1st June 2022 A quick test ride.

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 Wednesday 1st June 45F.  Up at 5.40. Calm. Thick mist has quickly burnt off with the bright sunrise. The roof is "steaming" past my north facing window. I don't think I have ever seen this happen before. Though there were two layers of net curtain over this window until quite recently. 

 Not sure of my plans for today. The logs and branches in the garden are irritating. They are very untidy. Do I really need to keep thinner branches as emergency fuel for the stove? Going on past form the wood briquettes may not be available next autumn. Availability has been patchy in past years. When the supplying countries have hard winters.

Rising gas prices has pushed people to go back to firing their wood stoves. I ought to be seriously considering buying some proper firewood. The new stove makes lots of ash with the briquettes. 

 A load of beech logs would be useful. The problem is the local timber merchant has never supplied usable firewood. Not even when they claimed "oven ready" it was [literally] dripping wet. I don't have two years to wait for it to dry out naturally. 

 Though I suppose I could stack it in the greenhouse. The heat in there, over the summer, would do wonders. I can open the double doors at both ends of the greenhouse for air movement. Which was impossible before. Due to all the clutter in there. 

 I have just ordered a Morsø moisture meter online. Morsø is a famous wood stove maker. They offer a pocket sized and affordable, moisture meter. I will then be able check the moisture content at the timber merchants. My old moisture meter was huge and unreliable. I haven't a clue where it is now. 

 7.30 Now I am going for an early walk. Down to the village. Then up to the forest. Steam was rising from the field just in front of the woods. The dark trees behind offering a sharp contrast. I saw a couple of distant deer and several hares. 

 The woods and hedgerows were full of birdsong. The countryside looking its absolute best. With many trees and shrubs in bloom. I climbed the forest tracks to the exit at the beeches. Then down the steep track down to the road. Where the morning traffic was busy as I walked back.

 The breeze was so light. That the wind turbines slowed. From a barely a crawl. To a complete standstill. My trousers were soon wet to above my knees from the incredibly heavy dew. Water droplets clung to everything. There must have been heavy rain in the night. Because there were puddles everywhere. I was gone for about an hour and a quarter in warm sunshine.

  9.20. 60F. Time to find something to do! I tested the fan on an extension lead. It works fine. With two speeds available on a sliding switch. I prefer the quieter/slower option. I need some rubber, weather sealing tape to complete the job. The builder's merchant should be able to help. I can see if the bike shop has suitable gear cables while I am in that village.

 11.00 The lounge to front hall door now opens effortlessly. It was completely inaccessible for years from both sides! I discovered that it dragged slightly on the floor when fully open. So I lifted the door off the hinges and cut away the protruding rail. Job done. It suddenly feels so relaxed to be able to go directly from the lounge to the kitchen. 

 Sadly both doors have woodworm. I need a new spray bottle. The spray head supplied with the treatment bottle promptly fell in half! How many billions of successful spray bottles are made each day? Why choose a design that falls apart for a toxic chemical? 

11.45 63C.  I have tidied all my tools from the lounge floor. They are now arranged accessibly under the stairs. For years I had been bringing tools in, as needed, from the workshop. Since my [late] wife's departure they have self-accumulated. It was far easier than walking back and forth, in all weathers. Just to have everything readily available indoors. Ideally I'd have several, shallow white trays. To make them more accessible in poor light.

 Sometimes chance smiles upon the optimist. I called in at a discount supermarket and found some white trays for my tools. Dirt cheap too! There are lots more tools on the balcony job site upstairs.

I bought a new gear cable for the trike. I hope it is thin enough for the Ergo levers. It was.

 It took only a couple of minutes to change the rear, gear inner cable. [Wire in Danish] A little longer to get the indexing correct. For those with a 2WD trike I discovered an interesting aid. The Trykit luggage rack protrudes just enough to allow clearance for the rear wheels from the ground when the trike is inverted. 

 No need for a bike work stand. I was easily able to set the gear indexing with the trike upside down. A block of wood helped to increase the ground clearance for the tires. I you are out of the road you may be able to use a hump or a kerb. Those with a 2WD trike will know that you can't easily lift the trike off the ground to turn the back wheels. Too awkward and far too heavy for most. 

 Try inverting the trike and using the rack as your stand instead. Don't just tip the trike sideways! Rotate the whole trike around its rear axle. It is so much easier. 

 If you have a painted rack then remember to use a rag to protect the rack from the ground. My rack and trike are all stainless steel and I was working on a grass lawn. So I wasn't too worried about such cosmetic issues. Scotch-Brite cures all minor scuffs.

There was ribbed rubber,  rain stop tape for the window in various sizes at the builder's merchants. This will help to bulk out the thickness of the 8mm polycarbonate. The double glazing unit I removed was probably 20mm thick. 4+12+4mm.

18.00 Returning from a ride into the village to fetch some essentials. It had just started to rain in the last couple of hundred meters. Bit of a headwind going both ways. I was cruising at 18mph going. 14mph coming back. Only 7 miles.

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