14.05.2025 Wax on. Wax off.

 ~o~

  Wednesday 14th 48F/9C. Overcast but meant to be sunny for at least the next week. Increasingly windy. Starting westerly but going northerly. Still modest temperatures but the drought continues. Farmers with water are spraying their fields. Soldiers have joined the fire brigade to fight wildfires.    

 Up at 6.30 after a quiet night. Physio exercise class for heart patients after lunch. Filled my daily dispenser with my six tablets. Run out of two more. So I need to visit the pharmacy/apotek again.

  8.45 The overnight layer of wax had vanished into the Contec saddle. I buffed the leather with a cloth. To produce the dull shine claimed for the wax on the tin. A British product by appointment to the [late] queen. 

 250ml. Enough to buff the saddles of an entire nation of Brooks saddle owners. At half the asking price for a sub-micro tin of Brooks Proofide. Time for a walk.

  9.30 The wind was cold but provided effortless lift to a Black kite. Which seemed unnaturally curious about me. I had just reached the road when it started circling only 50' above me. I stared up as it stared back down. This went on for perhaps 30 seconds. As I tried to make it into a small Red kite but failed. I had to look it up when I came home. An only slightly indented, sharply cut tail. Fingers to the wing tips. Dark all over. A good match. Not at all uncommon, except to me. Lots of warbler and blackbird song again. A distant cuckoo for the third day in a row. The sun is struggling to break through now that I am back.

 10.30 Back form he village. New packs of tablets obtained. Two pairs of cycling shoes returned to parcel office. 

 I have asked the same online jobbing app for estimates for removing the thin layer of soil. Then laying 15cm of self-stabilizing gravel and compressing it. Then laying granite chipping over the top and compressing that too. The entire area, right up to the house wall, is 13x18m. Or roughly 250m^2. The app estimates the job to cost less than £2000 equivalent. Which sounds highly optimistic. Now awaiting offers to do the job. 

 12.00 The first and only offer so far is £7000. The offer comes from somebody who claims to have 25 years professional experience. I can't possibly afford that! They say that the self stabilizing gravel has to be at least 30cm deep. That would form a dam on the drive! That's one way of stopping the flow of water during heavy rain.

 15.30 Back from physio exercise class. No new bids on the parking space.

 I drove into the village to collect the parcel containing the chain I ordered.

 Dinner was chicken, mushrooms, baked beans and mashed potato.

 

  ~o~