20.04.25 Tooing and froing.

 ~o~

  Sunday 20th 46F/8C. Heavy overcast and drizzling. Rain expected to die out later. South westerly breeze.

  Up at 5.45 after another quiet night with weird dreams. 67F/19C in the room. 

 Too wet for a ride. Too wet to be collecting "stuff" to get rid of. Too wet for demolition. Too wet for grass cutting or any other gardening. Too wet for a walk. My lower back has been very painful for the last two days. Lack of a walk? Too many hours in the computer chair? 

 I tried measuring the various trolleys floating around Chez Hovel. None of them will replace those in the front hall. This is where I charge batteries and store them. For the e-bike and umpteen tools. The present pair of trolleys are far too low. Too busy and far too cluttered. Too completely undisciplined. Too me! 

 Yet they were my wife's. When the front hall was hers. A small space full of light. Thanks to the recycled, double glazed, double doors I fitted in place of a singe, solid wood, front door. The one that came with the house. The one with a 4" gap underneath. With a hideous porch affair outside. Long gone and most of the the front, southerly facade now sheltered by the 7m long, lean-to greenhouse. I built shelving units for her plants. Even hung led growing lights. It didn't work and severely blocked the tiny hall. 

 Not that it was the open thoroughfare it is now. The living room door was permanently closed and blocked with thick curtains and large, unwanted paintings. I often have the glazed, hall doors wide open. It is the shortest route to the kitchen. My kitchen now. After three years it is time to take the hall back. Make it my own. It just needs a bit of a makeover. Currently bare cement render on that wall.

 Shelving unit or a cupboard? No more than 80cm wide. It can't be too tall. Because the consumer unit and electricity meter dominate that narrow wall at head height. A working surface at a comfortable height. For the battery charging. 

 The tallboy chest of drawers is the only bit of spare furniture looking for a new purpose. It wouldn't work there. I can't put a grandfather clock out there. Because of the aforesaid meter and fuse box. Oh gawd! this means I have to go searching for something suitable in the charity shops. It's the bathroom cabinet search all over again! 

 7.45. I feel as if I have been up for hours. I am going for a walk. Whether it is raining or not.

 8.40 Back from a walk in the drizzle. Lots of birdsong and alarm calls. A pretty pair of Yellowhammers shook the wet off their foliage. A woodpecker moved away in short flights after crossing the road. Countless slugs, dead and alive, decorated the asphalt. A few, bright yellow snails similarly tried their luck. The niggling breeze was roaring in my hearing aids after the turn into the lanes. Wetting my jumper until I closed my jacket. I was sweating on the way back. Never full escaped from the back pain.

 12.00  I wiped the car down with a clean cloth and rainwater but it still looks grubby as it dries. I have been tidying up and emptying the trailer of the dusty, waste wood which came with the logs. It is no longer raining but still feels very damp.

 

 ~o~

 

19.04.2025 Another nice little earner!

 ~o~

  Saturday 19th 44F/6.7C. Heavy overcast. 24 hours of rain in the forecast. Amounting to 17mm or 0.75". 

 Up at 6am. My back is aching.

 I have to visit the apotek [chemist or pharmacy.] Having gone without one of my six tablets for several days. After a prescription ran out. They open at 9am. There will have to be grocery shopping. To cover two more days of Easter closures. Man cannot live by chips alone. Though, god knows, he can try.

 I was surprised to discover how inferior Kleenex Original tissues have become these days. They couldn't make the pack any smaller so they made the tissues thinner. The comparison only came up because I found a pocket pack of tissues in a jacket. The difference was night and day. I could make one of the pocket tissues last a whole week! 

 The same goes for DGF orange marmalade. The last two jars have been all jelly and nothing else. I like the chewy bits in my marmalade on my toasted rolls. Perhaps it is a reaction by DGF to a new proposal for a minimum percentage of fruit? 

 9.00 Raining. Morning coffee over. Off we go.

 9.45 Returning heavily laden in a fogged up Morris. Continuous rain all the time I was out. One of the supermarket checkouts was crippled by another attempt to get away with daylight robbery. The customer was overcharged yet again. The checkout operator seemed [yet again] unable to correct the error. So the queue soon stretched into the next village. This was in a different supermarket chain from yesterday's  customer fleecing.

