Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Have a good drive Sue, it looks good, just damp but no winds and sun in the eyes..... It'll keep the tyres cool.



This morning I finished the clevis, no cock ups, fiddly work.

[Stanley]

Shed as usual, two hours mental and physical exercise is good for the soul! I think we are going to have a similar day to yesterday so bookie watch looks to be on. At some point I need to cook veggies.....

[Sue]

Morning

Arrived in Coventry ok where it was a warm dry humid day. Today is a cloudy start, no rain forecast. We are in Banbury overnight.just getting up for breakfast. Have a good day

[Stanley]

I know the area well Sue, I did my farming at Whatcote..... It's quiet weather so I think you'll have a pleasant drive to the ferry and a smooth crossing. I hope so....



More to this morning than this pic, see Shed Matters for the details. I'm working on the glands for the piston rod and the valve rod. Once again, we are moving forward.

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed steadily pursuing my engine. The forecast looks as though a spell on bookie watch will be OK but we shall see, no promise about not being cold!
All my cooking is done so I should have a good read today.....

[Stanley]

Only two pics needed. I fitted both glands and drilled and tapped for the studs, then fitted them. Then I adjusted the front lid and gland so that it fits the hole on the target plate of the bed. A good two hours with no cock-ups. I shall have a well earned breakfast now and then second sleep....

[Stanley]

Later.... I have stripped all the chicken off the carcass and put it with the veggies. The gravy has been reheated and put in as well. All the kitchen vessels washed up and out away. Now I'm treating myself to a small helping of chicken and veggies for lunch as a reward!

[Sue]

Excellent trip , arriving to a beautiful sunny morning. We were on the ferry we like that has a nice restaurant and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal . The lawns and hedge has been cut by our lovely neighbour but we have a wild garden and veggie plot. I I started tidying up the area where we sit and had just finished when the heavens opened so it will have to wait till tomorrow now.

We have friends, Mike and Janet, arriving for breakfast tomorrow. They are on tonights ferry and are driving down to Provence to stay with Janets long standing pen friend. Mike used to be my u3a art teacher but they moved to Levens in the Lakes three years ago. We meet up every now and again and tomorrow seemed a perfect opportunity.

We arrived here to a lovely vase of flowers on the table. Such a nice thought.

ABFDAC18-65AE-4A5E-83C2-D302CCB854CA.jpeg

[Sue]

I forgot to say, we went round Porchester castle and church in the morning. We met a lady mapping out the graveyard and head stones and got talking. She was particularly interested in a surname HAYTER. There are lots in the cemetery and in the village. It transpires her husbands mother was called Hayter. Anyway, she has just got in touch with Bob and reckons the family lines join in 1821. Fascinating and what a coincidence

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, I love coincidences like that....
Glad you had a good trip and what good friends.......
I am just getting the day kick started. We have light rain! The aim is two hours shed and after that we'll see....

[Sue]

Morning

Its a sunny start to the day which I believe will continue. Not particularly high temperatures are forecast which means gardening will not be exhausting. As I said we are expecting friends for breakfast and later after a bit of weeding we will pop over to see our English friends as we have a few bits we brought over from England for them . We have packing to do as we are going over to Finistere for a couple of days to stay with some french friends who have a second home there and to do a bit of sight seeing in the area

Have a good day

[Stanley]

Morning Sue... I like the concept of going to the 'end of the earth' for a bit of sight seeing....





Only two pics this morning and they illustrate what happens when you go in the shed with no clear plan in your head, I spent almost an hour chasing my tail and finished up by realising that what I needed to do was make the piston and rod and use that to ensure the position of my piston was correct. So I found an end of cast bronze and got going. That's what you are looking at here. I'll finish it tomorrow morning...

[Sue]

Its very wild and beautiful in Finistere. My sort of scenery

[Stanley]

Shades of The Hitchhiker's Guide episode.... 'The Restaurant at the end of the Universe'. Was there a cafe?

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed as usual. Not sure about later because the forecast is promising a wet day.....

[Sue]

Morning

The trip to see our friends is called off. I have yet another sore throat and bad cough plus cold sore which I never get. I think I may have caught the cold Briony had on Sunday. I have some cough medicine from the pharmacist which seems to have calmed the incessant coughing but we decided to let Bertram and Elisabeth know and left it up to them. Bertram is very nervous about health issues and i wouldn't want to give him a cold. We have, however decided to still go to Finistere so will leave after breakfast, take our time and enjoy the two days away in foreign parts

After Mike and Janet left yesterday it was very much a day of pulling weeds, plus a visit to the supermarket to get some mole killer. The lawn here has developed a number of soily humps. We have collected the soil in a bucket for future use, its a beautiful quality. I don’t know how the moles do it, I can hardly get a spade through!

