Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Nice to see you so busy Stanley.

[Stanley]

Part of my routine Sue and my attitude towards retired life. I love the distraction, mental exercise and the joy of creating stuff in the shed. You are the same with your activities. We will have as good a chance as anybody in escaping dementia! I hear folk say they miss work and are bored in retirement, so sad..... Someone should have given them a training course!

[Sue]

I agree Stanley. Bob had a training course for retirement, I was given a book. We were both told how to handle our money and to keep physically and mentally active especially with a new challenge like learning a language. Apparently learning a language is really good for keeping the brain active, hence our attempt at learning French. How can anyone be bored , there is plenty going on if you look. Loads of walking groups, the U3A is a god send for activities new challenges, socialising and making friends.

This morning we are walking, this afternoon preparing for our first trip to Brittany of the year. Best polish up those French words.

[Stanley]

Sue, I am not sure whether we are lucky or if it's a question of attitude. During my working life I never had a job I didn't enjoy even though to some people I am certain they would see them as drudgery. A good example is the years of solitary confinement in the cab of a wagon for quite ridiculous lengths of time. Years later David Moore asked me why the top of my head didn't blow off and I told him that it was because I could always see something of interest and anyway, the job demanded full concentration. I think that's the key, having active thought processes. Neither of us is 'special' or unusually gifted, we just naturally make the best out of every experience.
In pursuit of this goal I shall once more be in the shed.....

[Wendyf]

Monthly bookkeeping job for the shop in Skipton today..... it exercises my brain.

[PanBiker]

Funeral for us today, Sally's cousin Anne, daughter of Aunt Margaret who died just before Christmas aged 102, It's at Skipton Crematorium then afterwards at Coniston where she and her husband Gerald farmed until their retirement.

[Stanley]

Essential isn't it Wendy. I shall be doing the same thing in the shed with this.....



I know it looks rough at the moment but wait until you see it finished!

[Sue]

Beautiful day yesterday, calm channel crossing. Stayed in an Ibis hotel last night, will drive to the house this morning. Hope everything is ok after the winter

[Wendyf]

My bookkeeping job turned out to be a costly one yesterday. I'm normally a law abiding creature and obey all the rules but have got into the habit of pulling up outside the shop on Coach Street in Skipton for a few minutes to collect all I need to do the job. There is a single yellow line, but I've got away with it for years...the alternative being to pay £1.10p in the car park for a 5 minute stop. A warden clocked me doing it yesterday and I got a notice slapped on the windscreen. £70 fine or £35 if paid in 14 days.

[Big Kev]

Is Coach Street where the Aagra restaurant and the Skipton Pie and Mash shop are?

[Wendyf]

Yes it is Kev.

[Tizer]

Join the club Wendy! It always seems to be `zero tolerance' for people like us but `anything goes' for those who make much bigger transgressions frequently. I don't mind zero tolerance, in fact I welcome it, but it should apply to all equally.

[Stanley]

That's horrible Wendy and I would hate something like that. I am of course getting out of touch with modern regulations these days but from what I can see the modern motorist is a milch cow for cash strapped councils. Yet another consequence of austerity.



I told you the eccentric strap would get prettier! Looking forward to more work on it. You will be impressed! I love my Shed!

[PanBiker]

Looking good Stanley.

Today I will mainly be installing ducting and then installing Jacks kitchen ceiling.

[Big Kev]

Looking good Stanley.

Today I will mainly be installing ducting and then installing Jacks kitchen ceiling.

Enjoy. Today I will be going to the theatre, 'er indoors wants to see Lord of the Dance so we're off to Bradford.

[Sue]

Titivating the garden in France. Lovely sunny day

[Stanley]

Thanks Ian but have you read shed matters for yesterday and laughed at my incompetence? Even so, we now have an almost finished, well fitting eccentric strap!

[Big Kev]

Looking good Stanley.

Today I will mainly be installing ducting and then installing Jacks kitchen ceiling.

Enjoy. Today I will be going to the theatre, 'er indoors wants to see Lord of the Dance so we're off to Bradford.

A very good show followed by a very good curry


I'll rotate the image once I fire up the laptop, my phone doesn't like the editor

Update, it's not just my phone, an attempt to rotate the image in the gallery produces a fatal error...

[Wendyf]

Clearing up in the polytunnel and trying to find some enthusiasm for the new growing season. There is so much to do outside and the ground is soaking wet still.

[Sue]

I know the feeling Wendy, pouring with rain today. I have decided to look forward to summer and sort out places to visit leaflets and maps. I have found two or three books of local walks that we have ne er done over here in Brittany. We have just spent an hour browsing them and are planning to do a few.


Bob is trying to set up the tractor and rotivator so we can plough in the goat manure we were given last November.

I shall continue on my indoor tidying.

[Stanley]

I'm waiting for a dry afternoon to sort out my dead mints stalks and prune the Ladslove. That's the height of my gardening ambitions.....
I shall be in the shed chasing that bloody engine! Mind you, I do get the feeling I am getting it into a corner now......

[Stanley]

Enjoying myself in the shed, real progress! Mind you that bloody garden is lurking in the back of my mind!

[Sue]

Beautiful day yesterday, it reached 26 C on the front of the house. We got loads done outside. Today, our recently widowed friend Roland, is coming over for a long leisurely lunch. He is so sad it is difficult to know what to say. I shall cook a three course lunch and have a couple of hours just sitting chatting. It's funny, even though Chantal had been in a home for over a year the place seems empty without her.

On a brighter note we got the veggie patches rotivated, the strawberry , asparagus and rhubarb patches weeded and dried manure dug in. The temporary fence Bob put in last November is now nearly finished with a gravel path between the new fence and the existing one. The existing one will remain as it is covered in climbing flowering plants. At least I can now walk down the back of these plants to prune them and keep them tidy. We only have a few more days before we come home, our last task will be to cut the lawns which are now looking rather luscious and deep green. The sun has certainly brought plants on , with flowers on the fruit trees appearing by the day. I wish Spring would arrive as rapidly as this in Rochdale

[Tizer]

Yesterday it was mowing the lawn for the first time this year.

[Stanley]

Those bloody dead mint stalks!!
Susan inspected her new house ornament yesterday and expressed approval. She has already marked out a space that will take the 16" square final result and best of all she doesn't want it painting, she wants to be able to show people every machining mark. I shall be in there today fighting the outrigger bearing.... It's getting very tight in there!