17 May 2018

Working to reduce my alcohol intake I have discovered low alcohol beer and Erdinger is my favourite so far. Good to have the illusion you are drinking real beer!

16 May 2018

Sunny and warm. One annoying feature about the weather around here is that about 5pm - just when I'm settling down in the garden to read a book in the sun - a chilly breeze springs up 😡

Great to have some new reading after the Utopia for Realists. I can recommend all of David Graeber's books.

15 May 2018

Lovely sunny day! Off to the Abda Cafe to meet Transition members and Nick from Planet Heswall.

14 May 2008

Looks set to be a good week weather-wise. Not as warm as it has been but dry and sunny. Still tons of work on the garden to do including digging out a load of Comfrey which I'm not looking forward to. The two major weed problems I have a constant battle with are Bindweed and Couch Grass.

13 May 2018

Busy day in the garden. Still tons of works to be done. Replanted Rosemary and Fennel in the herb garden, and had to re-sow Coriander, Runner Beans, Spinach and Chard which didn't grow first time around. Also needed to tackle some of the weeds which are doing too well for my liking.

Garden, complete with cat.

12 May 2018

Off to Dunham Massey to meet my old university friends Liz, Bob and Martin. Martin's partner Gillian was also there. We had a good look around the gardens, house and the sawmill, finishing off with dinner in the Axe and Cleaver.

Gillian, Martin and me

Bob, Liz and Gillian

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The Sawmill

11 May 2008

Out in Manchester for a few drinks and lots of political debate with Peter and Adrian. A good day was had by all!

In the Marble Arch

Street art

The infamous pickled egg in Trof

10 May 2018

Sunny but cool - about 14oC. Went for a very brisk walk around the Weaver Valley circuit, which has been transformed now that the trees are in leaf.

Eaton Lane

Wild Garlic down by the river

9 May 2018

Left about 11.00 am and dropped Peter off at Hartford by 12.30. Frustrating day though. My mobile seems to have died and there is some damage to the wheel arch cover on the campervan. Very tired due to not sleeping well the previous night. Had a kip in the afternoon.

8 May 2018

Very warm morning turning a lot cooler in the afternoon. We walked into Church Stretton via the scenic route - behind the Long Mynd hotel - and then walked over the Shropshire Way in a loop behind Ragleth Hill. The footpath took us through some strange hillbilly country full of barking dogs but it was a good walk - 10.5 miles.

Above the campsite on the way to Church Stretton

After the walk, sitting in Pete Postlethwaite's seat in the Green Dragon 

Relaxing in the evening

7 May 2018

The great weather continues, more like June than May. Peter came over after lunch and we set off the Small Batch campsite in Little Stretton. I'd heard it was good but it surpassed our expectations Thirty pitches, most with hook-ups in a small valley close to the Long Mynd and only five minutes from the centre of the village which has two pubs.

Small Batch Campsite

Peter outside the Green Dragon

6 May 2018

Another beautiful hot sunny day spent gardening and getting the van prepared for the trip to Shropshire.

Rio and friend

5 May 2018

Very warm - about 26oC. Another good day in the garden and time to show off my Marx T-shirt on the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Pete and Anthea came over in the evening and we enjoyed a good take away curry washed down with plenty of beer. So busy talking I forgot to take any photos.

4 May 2018

Yes, it's warm! Warmest day of the year so far about 20oC. I have hatched a cunning plan to go away in the campervan for a few days with my friend Peter.

Cut the lawn again so its time for a really tasty sausage butty with lashings of mustard.

3 May 2018

Things are beginning to hot up a bit with warm weather forecast for the weekend. Potatoes are coming up but no sign of the runner beans which vexes me. Last year I planted early, nothing happened and I had to re-plant. Will I have to do the same again?

I had always wanted a Monkey Puzzle tree and I planted this one about 10 years ago. It's slowly beginning to take off.

2 May 2018

Mixed weather. Cool but sunny most of the day. Citizens Advice in the afternoon and some gardening in the morning.

1 May 2018

International Workers Day and one of my favourite days of the year!

Now it really feels like Spring has got going! Garden is beginning to bloom. Still quite a bit of planting to do, and some hard landscaping.

30 April 2018

Returned home from Buttermere. Fairly decent weather still. Warm in the sun but slightly chilly out of it. This is a short video I took in the wood by the hotel. The sound of silence! 

29 April 2018

Day 3 in Buttermere. The weather was so good we decided to stay an extra night at the Bridge. We're both a bit out of condition so only did Rannerdale Knots which was enough for me. Great walk in lovely conditions. I'd forgotten how steep some Lakeland hills can be!

Haystacks and Great Gable

Rannerdale Knotts

High Stile and Red Pike

Crummock Water

28 April 2018

Another glorious day in Buttermere. Went for the usual walk around Buttermere. Great day! Good pint of Mowdy afterwards and The Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell. Both are highly recommended!

Buttermere

Fleetwith Pike

27 April 2018

Susie and I were off to the Lakes, staying in the Bridge Hotel, Buttermere, a place we have stayed at many times over the years. The day started badly with incessant pouring rain but it cleared when we reached Windermere, and as we progressed northwards it got better and better. When we reached Buttermere the sun was shining and it was warm - in the sun.

Grasmoor

Crummock water, Red Pike and High Stile

Panorama taken from the Bridge Hotel. Croft Farm on the left and the Fish Hotel centre

26 April 2018

After a few days of abstinence, I decided to walk down to the local shop and get a bottle of red. I chose Castillo San Simon Jumilla which is apparently the 'best selling in Spain'. I can see why it's very good and for 12.5 % very potent as well!

These wild violets grow all over the garden

25 April 2018

Back to work. A quiet morning at the foodbank but much busier at Citizens Advice in the afternoon. The garden is beginning to bloom.

Planted the potatoes early as usual. Good to see them coming up. 

24 April 2018

Miserable day - it rained all day so got on with reading The Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell. It's about Sartre, de Beauvoir, and their influences - a very good read.

It rained all day 😞

23 April 2018

Again a mixed day. Sunny spells and a few showers. Weather much more like April. About 10oC. Managed to cut the lawns and a walk down to the local shop was in order.

The Bulls Head, one of our local pubs, is an old coaching inn.

22 April 2018

Mixed day weatherwise. Managed to get some gardening done and its good to see that the fruits of my planting are beginning to appear.

The onions are coming up