Good Morning World

The sky is a cystal clear blue, the dogs have breakfasted in the sun
 

And there are dew dusted roses blooming.
 

Isn't life great?

This evening.

This evening I have
a) come home (it was a good start)
b) mopped the water from the floor where KuBrin stood in the water bowl in his excitement to greet me
c) walked the dogs
d) fed the dogs
e) pilled the dogs
f) planted bedding plants in the herb bed to replace those eaten by slugs
g) put slug pellets down
h) picked cucumbers
i) picked tomatoes
j) picked and washed a lettuce for tomorrow's salad.
k) hung out washing
l) put away three loads of washing
m) unloaded the dishwasher
n) loaded the dishwasher
o) put the bins out
p) watered the garden
q) sown some seeds
r) done the paperwork and paid the bills
s) ordered dog food
t) ironed 8 shirts
u) poop scooped
v) juiced apples

Come home Brian, all is forgiven

Nothing for it but to finish the last slice of CAKE.
 


And on the subject of cucumbers, please send help.

So what did we do with our weekend?

The sun was shining, the weather was hot for the first time here since April.

On Saturday we finished the "great path laying expedition of 2007". Well - almost. We've finished the concrete mixing and sandstone slab laying for the major path runs, there is still pointing and a small area to do behind the garage but no one would notice if we did not!).

The last path looked like this:


We celebrated with a glass of wine, a BBQ supper on the deck and falling into the hot tub in a state of exhaustion.

For an encore today I cleared out a whole load of "stuff" in the area behind the garage, constructed an impromptu compost bin (our old ones are too small) from the sandstone crates, shifted a whole load of old slabs and one bin full of compost (at one point I had composty muck on the end of my nose as well as on my shins - but it's ok - I have showered - honest).

In a moment of inspiration I then posted the remaining slabs on freecycle - and have had LOADS of interest - so with any luck someone will come and take the rest away this week. I love the internet.

Then I chopped up the rest of the crates, it's the first time our back lawn as been free of crates for a year. So I had to mow. And restake the trees. And dig out the concrete in front of the greenhouse.

Can I please go back to work now for a rest?

I may never walk again

but the upside is we have finished laying the sandstone slabs around the house.

Still need pointing & then there is the bins/recycling area behind the garage to do, but basically we've finsihed the main paths. Only taken 4 months.

I'll unload pics from the camera later. BBQ & wine first.

Ow.

This is not good news.

Foot and mouth outbreak

The last time this happened all the footpaths were closed, dog walking was very difficult. (Which is not to belittle the suffering and slaughter of thousands of farm animals and the ruin of many farmers' livelyhoods).

Oh poo.

Happiness is

an extra 2Gb RAM for your laptop.

AND a new cookery book.

AND an unread novel.

An Escape Plan.

Sometime in the summer of 2006, after a few months of the daily grind of commuting to my new job (sum total of 10 miles, up to an hour each way), wondering where I was going, what we would be doing in a few years time, you know, the usual mid life crisis stuff, I hatched up a PLAN.

I'm not really sure how this came about but for many years I had lusted after a house on the West Falklands called "Shag Cove". Perhaps not the the most appropriate of names (though for some unfathomable reason it appealed to him indoors), nevertheless, no neighbours, no mains power, space for the dogs to run, really in the middle of nowhere and overlooking a beautiful inlet in the Coast Ridge. Colder than a well digger's arse as the saying goes.

Mulling over the possibilities and improbabilities of living in such a remote place with no income I had a moment of folly.

"Brian, how about we cash in our endowments and buy a house in the Falklands?"

"Ok"

Pregnant pause...

"What do you mean 'ok'?"

"I've been waiting for you to suggest this for years".

And they say men don't understand women.

So the plan progressed, the compromise was buying a "settlement house" (ie one with a few neighbours) rather than an "outside house" (ie one with NO neighbours, for miles, many miles, and no roads, or power, or water supply.)

Out of the blue a house came up for sale in the settlement where my family used to live, indeed, some of them still live there. Internet powered diddle dee telegraph operating at full tilt, the news arrived, was debated, weighed, considered, rejected, reconsidered, and leapt upon. £100 of telephone calls later we sent an email offer. 12 hours later it was accepted.

Gulp.

Red tape sundered, we find ourselves in possession of a four bed house on the edge of Doctor's Creek in Fox Bay Village, in need of much care and attention. 8000 miles away. OK - great plan. I like it.

It's here: "Old Doctor's House"

Front of the house, looking south from Doctor's creek:
 

Back of the house, Looking North towards Doctor's Creek.
 

Looking out from the "conservatory".