3.05.2026 Grass fed robot.

 

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  Sunday 3rd 51F/11C [7.30] Overcast. Slightly misty. A complete change from the recent run of sunny weather. Peaking at 18C after lunch. Rain also starting after lunch. Becoming very wet overnight. With up to 20mm of rain! Heaviest in the evening. Thunder, hail and all sorts of noisy goings on. Though with very modest winds. 21C/70F in the room with the heat pump set to 18C on the remote. Greenhouse at 60F/16C. Pond water at 66F/19C.

 Up at 6am after a fairly quiet night. Back/hip/buttock region still hurting. I haven't considered a walk yet.

 8.40 Back from a walk around the drive loop. My lower back was almost normal today. The hip less  painful. I kept going and managed to increase my speed from a toddle to a reasonable pace. 

 Today's entertainment was the neighbour's robot mower. A modestly sized Husqvarna. It was trundling along at a decent walking pace parallel with my route. Though encumbered by the steep sideways slope. It was all but silent. Except for the moments when it hit rougher ground and rattled slightly. It would never disturb anyone even close to its vicinity. 

 The strange thing was that I was completely unable to see any evidence of its passing. One dandelion clock lay in its path but it only showed some damage from the mower. Certainly not clipped. Nor did the grass show any signs of being chopped. At all! Very odd. I watched while it decided how to mow a hooked area near the road. A couple of turns and it headed back home. 

 The area of grass it has to work on is truly vast. At least 160m x 15m. Heavily sloping away from the gravel drive. Wider at both ends.  If it were really able to tame such an area it would save a lot of time and effort. Not having to mow it with their usual tractor drawn implement. With some considerable risk from the steep sideways slope.

 I have seen quite a number of robot mowers doing a great job on similar sized lawns and even much larger. Schools seem to like them. The can produce a sward far better than most manual or ride-on tractor mowers. Since the robot leaves no strips of fallen grass between its tracks. It can provide really impressive results over time. My western lawn is far too rough for an affordable robot mower.  

 11.30 It has already rained and is still raining lightly. I had a look around the garden. Most of the Buddleias are dead. Only one has survived out of six. My wife couldn't keep them alive either. 

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2.05.2026 Him indoors.

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  Saturday 2nd 67F/19C [9.30] Another sunny day. Expected to peak at 22C/71F. It is already close to that! A bit breezier than yesterday. Mostly S-SW. 67F/19C in the room without any heating. 71F/22C in the greenhouse. 

 Up at 7.30 after several failed attempts. My back is still hurting. No ill effects from yesterday's 95km foolishness.

  No walk. My hip/back/buttock weren't up to it.

 I wasted ages trying to get my security cameras to work on the phone app and mini-PC. The camera passwords were not recognized. Despite them working perfectly well on the same network on the old PC. 

 My new printer worked straight out of the box. I needed it to print the 8 pages of advice and information for the coming heart scan. Sent as a file from the hospital after my old HP printer had stopped working.  

 I spent the day on the computer. Opening the inner doors and windows to gain heat from the greenhouse.

 Dinner was simple and supposedly healthy. Tuna on a halved, wholemeal, bread roll. I haven't used any energy. So didn't need a huge meal.

  

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1st May 2026 Happy Birthday Sue!

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  Friday 1st 47F/8C [7.30] Yet another sunny day. Peaking at 19C this afternoon. Light SW breeze.

 Up at 6am after a typical night. My back feels slightly improved for the moment.

 Happy Birthday to my sister Sue!  🎉🥳

 I have been wandering up and down the drive. Taking pictures of the next door's overgrown hedge. The white building in the foreground is a shed. The house is lost behind the hedge.

 Then I sent a secure email to the county council asking for advice. With attached images to show the problem. It is a bank holiday today. So it will be a few days before I hear anything.

 A walk should be possible this morning. Followed by a ride. It would be a shame to waste such a pleasant day.

 8.30 Back from a loop around the neighbours' drives on the back field. Warm sunshine and no wind. I even sprinted down the drive! 

 9.00 Bike battery still on charge. The hedges are beginning to rock in the wind. It's only supposed to gust to 6m/s. I haven't decided where to go yet. I might ride to Ringe. Along the old railway cycle path. Gorgeous countryside and very unspoilt. About 36km each way. I had better wear my padded bibs! [Cycle shorts with braces] I will take two batteries. It's a shame the best garden center on Fyn has closed. 

 10.30 Almost ready to go. I have decided to ride to Korinth. To explore the lakes.

 16.15 72F/22C! Returning from a 95km/60 mile ride to Ringe and back via Korinth. I am hot and knackered. Swapped batteries at 70km. Ate three Corny sub-micro chocolate bars and drank three small boxes of organic apple juice.

 17.30 I just had a half hour nap to recover. My neighbour is shredding the branches I cut down last year. He had a lot of material from cutting the face of the hedge which adjoins his field. Which was just left where it dropped until now. Goody! That will save me worrying about disposal of my contribution to deforestation.

 Dinner was a salmon pasty and chips. I washed up while it cooked.

 I siphoned half of the water out of the indoor aquarium. Hoovering the gravel will have helped. The algae build up suggested too much in the way of nutrients. I also added an internal filter to stir things up and remove the disturbed particulates. I had been running a full under-gravel filter but it obviously wasn't enough.

  

 

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