Author: peterb51

1st October 2019

This was a clean up/ laundry/ ironing day, just the sort of tasks I love, other the biting my own fingers off.

The washing and drying cycle went on for ages, but eventually I was able to start on the ironing.

The towels and pillowcases were a doddle, but the fitted sheets and duvet covers were absolute hell. It took me over an hour to do, which was the same time I was on the phone to Kelli. She couldn’t understand why I was bothering with the fitted sheet, as it would be stretched over the mattress, so any wrinkles would be pulled out. As I had already started, I persevered, the next challenge was to fold it.

I went on YouTube, and found a couple of tutorials on how to do it.

It made no sense to me, I watched them several times and I still didn’t get it. Both videos were demonstrated by women, who with a twist of the wrist here, and a fold over there, and it was done. This was sorcery, I could get it no matter how I tried. Men must be wired differently when it comes to folding fitted sheets, and mine was short-circuited.

I eventually found my own way of doing it, but with the whole evening gone, I needed a rest.

30th September 2019

Back in the cottage after my week long hiatus, and it feels good.

The drive back was uneventful, I didn’t make any unplanned diversions, so a pleasant run in the autumnal sunshine.

The place was clean and tidy, and the only signs that it had been occupied were the plates on the drainer.

The last couple left a nice comment in the book, so I’m glad they enjoyed their stay.

All three of the guests praised the welcome pack, which Louise had put together, it looks like the other “stays” around here doesn’t offer anything like that, which is good unique selling point for us.

It took a while to get used to the place again, I felt like I was a guest arriving with my bags, I couldn’t wait to get the kettle on.

The first job was to wash my bed linen. It always takes longer than I think to do this stuff, but whilst that is going I stripped the bed, and collected the towels.

In the bathroom, I laughed at how much toilet paper had been used. When I left last Friday there were two and a half rolls in the holder, when I returned there was less than half a roll. What do people do with it? Fortunately I had some left in the cupboard.

I may have to buy a different kind, rather than my quilted soft brand.

I unloaded the logs I had been carrying around in the back of the car, and carried them up the slope in my little cart. I was pretty knackered after the four trips, and I still had to carry them up the path and into the log store.

I packed all the good ones into the store, but decided to burn the crappy ones in the evening to condition the potato oven.

The fire was roaring away, Satan stuck his head up and asked me to turn it down a bit, as I was competing with his hot place, now only if I had some potatoes, it would have been perfect.

29th September 2019

I took Nicola and Colin our for a Sunday lunch. We went to the Eagles Nest on the A303 that we stopped at a few days before. Colin wanted to reserve a particular table by the window, because he does like a view when he eats. So with the table reserved we looked forward to a good meal.

As we pulled up outside, the car park was full, including a coach. I made a joke about the place being filled with old gits, and sure enough it was.

I could see Colin craning his neck looking for the reserved table, but it was occupied.

I could hear him moaning, and Nicola was protesting, we were told the coach had arrived early, so they had to give away our table. We were consigned to the upstairs skittle ally where tables had been set up, so the only view he had was through the skylight.

I could see Nicola was seething all through the meal and most of the afternoon, as she composed an appropriate response to the management of the establishment.

28th September 2019

I had a report from Louise that our second guest had left the place spotless. It didn’t look as if he stayed there at all, she added.

“How many takeaway boxes were there in the rubbish bin?” I enquired.

“He even changed the bag in bin, and put in a clean one” she replied.

Now that is odd, from experience, men do not change the rubbish bag, unless instructed to do so, or they want to hide something, so one can only wonder what was in it.

I just have the weekend to go before I get my house back, then I can get back to doing something useful.

I went out for a drive because Nicola and Colin were having friends visit, and I didn’t want to be seen as the senile old git sitting in the corner. So I drove to Curry Rival, a village a few miles up the road. I particularly wanted to visit the Sandpit, a shop that sells all things for log burners. I was interested in a cast iron potato oven that cooks from the heat of the stove.

I am partial to the odd baked potato, and I thought it might be novel for the Airbnb business as well.

I went for lunch at the Firepit, a pub/restaurant opposite the log burner place. It seems a lot places in Curry Rival have “ Pit” in the name.

There is the churchpit, corner storepit and the garagepit, I guess this village is the Pits.

