7.05.2026

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 Thursday 7th 41F/5C [7.15] Bright but rather cloudy today. 64F/18C in the room. 48F/9C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 6.30 after a fairly quiet night. My back was killing me when I got up! Was it the mowing?

 Cooking class today. I have colour recipe papers again. After a long time with black and white. The HP printer would not recognize its own obscenely expensive "economy sized" ink cartridges. So when it stopped feeding paper as well it was quickly replaced by a budget Canon ink jet. 

 Now the Canon wants to update its firmware. As I don't have a Masters degree in Canon updating textual nonsense it is likely to remain "unimproved." Fortunately it produces excellent prints as is. So I won't repair what's not broken. Besides, I did not take the option of the accessory Atomic Tunneling Microscope. To be able to read the sub-micro [3 micron] text on the sub-miniature display panel. There is somebody very twisted at Cannon to have let that become an official feature. Nepotism? Probably.

 In fact the updating was only a matter of repeatedly pressing the OK button to prompts on the tiny screen. Read with the aid of my trusty 10x compound, magnifying glass. Job done. Now it will probably start misbehaving. Or displaying adverts on the tiny screen! 😱

 However tempting to ride the 32km to cooking class I think it's a bit risky. I am feeling a bit fragile this morning.

 I have now heard back from the county council about the overgrown, larch hedge. They have decided that it does not present a serious hindrance to normal movement along the drive. I may trim the hedge to ensure free passage but may not damage the hedge. So any plans to take a chainsaw to the trunks at head height is obviously out of the question.

 I have discovered the name of the investment company. Which I am presuming is [slowly] repairing the house for rental. One might have hoped the recent run of fine weather would have signaled the arrival of more builders. 

 

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6.05.2026 A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

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  Wednesday 6th 41F/5C [7.15] Bright and sunny all day again. Only 13C/55F maximum again. 63F/17C in the room. No heating yesterday. None overnight. I'll give it an early boost with the heat pump. See what happens. Greenhouse at 48F/9C. 

 7.30 Up at 6am. I felt breathless in the night. Imagination? Dreaming? I'll go for walk in a minute or two. Before I get welded to the computer chair.

 8.00 Back again. Bright sunshine but a rather cool NE wind. I walked the parallel drive loop on the back field. The image shows why I like this area so much. There is a large pond just out of view to the left. The flat area, again to the left, is marshy. A stream runs just in front of the background trees. 

 The entire embankment, along which the new drive runs is less than three years old. It was started in the spring of 2023 and took some months to complete. It was beautifully landscaped and is becoming very natural in appearance. It took hundreds of vast tipper trucks full of soil, rubble, gravel and sand. To lift the embankment over the original marshy field. 

 A huge excavator did all the work in leveling and shaping the banks. With a vibrating, road roller compacting the surface. The excavator driver did a tremendous job of beautifying what could so easily have been an ugly, uniform, railway embankment. An area between the new and old drives was raised and leveled. To become a small field or paddock. Leading nicely up to the newly erected buildings and house at the base of the hill. 

 The Husqvarna robot mower was still trundling back and forth. As I walked back along the neighbours' drive. It was looking almost lost on the huge area of grass it tends. 

 Each day the sward visibly improves. Yet it is impossible to detect any cutting action while the mower is actually moving. The magic must lie in the endless repetition. No weed gets a chance to raise its head. 

 8.30  I ought to have a ride today. 

 10.00 The first bike battery is fully charged. I think I'll take the scenic route to Assens. 

 12.45 And back again after 25km. I visited two DIY outlets and a charity shop but came away empty handed. A headwind coming back. So I found my GripGrab "Aviator" medieval scull cap in the panniers to protect my ears. This greatly increased my comfort.

 The spring countryside was absolutely gorgeous. Particularly the cycle path. Which runs N-S along the western boundary of Assens. It is quite a steep incline but wanders endlessly left and right in blind bends  to provide greater interest. 

 With a dense shelter belt of trees between itself and the main road to the east. A similar wealth of semi-mature trees lies on the other side. To hide and shelter the houses. The adjoining paths are all named after birds.  

 After lunch and some YT I kept dozing off. So I had to have a nap. The computer screen keeps going dark and won't restart. A software update? I tried Restarting the mini-PC. No difference.

 15.15  Back in from mowing the drive. 8 lengths of 100m.  No back pain? Do I feel up to attacking the western lawn? It is very hard work pushing the mower through long, rough grass. The ground is very rough after there being hundreds of molehills earlier in the year. The Makita mower batteries will probably need recharging by now. 

