Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed following yesterday's successful marathon of three hours! This morning a rarely used tool will come out of hiding.
Exercise should be OK as we are promised more cloud than rain.....

[Sue]

Morning

Yesterday was a cloudy day, all day, with occasional dampness in the air. The temperatures fought to reach 20 degrees and there was hardly any wind. I ended up drying my duvet cover and sheet in the house over the rail in the mezzanine. The rest of the stuff stayed on the line as long as possible and was put on the airer overnight. Its looking the same out there this morning, i shall do a bit of gardening, then shower, then wash the towels. It will take some time for them to dry as there are big bath sheets amongst them. My washer here has the worst spinner ever but it was the cheapest washer we could get and has served us well for 16 years. I wash almost daily to keep the loads small and the spin action at its best .

In the morning we visited La Gacilly. Its a pretty little town and well deserves its 5 flower rating. Yves Rocher was the local pharmacist in the 1950s and created his now world famous eco friendly cosmetics in his little shop.

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The factory and others the family now own are the biggest employers in the area and are known for being excellent employers. They have done a lot for the area creating a place where artisans can establish small businesses. The encourage small enterprise actively. The photograph exhibition we went to see is an annual event set up by Yves Rocher, the then mayor, in 2004. There is always an ecological theme and photographers from all over the world display their work on boards, sometimes the size of houses, all over the town. This years theme was the impact of climate change on people living in extreme cold and hot countries. We walked over 1.5 miles and still did not see the whole exhibition. Afterwards I visited Yves Rochers factory shop and topped up on my favourite toiletries in the factory shop.

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In the afternoon I tidied the asparagus bed, finished pruning roses, dug a little more veggie plot and started to cover it. This morning I shall remove the last of the difficult clumps of grass and finish the covering. Then if I have time and energy I shall dig over the rhubarb patch, a much smaller area. This afternoon I shall vacuum upstairs. It won’t take long, leaving just the bathroom and toilet to clean thoroughly tomorrow. We may go out sight seeing somewhere later. This evening we are joining Laetitia and family at a Chinese restaurant in Redon, 11km away. A chinese meal french style should be interesting .

So that will be our day. We will also do a lateral flow test to check we are still negative before we do our official returning home test tomorrow. We don’t want any unexpected surprises. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Good luck with the tests Sue!
I've had almost two hours in the shed and in many ways just as stressful as yesterday. I shall post in shed matters and return with pic in a while.

[Stanley]

There will be, in any workshop, useful tools which spend most of their time idle in the cupboard. Today we are indebted to such a tool. The Le Count style expanding mandrel which allows you to mount something with an accurate bore safely so that other work can be done on it. I have two, this is the small one. In this case I want to face the ends of the cylinder to reduce the overall length but also to make absolutely sure the bore, valve face and end surfaces are at exactly 90 degrees to each other.
I managed to finish the faces on the cylinder but am afraid it will be too hard to drill and tap so I have dropped the problem in Stuart's lap. Let's see what they do.

[PanBiker]

Noticing that all Sues pictures are the right way up.

[Stanley]

I gave Stuart's the option. They have asked me to try to drill and tap the cylinder. Disappointing but fair. I shall see whether it can be done, all I have to is give the word and they will replace the casting.

[Sue]

Noticing that all Sues pictures are the right way up.

Thats because they were taken my samsung phone and transferred to my ipad

[Sue]

You can have some wrong way round pictures now!

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See how much the grass has grown since we came and Bob is still trying to uncover his railway track

[Stanley]

Things won't be growing that fast in Rochdale Sue.... We are having unseasonable weather and you will get your share when you come home.
I shall be aiming for the shed, might test drill the casting to see if working on it is possible.
Exercise at noon should be OK it looks dryer than yesterday and I managed my walk and sit even then.

[Sue]

Morning

This too is unseasonable Stanley. Normally at this time of year it has not rained for weeks and is 30 degrees. Yesterday was again a cloudy dampish day and barely reached 19 degrees. Hence all the plant growth. Despite being on the line all day my towels came in almost as wet as they went out. No doubt they will have dried overnight on the clothes airer . We have been here over two weeks but we have only eaten in the garden a couple of times and only once had a BBQ. The first 4 or 5 days it rained. Then we had a week of sun but a good 10 degrees cooler than usual and since Sunday it has been cloudy and cool. Great for getting the gardening finished as far as we are taking it.