I decided to go for the vegan option, this was a chickpea burger with a beetroot pickle, lettuce and tomato on a bun, and a side of skinny fries and coleslaw. Normally I don’t like beetroot, I would rather eat a handful of mud, however this was quite nice. It was not a meal I would dream about, but adequate.

27th September 2019

There are many dramas occurring in Barrington, if it’s not the length of the grass on the verges, it’s the disruption caused by the visitors to the Court. Nicola and Colin have a particular issue at the moment concerning the recently opened children’s day nursery. There had been a school in the village many years before they moved there, but that had closed, and left the area much quieter. Now, starting at eight thirty in the morning the sound of young children in the playground drifts across the garden. My opinion is that is not intolerable, but it is eating into Colin. Their next door neighbour, Malcom has suggested an acoustical fence could be added to the top of the dividing wall, and they held a meeting to discuss the logistics and also the cost, something that Colin is particularly concerned about.

There is also the knock on effect of the parents dropping off their little cherubs, and the extra traffic that it creates.

Now as I walk through the village there are chains across every driveway, and even Nicola and Colin have one. I have been asked to put the chain across the drive when I leave. It must have been a bumper year for chain suppliers.

It is not my place to criticise people for not liking noise or blocking their property to stop others reversing into to it, but it saddens me to think we cannot tolerate just a little outside intrusion. Next we’ll be gaging our children to stop them making the sounds that makes us happy, as parents to hear.

26th September 2018

I drove to Damian’s house at Blissford near Fordingbridge, to cut up some logs for my new log store. He has a barn full of timber dating back to the time of the building of the Mary Rose, I think.

He asked me to help him assemble the log splitting machine he had bought a few months before. I was looking forward to it, and set off bright and early.

When I arrived, we walked towards the barn, he mentioned that the front of the barn had been pushed out due to the weight of the logs leaning against it. When I saw the condition I was a little shocked. The front right hand side of the front had fallen off the foundation, and had dropped about six inches causing the roof to sag in the middle.

The first job was to assemble the log splitter.

Damian does not have much patience, and that was evident by what he had done. The cardboard box had been opened, the machine, and leg frame components had been removed, and that was it.

The stables where the machine had been stored was about five minutes from the main house, we had brought a socket set and spanner’s with us for the assembly.

The first step was to remove the wheels from the main body of the unit where they were attached for transit, and re-assemble on to the frame. It entailed removing a circlip to remove the wheel, but we needed a flat blades screwdriver, that was at the main house. Off Damian walked to get the screwdriver. That enabled us to remove the wheels and fit them on to the frame axles. Then we had to assemble the main body to the frame, which meant removing a transit bracket held on with Allen screws. Damian then walked back to the house again to find Allen keys. This must have been the most walking he had done in weeks.

Finally the log splitter was complete and ready for its first log to split.

I pulled a few from the barn to test, and wow, that is a powerful piece of kit, and made the job so much easier than using an axe.

We split up enough logs to fill the back of my truck, we then looked at shoring up the front wall.

With no lifting gear we had to resort to primitive methods used by the Egyptians. Using pivots and levers we managed to lift the walls the eight inches needed to get it to rest on the footings. This will need additional work to make it more secure, but I can do this next time.

The final part of the day was picking up the MR2 from Bournemouth where it had a service. We set off in Damian’s Porsche which scared the shit out of me. I put on a brave face, but the speed of the thing is outrageous.

It was great being behind the wheel of my old car again, it had a good burst of speed, but it was a fun car to drive, and a memorable day.

I drove back to Barrington with a load of logs in the back and the smell of cedar wafting through my nostrils.

25th September 2019

The worst thing you can do is let your brain drive on automatic.

I planned to visit my friend Dave in Melksham, so the drive up from Barrington I’ve done so many times I could do it in my sleep, or so I thought.

The drive towards Shepton Mallet is straight forward, little chance of getting lost on that road. Skirting around the town is also no problem, no need to engage brain here.

A little further on I was behind an articulated lorry that slowed the pace down a bit. As always I wished it would turn off to give me a clear road.

We got to a roundabout and the truck did not take the turning I was expecting him to take.

Yay! I thought, as I took the first turning.

I kept driving, my mind thinking about everything other than the direction I was going.

Suddenly I came to a tee junction, and my brain re-engaged normal function.

“What’s going on here? There is no junction on this road”

Realisation dawned on me, that the truck was taking the turning I should have taken.

