Author: peterb51

18th October 2023

What a contrast, nowhere to go, the weather was bad, curtailing any outdoor work that I wanted to do.

What I managed to complete before the rain came down was clear the flat roof of a lot of overgrowing ivy. I was able to climb out of the back bedroom window with my large green bags cutting back and filling it with the green stuff, it took two bags adding to the stack out the front ready to go to the tip.

I made a call to my electrician explaining about the extraction fan that doesn’t work in the bathroom. He explained that he was maternity leave looking after baby number five. He was obviously not that busy, but he would order the part and fit it when he was back at work after I had left to return to the US. Louise would have to oversee the installation.

I had a problem with my PowerMac, which was a drag, as I wanted to check my external hard drives to decide which one I would take back with me. I managed to find someone, but finding his workshop was difficult, it was out in the wilds of wiltshire.

I drove into what looked like a building site, but I was met by Alan, who was going to fix my machine.

17th October 2023

It is exhausting being social. I had a full day marked out for meeting up with friends, starting out with a early train journey into Bath.

I hadn’t been on a train for over six years, and I was excited to ride one. I had been awake early, not because of the imminent journey, probably because of the amount of coffee I had drunk.

I took a shower to try to kick some life in me, and then chose clothing that Kelli had carefully selected for me. This was documented in a picture that he had taken so I wouldn’t forget

I scramble down a glass of orange juice and set off for the station. As usual I didn’t want to leave it too late, so I went to the other extreme and got there early, so I paced up and down the platform like a hungry lion willing the train to appear through the tunnel.

When it did, I couldn’t wait to get started.

Things looked greener than I remember, maybe other people’s garden were overgrown,

It was a shorter trip than I remembered, but walking out of Bath Spa Station was a special moment.

My first stop was to see my old hair stylist. He instantly recognised me, which meant I hadn’t changed much or his memory was good.

I booked an appointment for next week where I’m sure we will have plenty to talk about.

I walked up through the middle of town noting all the new business and empty shops. I was surprised at the number of new coffee shops and restaurants, you would never go hungry and thirsty in Bath.

Reaching the Boston tea party by the Assembly Rooms, I ordered a breakfast and coffee then waited for Steve Mower. He is my oldest friend having met at infant school in Upper Swainswick when the world was young.

He turned up twenty minutes late and apologised profusely, I replied that waiting to see him again for four years, a few extra minutes didn’t matter.

The told me the reason for his lateness was due to problems he was having with his father in law who is suffering from dementia. He explained how it was taking over both him and his wife’s lives.

This a reminder to me that everyone faces different challenges in every stage of life. Caring for others, especially when they start on a different journey is not easy. I felt sorry for him, but he still had a great sense of humour, and we ending finding something to laugh about.

My next point of call was Mallorys to get my watch strap shortened. I didn’t think the strap had stretched, rather my wrist had shrunk.

Getting into the shop was interesting, security was extremely tight, a guy outside who controlled the outer door leading to an air lock. Someone on the inside let me in, and inquired what I wanted. Now Mallorys is not a place where you say “I’m just looking” especially when you have the entry procedure, I can only hope there isn’t a strict bodily inspection on the way out.

I was led through a labyrinth of rooms and invited to sit to await an “expert” on my watch.

I young chap appeared sharply dressed and very well spoken. He checked the strap, deciding to remove a section and a half, and disappeared into another room leaving me alone amongst some of the most expensive timepieces on the planet.

I tried to remain cool, just in case I was being observed on CCTV, I wanted to give the impression that this was an everyday occurrence for me, not sure if I was convincing.

Finally he appeared holding my watch in a black gloved hand, slipping it over my wrist, it fitted perfectly. When I asked the cost, he said no charge, he enjoyed working on the watch it was his favourite make. Now I wasn’t going to argue, I still had the thought of getting out again, although I needn’t have worried, I managed to press the correct buttons and I was in fresh air again.

I made my way to meet my next friend, Rob.

We went to an Indian restaurant overlooking the abbey. We chose a Dosa Masala, our favourite lunch, it’s never large enough, I always want more.

