April 2024

 

April 2024

 

I have just written something about “What if” about moving to a barn as the start of a plan in freedom of thought about what could be possible but now I’m writing about what has happened since the beginning of April to keep you up-to-date on developments and disasters unfolding in my daily life. In the last episode the Buell went back to the shop for exhaust system repair. Another expensive job but successfully completed in time for another trip to Whitchurch to see Coops and help the new hood for the El Cid along to another stage. The rear window has been installed and it is now a complete structure.

A new car and there is something weird happening to the display screen. I had a Hospital appointment and was going to go with Gita but there was a fault with the steering and the engine would not start. I went on the Buell instead. We had recently bought a small vacuum cleaner and that stopped working too. 

The fence at the front of the house had gone green over the winter and was a stark contrast with the blue tarpaulin covering the junk at the front. It was opportune that Lidl had a planter on offer, I had a trellis and suitable wood for posts I only had to buy the feather board to complete the project. It took a few days to clean and paint the fence to change it from green to brown and tidy up the front. With the elevated trough the legs were strong enough to screw the trellis to and posts to support the sides. A box from posts, trough linked by trellis was the basic structure and then hid by feather board to make a robust structure attached to the original fence. After painting it I could hide the blue tarpaulin and the junk. The trough has yet to be filled with flowers.

I contacted Russell Hobbs about the vacuum cleaner and they replaced it after much tooing and froing with emails and trying to send a video by email. I can do it on Whatsapp but not Gmail. Why? They are the same people. In the end they sent me a replacement cleaner. Dispose of the old one please. It was two weeks old. I could salvage things from it like filters, battery and head with the rotating brush. It could last for years. I started to strip it removing the motor I found a lose wire at the back of the motor. It was a dry joint on the earth. Joint suitably soldered the motor worked and now I have two vacuum cleaners.

An easy repair was not possible with the Aircross and with the aid of Citroen Connect the RAC was called and the fault not fixed so it would be taken to the nearest Citroen dealer for repair. That was not possible as the nearest one could not take the car until June. Fortunately the dealership we had bought from could accept it in a few days so it went there. We now have a hire car. The El Cid is being worked on, the Burton needs a new clutch. The Kawasaki  and Buell have been repaired and all is well with my world.

March Plus 2024

                                                    March Plus 2024

This is my second posting for March and I have to be inventive with the names but still remain sequential in reporting. I am reducing my viewing of news as it is so bad and the world is standing by watching a terrible disaster unfold and nothing has been achieved in stopping it. It will not stop until the USA and UK stop the arms and funding. The Muslim Brotherhood is just guilty of inaction.

Talking about brotherly love there was a quick trip to Bristol to see Adrian and Barry and managed to buy some free range eggs at a farm in the countryside. As you can imagine the best way to transport them is in a 2CV. There was a visit to the Museum in the Park in Stroud and a good inspection of the Baughan two wheel drive sidecar outfit. On that trip we walked along Sharpness Canal and saw a Great Escape.

The last weekend I spent my time visiting Coops who is creating a masterpiece in acrylic canvas for me. The El Cid will have a new hood with clear side screens so I can see through them. I will devote a whole posting to that but the fun of the travelling has to be mentioned. Saturday in the C3 was fun but marred by the 9 inch display screen playing up. This was all to do with my phone or more specifically the car software demanding to connect to it. Citroen apps and Android apps. It was all too annoying with the screen switching from whatever I chose back to the Apps screen and connect. I was in the middle of sorting my navigation destination and before I could complete three letters the screen would flick to the apps screen. I would lose what I had just put in and have to start again. I did this several times until  I thought I had one only to be outdone by a spelling mistake that I could not rectify. I found that the climate control screen was not interrupted but did not help my navigation . I could not hear the instructions because the radio volume was too high. When I turned the volume down I could not hear the navigation instructions. And I did take a wrong turn because of that. With an on-line manual and a phone where the print is too small to read how can anyone assimilate the instructions from the manual other than printing 200 pages on your own printer. Admittedly you probably only need ten pages but which ten? Almost ready for a Basil Faulty moment? 

Great work by Coops though and I went down again on the Sunday. This time on the Kawasaki. Great fun but I did have the exhaust split just before the silencer box a few miles short of Whitchurch. I had to come home with a somewhat noisey motorcycle. The fun of riding a motorcycle for a fifty mile run cannot be over stated. Lots of smiles there. I have spent most of this week waiting for new header pipes to assemble the exhaust system. Fighting with BT over lack of internet. Mainly cause I can’t watch motorcycle racing.

Good Friday was a good Friday. Internet, phone and Sport channels have been restored, Kawasaki has new header pipes and no leaks and the Buell is ready for collection