Should I turn round? Maybe if I found a place I could do it. Could I find a place to turn round? I must have been on the only stretch of road in the whole of Britain that had nowhere to turn, and when one suddenly appeared, I was going too fast, and missed it.

It was then that I decided to carry on and navigate through the town of Frome. Not a big place, I thought, but again I was wrong.

I was using my amazing sense of direction, which that in this case was fatally flawed. I ended up heading towards Radstock, which was in the opposite direction.

“There’s bound to be a turning that would get me back to the direction I needed to go” I thought.

It must have been on the only road in Britain that didn’t have a right hand turning to get me back on track.

Now Radstock is a pleasant town, but I didn’t want to experience it, so this is when I had to turn round and retrace my steps.

Eventually I crossed the junction I would have reached if I hadn’t made the diversion, that must have cost me an extra fifteen minutes to my journey.

I then passed the truck that I was stuck behind in the first place. It had stopped in a lay-by, and the driver had time to have his bacon roll and was slurping down his mug of tea, as I passed.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, although as I approached Melksham, the skies darkened and the birds were deliberately throwing themselves at approaching cars. I’ve always had a problem with the place, and I was never put my finger on the reason. I was told the only books in the library were in large print, and that the local planners were waiting for Armageddon to help improve the place, what ever happens I hope they wait until after I’ve left it.

24th September 2019

Not much to write home about, as the weather was not good, but I went out with Nicola and Colin to get some shopping done.

Life is slow down here, not being close to a big town means there are no “man” shops to explore.

The most exciting thing that happens is there’s not enough milk in the coffee, or similar calamities.

However I get to see places I wouldn’t normally go, and they are good company, so we find things to laugh at.

When I got back I started to work on designs for the patio I want to build when I get back to the US. I had sent Kelli a rough plan and asked her to give me certain dimensions that I needed. Then with the help of the internet I was able to visit the sites of my two favourite DIY stores, Lowes and Menards.

I wanted the decking to last a long time, so I explored the recycled plastic route. The medium price range using this material was just over $3000 plus the cost of the structure.

This was the worse case without taking into account the wastage factor, so I reckon that could reduce the cost by $500, which to my mind is not that bad.

I did a similar exercise using paving stones and that came to just under $1800, and as I hate paving slabs that is not the direction I want to take.

I have learnt one thing about compromise, and that is not to do it. If I have the ability to do the work, good quality material can be justified, even if it means eating baked beans for a year.

Kelli has recently bought a push mower to replace the petrol one we had. She called me to ask how the cut could be adjusted. She sent me a picture of what she had, and I thought something was missing. I went on line to find out details of the mower, and found the instructions for the model she had, and sure enough the roller at the back was missing.

This is a bit of a drag, as we now have to find a replacement, or I will have to make something.

23rd September 2019

Today is one of these days when I bounce between feeling confident, to one of terror of messing up my next visa interview.

I am much better informed, I have a lot of supporting documentation, but I still have the dread of returning to that foreboding place, and going through the ordeal again.

It affects me in different ways, I don’t sleep well, I feel restless, and wake up hourly. I have the fear of failing, and letting Kelli down.

What makes people believe you? I run this through my brain all the time. I put myself in their place and try to predict the questions I would ask. I have everything written down. The bedroom is my incident room, with low level lighting, what is missing is the smoking cigarette end in the ashtray.

I know I cannot get obsessed with it, the interview should only last a few minutes, it can’t be that hard, I just want to visit the bloody United States.

22nd September 2019

So this is our actual wedding anniversary, that both of us thought would never happen. Well, that is not strictly true, it was more of, when it would happen. I was waiting for the right time, and we were at the right place, so it happened.

The Kelli wedding machine took over, and everything fell into place. I wanted it to be the wedding she always dreamed of. I shared the search for the dress, the tears,excitement, and all the pictures, I was sent, but in the end I didn’t see the final choice until the day itself. I know the hard work that went into the planning, and she did it whilst running her business, an incredible job.

Kelli had planned every detail, all I really had to do was turn up, and make sure my shoes were on the correct feet.

It was the perfect day, the perfect setting and the perfect person.

I was eager to hear how our first Airbnb guests got on, would they find the place cool or not?

I spent the morning walking around Chard, not the most exciting place to be on a wet Sunday morning. Louise texted me later to say the guests loved the place, and left a glowing comment in the visitor book.