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 only a couple of years old. Yet beautifully landscaped and becoming very natural in appearance. It took hundreds of vast tipper trucks full of soil 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 roller compacting the surface. The excavator driver did a tremendous job of beautifying what could so easily have been an ugly railway embankment. 

 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. 

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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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4.05.2026 Progress.

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  Monday 4th 47F/8C [7.50] Heavy overcast. Heavy overnight rain last night. Possible sunshine this afternoon. Peaking at a miserable 13C/55F. A bit breezy from the west.

 Up at 7am after a typical night. I was cold in bed at 70F/21C. So I put on a thick jumper. It's still 69F/21C in the room without any heating. The greenhouse is at 57F/14C.

 9.15 Trying a walk. 

 9.45 Back again in bright sunshine. Just the usual loop. I almost walked off the back pain. Not aware of the buttock pain today.

 I hovered to watch the Husqvarna robot mower at work. Having greatly underestimated the large area of lawn near their house yesterday. Despite there being no obvious sign of grass being actively cut. The overall appearance has improved since yesterday. The mower may be set at maximum height. So it is removing only the tips of the grass and any weeds. 

 Robot mowers are ideally meant for lawn maintenance. Not as a weed wacker. The general advice online is to use a conventional mower to get the grass short enough in spring. Then let the robot mower repeatedly trim the grass to taste. It is only the repetition which makes it practical. Because it never exceeds the rather limited cutting capacity.

 All of this discussion is my attempt to decide. If, or how I can continue maintaining the drive and western lawn myself. With my continuing bad back a major factor in the decision. I do not want to pay somebody to come in to cut the grass. Minimum of (say) 500kr [~£50] per trim. 12 trims per year and a 6,000kr robot mower would pay for itself. If, hiring somebody was the only other option. Cutting the grass with the Makita battery mower is proving quite hard work.

 Repeatedly emptying the large grass box is even harder work. It used to mean using a wheelbarrow to remove the cuttings. To the far NE corner of the garden behind the shed. There is plenty of space for compost heaps at the edges of the western lawn. The huge bushes can easily hide a multitude of sins. Few, if anybody, ever visit the western garden. The drive more often. How do you stop occasional vehicles from running over a mower? 

 Local grass dumping doesn't really make life any easier. The heavy grass box still has to be removed [very awkwardly!] from the mower, carried and tipped. A robot mower would not be producing huge quantities of cuttings. At least not once the lawn is safely under its control. Which nicely solves the weight problem. But, which leaves the serious problem of improving the western lawn to manageable smoothness first. Before a robot mower can even be unleashed. 

 12.30 I'll have to go shopping. I have run out of rolls for lunch. 

 13.00 Back again. Warm, breezy and sunny.

 14.00 60F/15.6C. 110F/43C in the greenhouse! I have opened the skylights and end door. 

 I went outside and moved the unused paving slabs away from the house. The plants, pots, furniture and recycling bins also need a temporary new home. All done.  

 I am open for bidding on the Danish "Handyman" website to have my new doors fitted professionally. I could easily do it myself if I didn't have a bad back and didn't feel so old. It now occurs to me that the display cabinets are a hindrance to door fitting activities. While I might take great care others might not. Hundreds of china cats and the Finnish glass collection will have to be moved somewhere else!  

 I have accepted a competitive bid from a qualified carpenter. We had a chat on the phone and his English is excellent. He has completed 20 projects with Handyhand and had glowing reports and full marks. He'll be here at the end of this week. A huge relief not to have to do the job myself in my present state. More so because it will be done well before my hospital appointment. 

 Now I have a fixed date I really do need to start clearing the display cabinets. Though the cat cabinet in the corner could be shielded with plywood. Or a sleeping bag? The glass collection cabinet does need to move but is easily managed and returned to its former state. There being so few ornaments to handle.

 Dinner was the four sausage rolls I put in the fridge last night. With fresh salad. 

 

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