Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Tell him if he goes early doors there is no rush.....
I shall be in the shed working on my castings as usual. Forecast looks OK so I think a walk is on at midday. I shan't be doing anything strenuous, I hate clock changing days, it always takes me a day or two to settle into the new routine.....

[Stanley]

This morning I finished the steam chest lid and then drilled and tapped the steam chest for the steam inlet pipe. Next I drilled and tapped the cylinder for the exhaust outlet. Tomorrow I'll finish drilling the steam chest for the valve gland. A nice hour and a quarter and I avoided making a mistake in the placement of the steam inlet pipe to the chest. Very easy to do if you haven't got the locations clear in your head.

[Wendyf]

I've just received this message from Sue:

Morning Wendy. My ipad has stopped functioning on the French 4g network , we have no WiFi and I don't have my oneguy password on my phone so can't do my daily update. I also don't have Stanley's email. I thought he may be concerned if I don't go on today with all the troubles here. Our plan is still to go to St Malo today. We have heard nothing about the ferry as yet. Fingers crossed. There is a bit strike event on Tuesday so if there is no ferry tomorrow we will have to stay for a few more days. This is getting to be a habit.

[Stanley]

Thanks for relaying that Wendy. Feel free to give Sue my email if you'll think that will help her.....

[Wendyf]

Done that Stanley.

[Stanley]

[Sue]

Excellent Sue.

Mundanely, today I will mainly be doing an Aldi run very shortly. On the wrong day according to our Jack! Apparently old folk like me should do their shopping in the middle of the week and leave the weekends and shops clear for those who are working. He always says its rammed at weekend because its full of pensioners getting in the way I get his point but we hadn't run out of butter last Wednesday.

[Sue]

We have arrived at St Malo and I am pleased to see my ipad functions on the hotel wifi…phew. It was a good run until just outside Dinard when the car gave a warning noise. We had a puncture. We had to unpack everything to get to the spare wheel which of course is not a full size wheel. Then of course the punctured wheel would not go back in the same spot but had to go in the boot. There was a whole lot of repacking went on and I was sorely tempted to open a bottle or two of wine that we had to unpack and repack.

We saw no sign pf demonstrations on the way and its only 1.8 mikes to the dockside in the morning.we plan on an early breakfast to avoid any possible disturbances on the way

[Sue]

I've just received this message from Sue:

Morning Wendy. My ipad has stopped functioning on the French 4g network , we have no WiFi and I don't have my oneguy password on my phone so can't do my daily update. I also don't have Stanley's email. I thought he may be concerned if I don't go on today with all the troubles here. Our plan is still to go to St Malo today. We have heard nothing about the ferry as yet. Fingers crossed. There is a bit strike event on Tuesday so if there is no ferry tomorrow we will have to stay for a few more days. This is getting to be a habit.

Thanks Wendy. I just don’t know why my ipad has stopped receiving mobile connections. I will have to look into it as it is our only way of communication with the outside world when here…plus of course TV and a french newspaper to receive info. The latter makes interesting reading and we could be reading a UK newspaper, same sort of content etc

[Big Kev]

Have a safe, uneventful, trip home tomorrow

[Stanley]

Glad to hear you are communicado again Sue. The barometer is well up this morning so that should mean a calmer crossing home than you had on the way out.
I shall be in the shed as usual quietly fettling my castings..... Weather looks good at midday so a walk could be on.

[Stanley]

Just popped in to post a correction.... Not sure why but I suddenly realised I would like to have a morning off and so that's what I am doing, sitting here listening to the news before having breakfast and then going back to bed for second sleep.
(There are some advantages to getting old..... but not many.)

[Sue]

Arrived dockside OK. ALL IS CALM. WE WILL HAVE A LONG WAIT AS WE ARE VERY EARLY. Oops!

We watched the news whilst eating breakfast. Demonstrations are getting nasty as they have been infiltrated by extremists and thugs bent on making trouble. They have been throwing boules and portable gas canisters. Several cities have been affected.

My ipad has failed on the network again so I have used a new password to get on here on my phone. I hope I can remember it to put into my ipad later
Have a good day all. I am wearing the thick jumper and boots I came in ready to travel north. I have not worn them in two weeks

[Stanley]

Sounds as good as you could have done Sue. Good luck with the crossing and it isn't as cold here as the news is saying....

[Sue]

It's cold here this morning, clear blue skies and 7 degrees

[Stanley]

I've just been out for a walk and a half hour sit on traffic duty at the end of Albert Road and it was lovely and warm, no wind and full sun. One out of the bag I know but very welcome. We may yet find we have wintered....

[Stanley]

I shall not gybe at the shed this morning! I am also determined to cut my hair, it has been nagging me for a while but I keep missing that as well.
Hoping to hear from Sue today.....