 16.00 I have been filling out an online questionnaire on my heart symptoms. Prior to my appointment on the 20th May. After which there was a link to a very detailed description of the procedure for balloon expansion and fitting a stent. With an excellent video to watch. All helping to reinforce the illustrated text description I have already received and printed out. 

 I have heard back from the kommune [county council] about the overgrown, larch hedge blocking the drive. The piles of builders rubble, toilets, sinks, etc. in front of the corner house are judged not to be insanitary. Nor likely to attract rats. So there's nothing which can be done about that.

 The hedge could be trimmed by the council at the expense of the owners. Though it was advised that discussion between the property owners would be more sensible. Unfortunately there has been no contact whatsoever with the owner. I have no idea who it might be. My nice neighbours would also like to contact them. To discuss the shared drive maintenance or costs. 

  I have just exchanged hand signals with a bunch of eastern European workers. Who spoke neither English nor Danish. Their manners in completely and repeatedly blocking the drive spoke volumes. As does the awful mess they left behind in the turning space. At the junction with the main drive and my shared access drive.  Presumably to save the expense of taking it all to the local recycling yard. 

 Their mess has remained untouched since work was abandoned in the autumn. [September 2025] With no sign of a return so far. The plastic sheeting they used to cover the bare roof timbers after stripping the thatch. Is now ripping itself to pieces in the wind.

 Dinner was poached eggs on toast. No pictures. 

 

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5.05.2026 Demolition!

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 Tuesday 5th 39F/3.9C [6.00] Another sunny day. 67F/199C in the room.41F/5C in the greenhouse. I left the skylights open out there to shed the heat. I don't want the pond water getting too warm.

 Up at 5.30 after a very busy night at the fire bucket. My back is painful again. I shall be visiting my English friend. 

 12.00 Safely back from my visit. Countryside very beautiful. My friend gave me a pretty copper bird feeder. Further to his requirements. He already has several feeders hanging from his huge, garden trees. I shan't start feeding them. Just hang it up so the birds get used to it being there.

 I was going to go for a ride after lunch but didn't.  

 16.00 I have been rather busy indoors. First I had to empty the glass display cabinet of ornaments and move it aside.

 Then I started demolishing the internal brickwork and block work under the original, indoor window sill. Where the glazed door will replace the antique window. I have posted an image above of Chez Hovel's present ugliness. The distortion is due to the mobile phone camera. 

 I built the entrance door out of thick, recycled floorboards and installed it probably over 20 years ago. It is much easier to enter the house this way. Than going through the lean-to greenhouse. The sliding, greenhouse doors do not readily lend themselves to easy access. Nor is there anywhere to park nearby. 

 The inside of the outer layer of lightweight insulating blocks can be seen in the image below right. I have already removed an inner row of blocks. Which were hidden behind the brickwork. Under the deep, protruding, wooden windowsill. 

 This was the first time the rather beautiful, old window has been opened in three decades. Which allowed me to throw the debris straight into the wheelbarrow. Parked outside, under the sill. 

 Going well so far. The big DeWalt hammer drill made quick work of clearing the last of the adhering mortar on the floor. The work so far has increased the light coming through the window. Though it has always been obscured by a chest of drawers until now. There was always a sense of vulnerability due to the low sill height. 

 The downside is that I have now discovered the mains water pipe leading to the meter. The pipe is literally lying on the concrete floor. Buried within the wall insulation on either side. Being iron, the pipe will not succumb to any attempt at bending.  Which means it can't be lost under the new door's threshold. Which probably means that the door will have to be mounted slightly higher if the threshold overlaps. By about 20mm or nearly an inch above floor level.  

 Still plenty of room below ceiling level. If the pipe runs just inboard of the new door's threshold. It could easily be hidden in some white, boxy electrical conduit. To disappear from view against the overall white of the new door. What the eye doesn't see.. The heart can't grieve about. I may have to move the carpet northwards. To hide the now bare area of floor. Though a doormat might do just as well.

 The carpenter may have a better idea on how to deal with the pipe problem. I shan't do any more now until he turns up. He can decide how much of the window surround/reveal needs to be removed. As well as the ugly block work above the present window. 

 Dinner was a major fry-up. Sausages, mushrooms, tweggs on toast and Heinz baked beans. Toast is healthier than fried bread. I think.   

 I had a "spam" email from Moustache e-bikes. They are offering a 1000Wh battery on specific bike models. The largest battery was only 670Wh when I bought mine. It might help to compensate for the hunger of the Bosch increase in power on specific motors. Progress.

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