16.05.2025 The big clear-up.

 ~o~

 Friday 16th 46F/7.8C [7.00] Another sunny day is promised but windy from the north again. No ride long today.

 Up at 6.30 after dozing away an unusually quiet night. 

 No updates on the gravel situation. 

 A beautiful motorcycle on a trailer at the harbour in Svendborg yesterday.

 12.00 57F/14C. Sunshine and wind. I have now accepted the lower bid of the two. Which means spending hours moving the remains of the wooden building from the site. I am ferrying it to the bottom of the garden on a sack truck. Or by hand when the item is too long. 

 The precast concrete anchors look strangely like wood now they have dried out. They have a surface grain from being pulled out of the ground.

 Hot and tiring work. I have cleared the planks against the shed. Almost finished moving the stack of plywood. That leaves the huge stack of timber to do. The steel post will have to be sawn off at or below ground level. Probably using a diamond cut-off wheel on the angle grinder. I have come in for a rest and to cool off. My t-shirt is saturated! 

 The contractor who made the bid is coming on Monday to asses the work on-site. 

 16.00 Back in again for a rest. I moved most of the plywood but ran out of steam. So I started lifting the concrete carport anchors instead. Using the farmer's high lift jack. The chain and resistance prop were the secret to getting a strong pull. With a long cross bolt through the hole in the lower jaw to stop the chain sliding off. I managed to lift 14 anchors. 

 Now I am dripping with sweat again and absolutely knackered. Tidiness is my middle name. I am wondering how to use the anchors. As edge reinforcement for the bank above the drop to the lower lawn.

 Dinner was a fry up of chicken, brown organic mushrooms, tweggs and baked beans.

 

  ~o~

15.05.2025 A tootle in the Morris.

 ~o~

  Thursday 15th 48F/9C. Bright but veiled sunshine. Expected to be another sunny day. Though much windier from the north. Which rather dampens my hopes of a longer ride today.

 Windmill mechanism.

 Up at 6.40. There have been no updates or bids on resurfacing the parking space. It has occurred to me that I only need one half of the parking space fixed. The area over which I laid gravel, then compost and sewed with grass seed. The other half already has a huge depth of self stabilizing gravel. Laid over builder's rubble. It could do with compressing just to ensure it is firm.  

 8.30 Just been outside. Definitely not a long ride day. The wind is chilly and strong.

 9.00  I'll go for a drive to Svendborg. Taking my lunch with me. Much of the coastal route passes through villages with very low speed limits. Which will suit a tootle in the Morris.

 14.30 Back from a drive to Svendborg. A coastal town/city on the bottom [SW] corner of Fyn. Two elderly gentlemen stopped me in a car park to chat about owning a Morris.  

It felt like summer in the car. Though the wind was still chilly when I stopped at a quiet spot on the coast for lunch. Where I saw Lapwings, herons, birds of prey, Shelducks and geese. 

 I saw a gorgeous, triple bowed glass,  display cabinet in a charity shop but they wanted £100 equivalent.  It would have fitted nicely on top of the oak chest of drawers in the living room. Room for my late wife's glass and china, fruit and veg. Now I wish I had bought it. The same, Danish manufacturer as all my other, vintage, display cabinets. It's a long way to go back with the trailer. I am not sure it would go into the Morris.

  I have had a new bid to do the parking space gravel. It matches the App's own calculations. The image is of the view from upstairs this evening. Showing most of the area involved. I still have some tidying up to do. To clear the surface ready for the laying and compacting of the gravel. 

 Dinner was fish fingers and chips. I washed up while it cooked.

 

 ~o~

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~