[Sue]

Morning

It was a lovely crossing, Bob had booked us into the upgrade cabin with which we were pleased as the boat was full of french school children on school trips. It also gave us a TV , access to a private lounge, free breakfast , tea making stuff, a bowl of fruit and some macaroons. The latter we will leave in Coventry for the girls

All went well till we landed. It took 90 minutes to clear the port despite all 12 lanes operating at the passport control. A boat from Spain arrived just before us. Then the sat nav took us 5 miles to the wrong side of Southampton to the Premier Inn, despite having the right post code. Amazingly it did take us to a Premier Inn at S15 rather than S18. It was 8.45 before we got here, the right one, having landed at 6.15 pm. The BOOK IN was a silly machine that would not book in the car in the car park. We had to buzz for help when quite an abrupt receptionist cum bar tender arrived who rudely said we should have read the notice outside. The said notice was about 10 feet up on a lamp post but he reluctantly gave us the info we wanted. By this time we were hungry. We had had a big lunch so not ravenous but that was at 12 noon. There were no tables till 9.30pm. It i was 10 when we ate and far too late , Bob had soup I had a prawn cocktail and then went back to our room . We won't be staying here again

We shall have a good breakfast and set off slowly to Coventry where we will join Julia for sandwiches for lunch. Slowly because our pacer saver tyre restricts us to 50 mph. That's going to be a long drive of 250 miles plus traffic and stops. However at least we are here. The boat did not go back to St Malo, I don’t think any ferries are running from France today.

I don’t know the forecast but I think it is rain. We should be home by tea time, Tesco delivery is booked. 6-7pm hope we make it in time . Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, what bad advertisement for Premier Inn! Never mind, as you say you have avoided being stranded by not having a ferry. You're right about the rain up here. If it starts as you are driving it will keep the temporary tyre cool.....
I was a good boy this morning and went in the shed, here's what I did, finished the steam chest and got the back lid ready for drilling. A good hour and a quarter.....

[Stanley]

I told you I was determined to cut my hair today....



Standards are being maintained!

[Tripps]

Try this ? - the stress of the behaviour of your receptionist and the inadequacy of your check in system caused me to lose sleep. . . .


What is the Good Night Guarantee?

At Premier Inn, we're so confident you'll have a great night's sleep that if you don't, we'll give you your money back. If there’s a problem, just have a chat with a member of our friendly reception team. They’ll be happy to put things right. This is our Good Night Guarantee. Terms apply.

What do I do if I'm unhappy during my stay?
The first thing to do is speak to one of our team, who’ll be happy to put things right for you. Our friendly reception teams are on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Is there a time limit on when I can have my money back under the Good Night Guarantee?
Most guests let us know if there’s been a problem while they’re still staying with us. However – if you don’t get the chance to do that, you have up to seven days from check-out to claim on our Good Night Guarantee.

Personally I've always found them first class and their Hypnos beds were tremendous, but I read very recently that they have just ordered 26,000 new mattresses from Silent Night in Barnoldswick - so perhaps on this occasion we can forgive them?

[Big Kev]

I told you I was determined to cut my hair today....



Standards are being maintained!

Good to see, can't have you letting the side down

[Stanley]

I thought about Sue this morning when I heard the reports of even more disturbances in France, what a good job they did getting out when they did!
I shall be in the shed with the front lid first thing before breakfast and might get a walk in at midday if it stays dry.....

[Sue]

Try this ? - the stress of the behaviour of your receptionist and the inadequacy of your check in system caused me to lose sleep. . . .


What is the Good Night Guarantee?

At Premier Inn, we're so confident you'll have a great night's sleep that if you don't, we'll give you your money back. If there’s a problem, just have a chat with a member of our friendly reception team. They’ll be happy to put things right. This is our Good Night Guarantee. Terms apply.

What do I do if I'm unhappy during my stay?
The first thing to do is speak to one of our team, who’ll be happy to put things right for you. Our friendly reception teams are on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Is there a time limit on when I can have my money back under the Good Night Guarantee?
Most guests let us know if there’s been a problem while they’re still staying with us. However – if you don’t get the chance to do that, you have up to seven days from check-out to claim on our Good Night Guarantee.

Personally I've always found them first class and their Hypnos beds were tremendous, but I read very recently that they have just ordered 26,000 new mattresses from Silent Night in Barnoldswick - so perhaps on this occasion we can forgive them?

Morning
They redeemed themselves with their towels and superb breakfast. The receptionist on leaving was extremely polite, in fact there there were two of them . Their bedroom and beds were up to standard. Bob reviewed them on Google reviews so we have said our bit. We stay with them often and this occasion I think was a one off.

Our drive home was eventless apart from pouring rain to Coventry. We ate our sandwiches with Julia and the rain carried on northwards ahead of us so the rest of the journey was dry arriving home at 5.00 pm . After tea I searched out my iPad sim card contract and found that I had run out of data, so problem solved. It has never happened before so I must have used more than usual before we went to France.

This morning I have a few jobs to do such as fetching an outstanding prescription , watering the plants in greenhouse and conservatory and sorting out art stuff for tomorrows class where I am doing a demonstration of a technique. This evening Wendy and Keith are calling round so we can plan our weekend in Wales this weekend. Thats it and all back to normal.

Have a good day

[Sue]

I thought about Sue this morning when I heard the reports of even more disturbances in France, what a good job they did getting out when they did!
I shall be in the shed with the front lid first thing before breakfast and might get a walk in at midday if it stays dry.....

Yes, agreed, though it was our planned departure day. The big unruly demonstrations are in the city and apparently caused by known extreme groups who are disrupting quiet demonstrations.