23.04.2025 48km.

 ~o~

  Wednesday 23rd 42F/5.6C. [7.40] Thick mist clearing. Bright overcast. Light winds. Temperature peaking at 13C//55F at 16.00. Promise of sunshine this evening.

  Up at 7am after a very quiet night. I was just thinking I haven't had a nosebleed for quite a while. Then I blew my nose and it started bleeding. I'll try pinching it for five minutes.

 7.55. Physio after lunch. I'd like a ride this morning. Not too far. A walk first. 

 8.30 Back from my walk around the fields on the spray tracks. My trousers were wet up to the knees from the long, wet grass. Lots of bird activity. Though a small warbler lay dead beside the road. It looked unhurt but must have succumbed to the speeding traffic.

 9.00 Going for a ride. 

 11.30 53F/11.7C. Returning from a 48km ride. To inspect all the road closures. For the new high speed rail line and the rural expansion of the district heating system. At times it seemed as if every other vehicle was a 7-axle tipper truck. 

 There were tower cranes everywhere. Hovering over deep excavations, new concrete and blockwork. [Blue is the new, 250km/hr [155mph] high speed rail track. Red, the old railway line. With stations or stops at towns and villages. In the image above.] The new line runs mostly parallel and close to the motorway. Which is shown in black. This has produced some complication. Where bridges and cuttings allow local traffic to cut cross the motorway route.

 I saw a red kite circling over the motorway. It really wasn't very warm this morning. My gloved hands were cold and my eyes streaming behind my wraparound sunglasses. The battery dropped from 75% to only 10% charge. The cold conditions? Or is the battery losing its capacity?

 13.00 Off to physio class.

 Returned from physio.  I pushed myself too hard again and became dizzy. It affected my sight again. With stars and sparkles. I'll talk to the doctor about it when I see him next. I shopped on the way home. As I had run out of stuff to eat.

 Returned from another car journey. To fetch a parcel from a pick-up shop. I had paid for home delivery. After countless years wearing the old ones as slippers. I invested in another pair of Rohde slip-on sandals. The last pair had cracks across the now, highly polished soles. The new ones have a grippy tread I had completely forgotten existed. I have gone from wheelspin slippery to 4WD on chunky tires. Which might help me avoid accidents or even falls.

 

 ~o~

22.04.2025 Jo, Heave-ho!

 ~o~

  Tuesday 22nd 48F/9C. Bright overcast as the sun tries to break through. A day of light rain and some sunshine.

 Up at 6.45 after a couple of false starts. Thankfully I no longer have to get up. To escape from the torment of memories of my late wife. It took me three years to accept my human imperfection.

 No immediate plans for today. My hands are still aching from handling the bayonet saw on the observatory timbers. It is a heavy and vicious tool. With massive vibration however I try to use it. I might have had more luck with the chainsaw. Though the blade and multiple chains are all knackered. So the chains often shed at the first attempt at a cut. None of the big shed outlets carry the 16"/40cm spares. So I will have to order them online.

 The remains of the observatory are a hideous mess. Which requires sorting and neat stacking. Preferably where it doesn't get in the way of further progress. Again this requires my hands can manage the loads involved. I ought to rest them after yesterday's demolition antics. Even a longer ride on the e-bike takes a toll on my hands and wrists. Despite my organizing a bolt-upright riding position. Lifting the electric kettle and screwing up some packaging proved painful this morning. It's my own fault. For pretending I am still a teenager.  

 8.10 Enough waffling. Time for a walk.

 8.45 I limited myself to a loop around the neighbour's, shared drives. The sun broke through but only for a few minutes. Birds were everywhere. Singing, calling and flying. Even a flock of starlings. Still no sign of any swallows. The nice neighbour's goats were standing on their hind legs and browsing on an apple tree. Spring has fully sprung. With fresh green foliage and blossom all over the place. 

 I had a call from the carport dealer. They can't provide a smaller delivery vehicle. The packaging is over 5m in length. The longest components being the gutters. The packaged, construction kit is loaded onto lorries from the side. Using a fork lift truck. 

 Which, going on past experience, usually means the driver will just dump it on the verge. At the far end of the 200m drive. On the fast and busy road. On a sharp, completely blind corner!

 My only option then, would be to open the packaging. To take the components along the drive separately on a sack truck. There aren't that many and none of them is likely to be too heavy to manage alone. [Image borrowed from the online instructions.] 

 Or, I could lift the bits into the little trailer. Which is rather small unless they stand up inside the cage. A bit of padding will protect the galvanized finish.

 I have ordered the carport anyway. There is a special offer discount of about £50 equivalent finishing tomorrow. Which will go towards the £100 [equivalent] delivery charge. Now all I need is for somebody to clear all that timber which is in the way. Oh, and remove all the concrete foundation blocks. Level the gravel, compact it and lay some decorative gravel on top. I'll just do that.

 17.00 I had run out of some groceries so went for a drive in the Morris. It turned into a circular tour of several shopping villages. 

 Dinner was mackerel in tomato sauce on toast. No pictures.

8.45 I had to light the stove. It was only 64F/17.8C in the room.

 

 ~o~

21.04.2025 Demolition: It's down!

 ~o~

  Monday 21st 47F/8.3C. Overcast but mostly dry this morning. Possible light rain this afternoon.

 Up at 7.15 after dozing for ages. A fairly quiet night. 

 8.10 already. I ought to have a walk. 

 9.00 Just returned from my walk to the lanes. Cool, overcast and slightly misty. Dozens of small voices in the hedgerows and overhead. It took ages to walk off the lower back pain. Traffic very light. A helicopter passed directly overhead at very low altitude completely invisibly.   

11.00 No more lazing on YT! I had better see what can be done with the remains of the observatory.

  I have bought some cheap new blades to replace the crap supplied with the DeWalt bayonet saw.

 I am having to be extremely careful. The 4x4s [100x100] upright posts are heavy. The whole building is resting on the ends of these. So it could drop or tip over as I saw them away. 

 12.15 Back in from sawing protruding timbers from the observatory.  I am hot, breathless and knackered but recovering quickly.

 The last panel of plywood cladding is still attached next to the shed/workshop. Its weight and stiffness is holding the remains at an angle.  13.30 Lunch over, so I went back out. As soon as I had sawn through the lower double beam it started raining. The beam dropped as if free at the far end. Though it is completely inaccessible to the saw at that end. 

 I wonder if the whole thing would tip forwards. If I pulled it with the ratchet strap using the car. I fear that panel would resist rotation. Or even damage the shed.

 17.00 Back for a rest. I am dripping with sweat! I managed to sever the timbers attaching the last cladding panel. Then I attached the car to the ratchet straps and took up the tension. I leaned on the straps. The whole floor unit toppled over and I was so surprised that I fell on my bum! No harm done.

 Now I just have to cut up the flooring. To free the joists. The stainless steel, Torx screws showed no interest in coming undone.

 Dinner was a chicken and mushroom curry. More than twice as much as I needed! I washed up while the rice simmered.
 

 

  ~o~