Then it was a walk back to the Boston Tea Party to meet the rest of the gang from the art school. It was a surprise to see Paul Colley and his wife who were in the UK on holiday from Melbourne Australia. I hadn’t seen him since we left school. He had a very distinct nose, which was why I recognised him.

After Tom, Rob and Paul all exchanged stories about heart attacks and other ailments, I felt a little left out.

Then Carol turned up unexpectedly, she was the wild child of the class, I alway felt intimidated by her, well by most of the girls in the class, but now we were friends. Her free sprit is still there, she will think nothing of flying off to some distant place, and stay there for months. She is alway full of storied of her travels.

We stayed talking until the place closed, although we continued out in the street.

When we said our farewells I gave Paul a hug knowing we would never see each other again, this was our swan song, and we knew it.

I went back to Rob’s place to look at a project I agreed to help him with, but on the next trip.

He then dropped me back at the Mint Room for the final part of the day.

Already sitting at the table were Phillip and Bob. I had been waiting a long time to meet up, and it was great to see them again. The food was superb as usual, but I couldn’t finish it all, the day of naughty foods had filled me up.

There is never enough time to cover everything, and I was on a time crunch to get back to the station.

I didn’t know how long it would take to get there. I was taking unusually long strides, so I got to the platform in record time, too early in fact. I now had to walk up and down for about fifteen minutes.

Once on the train we sped through the darkness until the lights of Bradford on Avon came into view.

A walk up the hill and I was back home.

16th October 2023

I had finished the front of the shed, yet more potential death defining activity was still to do, and a different part of the path to fall on.

My sister Nicola arrived early, there was dew on the ground as she ripped out the first weed.

I was on a mission, I had an old friend due to visit and I wanted to get to a curtain point of the job before I could leave it.

Whilst I was doing the construction work Kelli was busy keeping the Bristol Cottage business going. She was doing sound work on dressers, these were challenging because she had to get them in and out of the truck by herself, and do all the work needed to bring it up to the standard

to be able to sell it, bravo!

15th October 2023

I have started talking to myself. It’s not a sign of madness, I sometimes need to let off steam.

I have been pushing myself recladding the shed. I had made great progress yesterday, and I had the magic ten percent left to do.

The area I had left to do was at the top, the most difficult. I had to use the step ladder to get on top of the wall then lift the step ladder on to the wall trying to find level ground. Then I had to climb up to fix more cladding. It felt like scaling Everest with a tooth brush, any health and safety officers would have a fit. That last ten percent took six hours, most of the time was spent shouting at the things I had left on the ground, if I had my Fitbit on it would have exploded.

There was joy in my heart as I fixed the last piece, climbing down for the final time felt amazing, my legs stopped shaking, I no longer thought about which part of the path I would hit.

14th October 2023

I needed more timber from Wickes, I had resolved how the new bits had to work, so extra material was needed.

I stopped off at Sainsburys for provisions.

Then it was back to the cottage to start work.

I set my workmate up on the path with the mitre saw on top.

Progress was slow mainly because I only had a step ladder that I had to lean against the wall.

It was a bit precarious, but needs must.

I worked until 6.00pm but with my legs feeling the strain, I was still alive, I hadn’t stepped back to admire my work, and woke up in casualty.

13th October 2023

My first trip to Wickes in four years, and not much has changed. There is still the food truck in the car park dishing out those gorgeous egg and bacon rolls. There is still the row of cash registers with only one person on them, and customers moaning about it.

I collected the timber I needed for the shed refurb, wheeling it carefully around the store trying not to cause injury to poor unexpected customers.

Loading it into the back of the Shogun I was excited to start.

First I had to remove all the old siding, it was pretty far gone, it was a bit disheartening but I’ve started, no turning back.

I started building a wooden framework which the new cladding will fix to, then the rain started, I pulled up the stumps and ran for cover.

The rain did ease off just long enough to walk to get some some fish and chips, I had wanted some for a long time, it was delicious.

12th October 2023

It had rained overnight, so all my bags were soaking wet, so not only did I have the weight of the stuff in the bags I have water as well.

Fortunately there are so many holes in the bags most of it drained out.

As I carried them to the truck I was aware I was getting a bit damp in my gentleman’s area.

After loading six bags I looked like a bad case of incontinuance.

