snow and ice.

Workmen are currently working along the road from this house with a shredder into which they are putting cuttings from bushes and trees. It had got very overgrown along some of the paths around this estate so it was good to see this work being carried out. A lot of the trees along the inner ring road of the estate has been cleared and it is now much tidier and clearer. A lot of the trees along the Redways and Gridroads have been cleared and i must say it looks very neat and tidy.

Blackberry Picking

This morning I've done my annual blackberry picking expedition, or I suppose I should say ONE of them at least. Walking along the Redway behind our house and collecting a fair amount  in a plastic box and also from the brambles that grow over our back garden fence. Although 'fence' as a description is rather rich, as what purports to be a fence is just a rather wobbly, rickety example which won't last much longer. Of course, expecting our landlord to repair it would be asking too much. We have done our best to shore it up with the odd bit of timber, in an attempt to keep Alfie in. The shed is also in just as poor a state of repair, and Alfie has a habit of going inside it, and then finding himself trapped. Quite amusing when our other dog, Poppy, comes to tell us where he is whenever we can't find him. The door of this shed has been off it's hinges for all the time we've lived here, and really doesn't do much of a job of preventing Alfie from venturing inside and is also propped up with quite an array of bits of timber and flower pots. Alfie has now found an exit from the back of the shed out onto the no-man's land at the back of our garden, and on several occasions I've had to go round to rescue him, which can be  really quite difficult, as the brambles and bushes there are quite thick and make it almost inaccessable. He does know how to get back through the hole at the back of the shed, but I really don't want him to get out on the road.

Mowing The Lawn And Other Gardening Events Of Importance

We spent this morning mowing the lawns, back and front, with our new Flymo lawn mower. Carol did some and so did I. It's surprisingly easy, considering that the lawn (for want of a better description) is so awful. It's such a rough bit of ground with more ups and downs than the Scottish Highlands, and a really tusky kit of old grass that would need a sythe to cut it if it were left much longer.) The bit of grass is easier to cut as the ground is flatter. We have tried our best to block some holes in the fence as it is in desperate need of repair. Alfie nearly got out through a hole in the gate and I managed to haul him back the other day, and have now managed to bring in the pallet from the front garden which had the IKEA catalogues delivered on it and had been parked there from when I distributed them around the estate. We broke up the old table which was in the house and used bits of that to patch up another area of the fence, and, in general, the garden is looking a good deal better. The landlord is really responsible for all this, but we're having enough problems regarding the cooker without mentioning the fence.

The landlord is now arguing about the oven. The agency rang on Friday and they have apparently got hold of the man. By the neck, would be the best thing, as far as we're concerned. Now arguing about whether the oven should be replaced or repaired, and saying it shouldn't need replacing as it was new 18 months ago. It's just not up to the job, if the truth be known. It was cheap, which is half of the problem. It has rusted badly, and then, to cap it all, it has exploded on two occasions, as I have mentioned elsewhere, without it even being switched on. The last time was a few days ago, when I was cleaning it. Not nice. Frankly, very dangerous. I will post more on this as things develop.

Noisy Neighbours . . .again!

Strange sounds coming from 'next door.'  Drilling, a weird scraping or scratching sound. What's new? I saw a van draw up outside the house, and, looking out of the window, a load of workmen removing the garden fence next door. It would appear that they are having all new fencing. Will this effect us here? I doubt it. Our landlord doesn't seem too keen to spend a lot of money on fencing, even though it is well past it's best, bits are leaning precariously and need serious attention. You may recall in an earlier post I had trouble with our Yorkshire Terrier, Alfie, escaping through a hole in afore-mentioned fence. If the fence was in a poor condition then, it is far worse, and we've the winter to get through yet. As I write, there is absolutely no fence next door. Bits of old fence laying about (I tell all this as I can see directly into their garden.) and a stack of brand new fence leaning against ours. I hope it doesn't push ours over. Or, on second thoughts, perhaps it should, so we get ours replaced.