14.03.2026

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  Saturday 14th 39F/4C [8.40] Overcast, overnight rain moving away. Light SW winds. 62F/17C in the room. 49F/9.4C in the greenhouse

 Up at 8.00 after earlier clock watching. I have the bike battery charging. In preparation for a ride. 

 I need AAA batteries for the new, digital, wireless thermometers. The magnet hooks didn't work as hoped. The screw hooks didn't fit the thermometer bodies. I need short, CSK head screws with the same thread as the hooks. My vast screw assortment, built up over decades, does not include anything useful so far. 

 9.00 Time for a walk.

 9.20 Back again. Cool and grey. Saturday traffic light.

 The new fish don't like the bright LED lights. So I have inverted and lit only one strip to provide some more gentle, reflected light. They are now busy grazing on the build up of hair algae. Exactly as I had hoped. 

 11.00 Going for a ride. 

 12.00 41F/5C. Back from a ride to the village. Returning via the forest and then via the forestry track. Where I met a dozen or more young lunatics on racing bikes going the other way. Cycle-cross? Gravel? I have no idea. They were really moving on a rutted, muddy and stony track! 16km. I'd have gone further but it felt horribly cold! 

 

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13.03.2026 Ten hooks, two thermometers and three fish.

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  Friday 13th 45F/7C [8.30] Overcast and windy with rain on the way. 61F/16C in the room. 51F/10.6C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 6.30 after a quiet night. 

 8.40  On my way to a haircut. 

 9.30 Back from the hairdressers. A different young lady today. An excellent hairdresser. 

 What a horrible morning! Gales, cold and rain combined. The latter is supposed to ease up according to the DMI. Peaking a a miserable 6C/43F at lunch time.

 10.50 Back from the next village. I had run out of beech kindling. So I fetched a sack full of softwood kindling. Not helped by all the district heating work. Which meant closed roads and finding through routes. Not helped by serial road closures after forced detours. 

 I ended up carrying the 10kg sack over 50 meters to the car. Which made me very breathless! I would normally buy 3 sacks and load them straight into the car or trailer. Often with the enthusiastic help of the staff or trainees at the sheltered workshop. 

 11.00 Stove lit. It is only a chilly 60F/15.6C in the room. 

 18.40  Back from the city. Where I bought a pack of ten magnetic hooks, two digital thermometers, with wireless, outdoor sensors and three Shubunkin fish. A blue, white and red form of goldfish. Sometimes with a long, flowing tail. I wanted them for the tank in the room. So I would have somebody to talk to when I came home. I usually say: "Only me." It usually falls on deaf ears. [Mine] When there is nobody else there.

 Dinner was chips, baked beans and two day old sausage rolls.

  

 

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12.03.2026 Pancake tossing for beginners.

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  Thursday 12th 38F/3.3C [7.45]  Brightness. Early cloud clearing to sunshine. 63F/17C in the room. 47F/8.3C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 5am with a stomach ache. I discovered one of the domes from my hearing aids was stuck in my ear canal. A fruitless search for tweezers lead to the discovery. That a common machine crew was an efficient tool. For removal of the offending object. I then made an early breakfast and fired up the computer. So I could watch YouTube videos. Until it was time for my shower. I cheated and had a timed nap of half an hour.

 It is cooking class today and I still have an hour to kill before I leave. A rather breezy day is forecast. So I shall drive there. Rather than take my e-bike. No walk, but the garden Hazels are resplendent in their catkin finery. Which are catching the early light.

 14.30  Back from cooking class. Where I made pancakes and learned to turn them over [toss them] in the frying pan. I cheated and practiced over a stainless steel table.

 I have made an appointment for a haircut for tomorrow morning. Having already trimmed my beard. Badly. The distance combs on my  recycled electric razor are all broken. They have each cracked across the band which clips onto the razor head. To set the length of beard hair to be cut.

 No need for any dinner. Having eaten well at lunch time. I made do with a coffee and a biscuit. 

 

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