Not sure of the forecast, it was certainly cool (16) and cloudy yesterday and it has rained overnight.Have a good day all

[Stanley]

So sorry to hear that Sue... you are having a rough spell. Concentrate on being kind to yourself and get this bug out of your system. I wish yo a good two days at the end of the world.....



Here we are at knocking off time. We have a piston and rod installed in the cylinder and have checked that the gland is in line and the rod fits. Ready to move on now.... I have an idea the next move might be the main bearings and installation of the crankshaft.

[Sue]

Its raining and not even forecast. Maximum of 18 forecast. Its hard to believe that in the last two weeks temperatures here have been in the upper 20 s to 30. The weekend is a sunny forecast and pleasant 21 degrees, so the garden may get a bit more tidying. At least when it is wet the weeds pull out easily.

[Stanley]

We're still getting cold weather here Sue, as low as 12C at weekend so you're better off than we are!
I shall have an hour in the shed than early doors shopping at the Cathedral of Choice. It looks as though it will be too cold to sit on bookie watch, we'll see later. At least it will be dry!

[Sue]

Morning

It was a cool dull cloudy day yesterday, though when the sun came out about 4.00 pm it was very pleasant. Today is forecast the same but warmer hitting 20 I think. We had a good day, visiting the mediaeval town , Josselin, for coffee. We haven’t been for over 10 years and it had been considerably tidied up, buildings painted and pedestrianised. At lunchtime we stopped at Hennebont and discovered the excellent market was on. We had lunch at a small, family run crêperie. We arrived at Quimper about 3.00, signed in to the hotel and did a 3 mile walk there and back to the town centre. Here we discovered an annual triathlon was in progress and as we walked we were on part of the route. The leading man passed us...a fair figure of a man, tall, swimmers and runners physique . I was impressed . We found a bar with a good view and had a much needed pint of 1664 beer. There was a mans race and a woman's race in progress. Children had run earlier. It was the first time the race had taken place since 2019 so there was a festive spirit and a perfect day for it.

Being a holiday yesterday the hotel was not doing food ( being only a small stay hotel) . We were directed to the local campsite restaurant which was indeed a very nice affair. We had a lovely meal but there was an English couple who, obviously not used to the French format of meals, did nothing but complain...no chips! We found them very embarrassing and thus we made a big, er loud, deal of thanking for a superb meal as we left.

Today is undecided at the moment. Bob is still asleep but I have had a bad night coughing and find sitting up better. No cold as such has materialised but i cannot otherwise explain the return of the cough which is quite different from the last one. C’est la vie as they say. We shall probably potter back a similar way as we came calling at different towns and villages and enjoying what they have to offer. We shall probably start with a trip to the coast.

Have a good day all.

[Stanley]

A good report of a nice day spoiled only by the fact that your cough is still bothering you. I hope it calms down Sue and you can enjoy today. (I'm not too sure about you ogling the local talent..... )



Just one image. I spent an hour drilling the holes in the lugs on the casting that, on the box base take the holding down screws and on the bed the 2BA bolts that hold the bed on the base. Then I marked, drilled and tapped the holes in the base for the 2BA bolts that fasten the bed down. Here we are at knocking off time ready to go shopping. Main bearings tomorrow?

[Stanley]

In the shed for two hours most likely working on the pedestal bearings. Then a sleep followed by a walk and bookie watch.... Of course it could all change if the weather forecast is wrong.....

[Sue]

Morning

Another good day out, though it remained cloudy and cool. We visited a couple of towns including the walled town of Concarnea, where there was yet another market. It is a fabulous place with the original surrounding castle walls still standing and the village, now a tourist place , still standing inside. We followed that up with a trip to Pont Avens, a rather arty town full of art studios and antique shops, but also very scenic. We lunches in a cafe overlooking the river where unusual birds were darting around a small waterfall. Then it was back home. We called at Joanne and Pauls on the way back and delivered their parcel from M&S Its a good job we did as they are going away caravanning for three weeks this weekend, otherwise the parcel would have sat in our house until July.

Back at the house now we have lovely blue skies and sun with a good forecast for the weekend. Its the local market day today so we shall see if we can buy some veggie plants. There were plenty at Hennebont on Thursday. We have some other shopping to do too, plus some washing. Then I think I will need to get on and tidy part of my veggie plot if indeed I manage to buy any plants. I want to call at the pharmacist for another bottle of cough medicine, having finished the first and periodically still coughing furiously. At least last night it did not keep me awake.

I think thats it, have a good day.

[Stanley]

So is the cough improving? I hope so. Sounds like a good trip to the end of the universe.....



I have adjusted the size of the horns on the casting that accept the main bearings, marked the bed with witnesses to differentiate between the flywheel side and the eccentric. Then I squared the stock for the bottom bearing and started the process of marking it for cutting. A nice morning....

[Sue]

The cough is not as dry, ie now productive but still irritating and persistent. Different medicine this time, it appears to be stronger and is meant to calm a hight time cough. We shall see. No cold symptoms so not Briony's cold.