 You'd think the EU had rules for consumer protection. Presumably Denmark opted out of consumer protection. When they opted out of the Euro and all in for retail monopolies. Last time I checked there were three retail chains with 89% of grocery sales. 

 The former, discount chains [like Aldi] are gone or shrinking. With frequent closures of the large, chain's outlets as well. Centralization is robbing the smaller villages of access to their local grocery outlets. Further reinforcing rural depopulation. Surprise-surprise! Denmark's grocery prices are higher than elsewhere in the EU. The tendency is towards ever younger staff on the checkouts and rapid staff turnover. 

 I know it is boring but I am still working on the ideal siting of a carport in my "yard." I had hoped to find an AI website which would suggest the idea situation. It seems they haven't progressed much past making fluffy green cats behaving unnaturally.   

 The ground plan for Chez Hovel. There are currently steep banks beyond the brown lines. These limit potential turning space. Though I had planned to add rubble. To level out to the boundary on the north side. Beyond the shed and carport. 

 After much thought I am going to place the carport beside the shed. The car is driven in nose first to park. Or simply in preparation for reversing on a curve. To bring the car near to the house front door. Though with the drivers door on the offside. Polite parking service for the passenger? 

 The car can then leave the house. By turning sharp right into the drive. Or is driven forwards on left lock to place it back into the carport again. This avoids reversing into the carport under poor visibility. With the risk of striking one of the supporting posts. 

 It doesn't look like I have much room to maneuver. Though the 15 x 11m meters parking and turning space. Is quite generous in reality. Far better than many people struggle with. The car can always be reversed into the carport in daylight if desired. 

 I am sorely tempted to have a double carport or two carports, side by side. This gives the trailer its own shelter. The lawnmower or other gardening equipment would benefit from protection from the weather too. Security is easily provided with a locked wire cage or box. The slender construction of arched steel components. Will not interfere with the view of the rural background.

 Dinner was a fry-up. Of chicken, mushrooms, tweggs and baked beans.

 

  ~o~

18.04.2025 Not more carports?

 ~o~

  Friday 18th 45F/7C. Overcast with rain. I woke to find the southern sky the colour of lead. It soon started raining heavily but seems to have eased off. Breezy now from the NW. With more rain forecast this morning. Supposedly drier this afternoon with lighter winds. 

Up at 7am after an odd night. I was aware of being awake and checking the clock. 

 I was going to restart the demolition [again] but everything is sopping wet now. Dare I risk a walk? 

 I had a short walk down the road but the wind was cold and I wasn't in the mood to go far. 

 After morning coffee I drove to the next village to search for more arched metal carports. It rained for most of the morning.

  12.50 I returned in time for lunch. Having captured several carports hidden away in the quiet cul-de-sacs. Including several examples of the one I was intending to buy. Even a double. I have not put myself off the purchase after exposure to real world examples. 

 Though I have rethought the siting in place of the rotary clothes airer. Reversing out would be too critical in avoiding the workshop. So I shall place the carport near to where the observatory stood. 

 Shopping can be carried in with the car parked near the door. Then the car can be reversed into the carport. When I want to use the car I can reverse out to bring it near the door again. Though facing the opposite way. Which would suit another user loading family members. The car would then be facing the correct way to proceed along the drive.

  It is long overdue that I had lights with movement sensors. We had one years ago but it stopped working. In an ideal world I would have a wide, arched double carport with no central supporting posts. It would be very easy to reverse in. 

 Alas, there would be little or no change from £10k equivalent. There are no [relatively] cheap kits for these extra wide doubles. They are the exclusive wares of  "carport designer studios" and architects. They usually want to carry out the construction work themselves. To ensure it is done correctly and to a high standard. I am not in that market.

 I wasted the afternoon on the computer as the temperature in the room slowly fell.

 Dinner was fish fingers and chips. There was little else in the fridge or larder. I lit the stove.

 ~o~