Getting through Bradford on Avon is bad at normal times, I was out early, but it made no difference. A lot of delays are caused by drivers who do not know how wide their vehicle is. They stop at the narrow sections giving way to oncoming traffic, all the time causing a build up of vehicles behind them. There is easily room for two cars to pass each other, maybe not two trucks, even I have to stop for them.

As I drove into Trowbridge I had to stop because a giant skip was being collected and I was fascinated by how it was loaded onto the lorry. So simple, but effective. I was in a jolly mood, and smiled as the loaders gave me the thumbs-up.

The tip was fairly quiet, so I was able to reverse into a bay close to the container for garden waste.

By now my wet patch was less obvious, I quickly dumped all six bags and left, ready to tackle the congestion once again.

The next section of giant buddleias was a bit tricky, I had to use my ladder to climb on to the raised area where I started clipping gradually filling the path with branches. I was hoping to make another tip run before the schools shed their hordes. I gave up using cutters to chop up the sticks into small pieces, instead I snapped them with my bare hands, I’m no whomp.

This meant I was able to beat the rush and get back at a decent time.

I wanted to set up my powerMac downstairs to copy some files, buy there were cables everywhere, as I had six external hard drives to sort out. Eventually things worked out and I did what I wanted

11th October 2023

The great garden culling continues, this time it moved round the front of the shed.

The buddleia was equally eight feet tall, towering over everyone that walked past, as it was four feet off the ground making it like a threatening monster plant, day of the triffids perhaps.

Systematically I cut each section at a time, watching it fall on to the path. I thought it was best to chop it up and bag it rather than making a massive heap which would hamper any poor sod who wanted to pass. Thankfully at this time of year there are very few lost tourists to appear.

My progress was slow, but the garden bags were filling up and I could see another trip to the tip tomorrow looming.

As soon as the last bag was full it was my signal to stop for the day. Now the full extent of the damage to the shed, the years of neglect was obvious, now I had to do something drastic, the long term future of the structure is not secure, I will eventually remove it, but I’m not ready to do that yet, I have stuff in the spare bedroom that has to be dealt with first.

I’m quite pleased with myself, my self imposed schedule is working, I have tomorrow to complete the front tidy up, and I’m nearly halfway through my trip already.

10th October 2023

Day two of the garden clean-up, Forsythia.

This was the shrub next door that was hanging over my path. Usually I would trim it back, but these were out of control. I had spoken to the lady next door and agreed that I would take them down to the ground.

So I was ready to do the deed, I was up early, I had a small breakfast and even got to the supermarket before nine. I needed things because Nicola and Colin were coming to help, and Colin likes his cake.

Once that was done, I filled five bags with the Buddleia cuttings ready to take to the tip.

I did make a start with the forsythia removing three separate bushes that were sheltering the plants on my side. That made a large pile on the slope, I knew that was just a small part of what was to come.

Once Nicola and Colin arrived they were the heavy artillery, in a short time everything that looked like a forsythia had gone, the pile on the slope was enormous. When I returned from the tip run we started packing the bags with the new branched.

I have learned the secret of successful bag loading and that is by cutting the branches into small pieces, now that might be obvious to most people, but not to me at first.

When faced with a mountain of branches it’s hard to imagine that it could get any smaller, but we all snipped away, and soon filled seven bags ready for the tip run tomorrow.

It was a fantastic effort that couldn’t have been done without the dynamic duo.

9th October 2023

The drive back to Bradford on Avon was like I’d never been away. It was as if the same trucks were ahead slowing down the traffic. It didn’t get any better once I reached my town. The council have decided to close a main road causing lines of traffic as a welcome.

The guest had left the cottage early and Louise had already changed the bed covers.

I had my objective for the day, the giant buddleia in the garden was the first to go. Out came the loppers, and I began to trim the branches.

Very soon there was a massive pile blocking the path. There seemed a big difference between the size of the tree when it was standing, and the sprawling mess that lay before me. Now all I had to do was get it to the tip.

Unfortunately I only had two bags, so filling them up was a doddle.

On the way to the tip I came across another road closure. Now I had to drive back through the town encountering more traffic and school children. It was a torturous journey all for two bags of branches.

Louise had come up to help with the de-weeding, every little be helps.