Flying solo

please-let-me-be-lucky

Lovely to have you back Xx

satchmo1

So glad to know you are ok


I went for a 5k run this morning, which felt like hard work. Then this afternoon, DH and I wandered amongst the sand dunes until we found the beach. Ainsdale beach is massive. Walked for nearly 3 hours, and am now happily exhausted.

*Robin*

Hello Diary and All Friends-in-the-Box, :hello:

So many visitors - how lovely!
Thank you for the warm welcome back, Knit Witch, Granny, Sun.A, Lucky and Satchmo. :T
Pull up a chair - kettle's on - and tuck into this wonderful 'practise' birthday cake which has been shouting "Eat me!" since yesterday!

Am being very bad; letters and paperwork piling up again..
Briefly looked at Finances; last month went £200 over budget due to hire-car bill - repayment ended up going towards DS3's expenses.
May will be tight too - if Irrigation Man turns up (apparently he's been ill). Also have a couple of birthdays, and medical tests for CD and DS3 to budget for. Hmm.

Satchmo it's really good exercise / hard work** walking on sand, isn't it? (** Depending on PoV!).
Never been to Southport; must say Ainsdale Beach looks absolutely gorgeous - enjoy!

mcculloch29

Good to see you back, Robin, love the thought of CD channel-changing with her nose.

I went to Southport a few years ago, and like probable thousands of others, thought 'I could retire here.' Flat streets, pavement cafes, chic shops and a massive beach.

I then read numerous stories of sky-high apartment service charges and exploitation being particularly rife in the area. Sigh.

Hope all will be well with CD and DS3, and that one-off tests will be the order of the day.

*Robin*

Hello Diary and MSE Friends, :hello:

Thanks for calling by, Mcculloch.

Not sure whether to announce a DIY / crafting success or berate m'self for stupidity today..

It was the shredder. Divo Three had a session with it, producing one bucket of mulch for about two hours' work, which did ring a warning bell but, thanks very much Son he didn't mention a problem..
When I tried to finish the job, the shredder was unusable; DS3 must have forced down too many branches at once because the funnel / guide-thingy was rather shorter than it had been the last time I looked.
Found all the broken bits of red plastic by sieving through DS' mulch, then set about fixing the problem..
Well, it's too useful a machine to throw out, and the cost of sending it back to Germany is prohibitive, especially as they would probably point out the guarantee has been rendered invalid by abuse (which can't be denied).

One good thing about driving an old banger is that the canny owner keeps spares and repair kits in stock; chose a fibre-glass blanket to reinforce the glued-together funnel, and also added an extra plywood** supporting strut where the greatest stresses occur.
(** Very pleased with that; cutting the curved and angled edges was nothing short of poetry by jigsaw! :rotfl:).
Not the neatest rebuild, but hopefully functional - and very :money: of course!
Only problem is that I've thoroughly poisoned m'self with the chemicals, even though all work was done outside on the windier side of the Nest.
Must be two or three days ago now, but am still brain-fogged, aching and useless.

Accidentally gave Nicest Neighbour a right eyeful yesterday morning; wandered outside in bra and knickers, not realising he was working on the only nearby knoll which overlooks the Nest. Oops.

Still waiting for Irrigation Man to recover from his illness.
DS3's appointment is tomorrow, luckily he's big enough not to need his hand holding (just as well; am not safe to drive this week ).

Positives: Made 70€ selling bitsnbobs I'll never use again, and still clocking up NSDs.

please-let-me-be-lucky

Ooh, get you flasher . Bet he's even nicer to you now!

Well done for fixing the shredder :T Sorry you have suffered because of it though. Hope you feel better soon.

Yay to €70!! Xx

*Robin*

please-let-me-be-lucky wrote: »

Ooh, get you flasher . Bet he's even nicer to you now!

Ha - bet he pretends it didn't happen!

please-let-me-be-lucky wrote: »

Well done for fixing the shredder :T Sorry you have suffered because of it though. Hope you feel better soon.

Yay to €70!! Xx

Yes am pleased shredder could be saved, and 70€ is a tank of fuel so not to be sneezed at.
Found more things to declutter, but they're getting a bit specialist; eg., a laser surveying kit, anyone?

Meanwhile, the sauce I was going to make dinner with has gone off (been in the fridge a week since I made it).
Am stuck, can't decide what to cook now? ..It was going to be a medley of mushrooms in a version of Thai green curry, with added greens from the garden, plus a salad starring the tiniest new potatoes (steamed with coriander).
:think: Can't think.

Forgot to mention earlier; yesterday when out walking, we heard a loud rustling in the orchards. CD was keen to investigate, but we were very close to Mad Alsation's house so I dragged her behind a handy wall and peered over to check whether he'd escaped, before allowing CD to go and play (it might have been Late-Neighbour's dog, who's a great chum of CD's)..
Was very grateful for my caution when a large tusked wild-boar hove into view, snuffling about in the leaf-litter (looking for water?). :eek:
CD and I beat a hasty [though on her part, reluctant] retreat! :cool2:

*Robin*

Hello Diary, :hello:

Wonderful to see Kissjenn posting this morning!

Internet down to crawling-backwards-speed so matches the state of Robin's post-poisoned brain..
Apparently it's FB's fault because of their new automatically-playing videos (not used 'net to watch TV at all this month). :mad:

Missed a very important birthday while befuzzled.
Also forgot to remind DS3 about appointment, so he missed it - don't know yet whether we will be charged.

No progress on Irrigation.

MSE Fail 1: Panicking about THEM. DS4 needs tax code for student finance people.. :eek:
MSE Fail 2: Forgot to remind T2 his rent is due, or discuss any increase (not changed since tenancy began).

Good news: DS3 gave me 400€. No idea why but he reckons he owed it? :T

CD just came and gave a stern look for the third time - guess her chicken must have achieved the preferred temperature (hanging in the sun ).
Better sort out her lunch before she decides to retrieve the bag herself, lol.

alioops78

Hi Robin

I've been reading for a while but only just posting (that seems a bit stalkery :rotfl:).

Just wanted to say that with the facebook videos you can stop them from playing automatically by going into your app settings and changing the Video Auto-play to which ever is best for you. The options showing on my phone are On, Wifi Only or Off but I'm guessing it will be the same on the computer too.

Have a lovely weekend

*Robin*

Hello Alioops, :hello:

Many thanks for venturing out of Lurkdom with some useful advice:

alioops78 wrote: »

Just wanted to say that with the facebook videos you can stop them from playing automatically by going into your app settings and changing the Video Auto-play to which ever is best for you. The options showing on my phone are On, Wifi Only or Off but I'm guessing it will be the same on the computer too.

..Have changed setting to "Off" - won't help 'net speed until next month unfortunately, but at least it's done.

alioops78 wrote: »

Have a lovely weekend

Weekend? Already? ..I've been two days adrift all week.