Yesterday all tasks were completed including digging over the rhubarb patch. I know in heart of hearts that it will all need doing again on our next visit but it won’t be as bad. In the afternoon I started my big clean through which I will finish today. This morning we are popping over to Joanne and Pauls to take an indoor orchid plant arrangement that we were given last week when Laetitia and family came for a meal . We cannot bring it home with us as it would not survive the journey but also Brexit allows only a limited import of plants into the UK now and from next year even those will need a plant health certificate!

Talking of certificates, last night we went to a Chinese restaurant with Laetitia and family. In France to go in a bar/cafe/ restaurant you have to have a certificate sanitaire as proof of vaccination status. We took our passports and our NHS certificate but were unsure wether it would be accepted. No problem at all , the lady booking us in did so with a mobile phone. She typed something in and was then able to scan the QR codes on our documents . Very quick and efficient. The English newspaper, CONNECTION , over here for expats ( or immigrants as I would describe them) has made a big deal about how our certificates would not be acceptable. Once again a load of rubbish . They really lead us up the garden path last year printing erroneous and ambiguous information. I think they like to stir trouble. Anyway we were admitted as rapidly as everyone else, had a lovely meal and later a coffee back at Laetitia house. A pleasant evening indeed .

This afternoon I shall finish my cleaning, finish the packing which is more or less done, clean the garden furniture and put it away and then make a meal from what remains in the fridge. Tomorrow we will be up and gone by 7.00 to get to St Malo for the ferry. You may not hear from me until we are queuing at the port or even at the hotel in Portsmouth tomorrow night

Have a good day.

[Stanley]

You're like clockwork Sue. That was a good report and I hope you have a good journey tomorrow.
I've been in the shed for two hours and it's been OK, I shall report later when I have posted on Shed Matters.

Later.....



Here we are after a successful two hours careful work. The cylinder has a steam chest and lid that fit. Tomorrow I shall start by making the lids and using them as templates for drilling the stud holes in the cylinder faces.

[Sue]

Just had our test via whats app on the antigen test we brought over with us. So efficient, the whole process including emailing us the certificate was barely 25 minutes . Now we just have an online form to fill in and print the whole lot off. I will leave Bob doing that whilst I wash out the fridge and clean the study

[Stanley]

Do you use bicarbonate of soda for washing the fridge out Sue?
I shall just have an hour in the shed then early doors Co-op shopping at 07:00.

[Stanley]

Sue and Bob should be on the way to the ferry. I hope they have a good and hassle free journey.

Over here life goes on as normal. I have started on the lids and done the early doors shopping.

[Sue]

Arrived at the ferry quite early , roads nearly empty. Check in was a bit slower than usual but not bad. Definitely faster with paperwork rather than showing codes on phone. The car in front of us had 5 people so five shows of negative test certificate, 5 shows of vaccination status, 5 shows of passenger locater form plus 5 passports, took ages We handed ours over as paperwork in relevant pass port. Took minutes only. Signing off now, about to board.

[Big Kev]

Have a safe journey home.

[chinatyke]

...Fending for myself for the next few days; my wife has gone to her home town, Liuzhou, about 200 miles away for the local "hungry ghost" festival known as Zhongyuan Festival. Another superstitious occasion where they must put out food offerings for their family ancestors, burn paper money at the graveside, also paper cars, houses and anything else the ghosts might need in the afterlife. Then the ghosts will look after you! Mumbo-jumbo ancient customs but the Ghost Festival is regarded as the most important festival by the Zhuang people after the Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). It is a fun family gathering and the surviving family members have a big dinner together after visiting the graves. She'll be back in a few days when she gets bored.

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I've relocated the frying pan and breakfast was a bacon & tomato sarnie, honeydew melon, mango juice and coffee. I don't know why she would need all these other pans that are filling the kitchen cupboards, perhaps I'll need just one to warm up the baked beans!

When she goes away I usually take care of any outstanding jobs, but this time I've nothing that needs doing that I can do myself. I've been considering getting a door put in the lounge to enclose it. Open plan rooms are OK but cost a fortune to keep at the right temperature, in our case cooling with air-con. We have a vertical blind heat screen fitted in the gap in the corridor leading to the stairs, but a door would be much more effective and would also give fire/smoke protection between the floors. I'll have a mooch around later and see if I can find something suitable. The other doors are hardwood and were custom made in Nanning so I'll be lucky if I can get anything to match.

[Stanley]

Fancy looking for DIY to do!
I'll bet Sue and Bob are home by now.
Short spell in shed this morning then sleep and scrub up for trip to Skipton Market with Susan.

[Sue]

Morning

All went smoothly yesterday, the channel was as calm as. We had a cabin with a TV which helped to pass the day. We sat on deck for a bit, France was surrounded in dark clouds as we left and the channel sunny but it soon clouded over. It wasn’t cold so barely needed the cardigan I had taken on board with me.

We spent the day drinking tea , reading, watching TV and sleeping. As usual,I had a bad night the night before. I think I subconsciously worry I won’t wake up early enough in the morning. Anyway i soon caught up with lost sleep . We arrived in Portsmouth on time at 6.30 and amazingly were through border control by 6,45. We expected to be considerably delayed with paperwork checks but in fact it was a passport check only. The officer said that when she scanned our passports she could see our our passenger locater form which was completed online so we didn’t need our paper copy. So that was it we were off . Anyway as we expected to be delayed we stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Portsmouth overnight .

This morning we are awake early with the hour change so it will be an early cuppa and breakfast and away. We are stopping at Coventry for a couple of hours and a bit to eat but should be home late afternoon. This evening is zoom u3A wine appreciation the topic being Cotes du Rhone wine , so we bought a bottle in France at the local Supermarket. I doubt anyone will have one like it.

So its a days travelling, unpacking, and sticking the washer on to wash the few things we have brought back.
Have a good day.

[Stanley]

That all sounds fairly painless Sue, glad it was so easy. No rush to get back, it's going to chuck it down all day and risk of thunder this afternoon. The five day forecast is for better weather so you can look forward to that.
I was in the shed early and out early. I'll post a picture later.

[Wendyf]

It was just dry enough to get all the grass cut yesterday afternoon, it was getting a bit too long so I didn't want to leave it over a wet weekend. Next job is to attack the nettles in and around the hen run, I'm getting 3 new girls soon so it needs to look nice for them!

[Stanley]

The forecast is looking good once we get today out of the way Wendy.



We have two lids marked with the pitch circle diameter and ready for dividing and drilling. They will then become the templates for drilling the stud holes in the cylinder and the clearance holes in the target end of the bed. I'm early because I want my second sleep before I go to Skipton market with Susan later this morning.

[Stanley]

I've had my sleep and am scrubbed up ready to meet Susan at the bus stop in Barlick. We do it that way because we like the double decker Whizz, you get a better view! No rain as yet, the forecast has put it back to 11:00.

[Stanley]

We had a good trip to Skipton yesterday. Today is a quiet normal day. I shall be in the shed chasing my cylinder. Dryer day today so noon walk looks OK. One of the advantages of my trips out with Susan is that we both walk more then we would normally. I slept like a log last night!

[Sue]

Morning

It rained all the way back yesterday, starting at about Oxford where we stopped for a morning coffee. It was drizzly in some places heavy in others the worse being from Stafford through Cheshire to Manchester. We arrived home at 5.00 pm in drizzle having spent a pleasant 3 hours in Coventry with Julia. We didn’t expect to see Ed but he was at home waiting to see if his last cricket match of the season was going to happen. He left about noon but arrived home after we had left to say rain stopped play. Apparently it rained all day at chez nous in France too. As I write the sun has just come out which is rather nice however its not going to last . Anyway yesterday we just had time to unpack and make a very quick tea of macaroni cheese before it was time for our zoom art appreciation session..

The garden here is well overgrown with a lot of rotten rose buds, and courgette plants. It is however very colourful with the next, and last round of flowers in full bloom, ie stocks, autumn flowering clematis, nasturtiums, dahlias and fuchsias. My sweet corn is incredible with two big cobs on each of the 8 plants I put in the borders amongst the flowers . In the greenhouse I have a wonderful display of big ripe tomatoes and my neighbour Sue says she has eaten loads all ready. We have lots of runner beans ready for pucking and our neighbour Roger had collected our windfall Bramley apples.

Today looks set to be wet so there won't be much garden tidying today but hopefully next
week . I will sort the plants in the greenhouse which need to come back into the conservatory and pick some of my beans and huge tomatoes. Its the best crop I have ever had. We are expecting a Tesco delivery this morning too. We have to do our Day 2 covid test, which efficiently was waiting here for us with the post. However time wise that won’t be til after 6.00 pm . Talking of deliveries, Bob had a delivery of the next set of parts for his traction engine. They always check delivery time with him first but they didn’t this time. It was delivered whilst we were away in ‘ our safe place’ which is in the front porch. Of course that was not possible as being away it was locked. When he checked the tracking details the photo shows it outside the front door. It was delivered Friday morning and there is no sign of it anywhere. We will have to check with the neighbours but it looks like the DPD delivery driver could be in for trouble, as will the company who never checked with us first. The first we knew was a message on Friday morning to say our parcel had been delivered!

Well time to drink my tea and plan my day. Have a good day.