Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Davesnave

It's lovely here now, but last night sounded pretty awful. MoT on the car today, so I'm praying for the decent stuff to continue as I walk somewhere while that's done. The village where the garage is seems to be one of the very worst for walks of any quality and over the years I've exhausted what possibilities there are. Maybe time to find another garage!

What you are going through with the 'puter is what I dread, though there are only about 8 programs I use regularly, none of them paid-for. I pay for some content now, but it's minimal and I don't begrudge support for brave people who've decided to plough their own furrow.

Time to go and meet the sheep.....

twopenny

Dry and sunny most of the day but a good bit of wind.
I made my way round 2 garden centers looking for inspiration and tree heather. One had been flooded, their resident ducks thought it was wonderful but the chickens were hovering around their house in the dry.
Came back with a large viburnum supposed to fragarently flower all winter and some cyclamen and red ivy on sale for 48p each. They had these in pots for 14 pounds, mine should cost a fiver.
All compost was 5 pounds or over so no joy to fluff up my flower beds.
However poundland has some for 3 pounds if I can park outside and manhandle it. 

Davesnave

The sheep will keep. I know the differences between them and I can usually spot a good one, but for most of you sheep pictures will be 'meh' .....or , more likely, 'bah!'

So, here's a picture from my village walk-around, with plants looking pretty perky for well into October....

As you can see, fuchsias are putting on a good display but there's also a late (or early?) flowering clematis and a cotoneaster further away covered in berries. In the shade there's a tub of Salvia 'Hot Lips' with some flowers reverted to white; a trait someone commented on  a few months ago.

I didn't leave the village because it was raining on and off for the full hour, but looking at the frontages and what people had chosen to improve kerb appeal made it reasonably interesting.

Here's a property where the floral contribution lives up to the name....

And the car? One ball joint and a windscreen wiper. Not bad.

goldfinches

Very interesting @Davesnave - there's nothing I enjoy more than a good nosey at other people's front gardens when walking somewhere. I'm impressed by the denizens of the cottage and their choice of plant, usually such a name would be more honoured in the breach etc.

We had torrential rain overnight followed by lovely clear azure skies and golden sunshine today so I jettisoned all my plans and spent the day outdoors soaking up the vitamins and managed to acquire (ahem) a bag for life full of windfall apples. 

Here's a lovely photo of the sumac I took this morning.

 

Farway

Cold start for the day, I'm out at volunteer garden later, nothing much required except looking at it, then try for some diesel, now the panic is over I'm hoping to just breeze in & top up, which at my mileage will do until Easter I expect

Dave, It was me that had Hot Lips turn white,and they are still white, just wonder what will happen next year when they return, good result on the MOT, do you remember the dread when the MOT result was rusted sills?

Lovley pic of the sumac, I've always liked them despite the suckering, so much so I planted one in a long gone garden, I wonder if it's still there?

Davesnave

Farway said:

Dave, It was me that had Hot Lips turn white,and they are still white, just wonder what will happen next year when they return, good result on the MOT, do you remember the dread when the MOT result was rusted sills?

I had a marvellous Polish garage chap in those far off days. He'd look at some aspect of the car, shake his head, take several sharp intakes of breath then say, "Well, you know, this isn't very good...." Then he'd look at you and quickly weigh up your reaction and likely income. "......Ah, but..... it's all right!"

I lost one car to sill rot, but the one I remember most was a Hillman Hunter, where I had to re-build the headlight areas with fibreglass to stop the lights jiggling-around. I decided to sell it rather than risk another MoT, but to my horror, the parent of a child in my class came to look and bought it. I feared the worst, but apparently it went on for at least another 3 years, so whenever we met she's say what a great car it was!

Sumaches always look great....when they're in someone else's drains garden!

Davesnave

More motoring mayhem, which could probably only happen here.

Although I was given a courtesy car last night, and it drove OK, the noises emanating from it on the 7 miles home made me check that one of the wheels wasn't about to fall off.

So, lacking confidence in this 197 000 mile car, I did my big shop in the 3.5 tonne van today. It's a bit of a pig to park in the supermarket, but at least I trust it to get me there!

Back at home this afternoon there was then a game of Chinese whispers, as apparently someone called Mr Williams also had a car like mine in for work.......and reception got us confused. Not only that, but in the middle of the phone calls a nursery lady rang to say a plant DB asked about had been obtained....only she didn't say she was a nursery, or I didn't catch that bit, so there was a short, but very odd conversation, with me assuming it was the garage.

Anyway, after a long delay, someone rang to say the car was "just finished," which is odd, because when I collected it 20 minutes later it was stone cold and obviously hadn't moved for hours. I looked into the workshop and, sure enough, there was a car like mine in there, but no one about as it was past 17.00 and a Friday too.

I hope Mr Williams made it before they closed.

Paspatur

Davesnave my first car was a Hillman Hunter Handbrake on the right. Engine was brilliant but lost it to sill rot/rust in the end. Don't know if they were all the same but mine seemed to have a generic key in that I once came out of a baby appointment at the doctor, opened the door on my car only to find it was an identical car minus the baby seat!! Locked it back up and went looking for my own one

Farway

Very dull here this morning, nothing doing in the garden except look at it. The leaves are now coming off the trees thick & fast, and my heating clicked on for the first time ths Autumn, just in time for my fixed price gas contract to expire tomorrow

One picture today, crab apples at the volunteer spot.

It's a tree we planted a few years ago in memory of one of the volunteers, she had a sense of humour & would've apreciated we got a crab apple for her

It's Malus "Laura" I chose it because the committee wanted a plant & forget tree, requiring no pruning / care & not getting too large. Seemed ideal at the time and so it has proved and it came from a local nursery so keeping the cash in the area

Davesnave

I think car locks weren't particularly sophisticated in the 60s and 70s. Before the Hunter I had a similar Singer which was black and I couldn't keep people out of that; not because they were thieves, but I'd be mistaken for a taxi! When I stopped at traffic lights, commuters would climb in the back. One, an elderly lady did it twice.

The final straw was when waiting at a pub in Swindon for a friend and a bunch of drunken lads got in. I'd been a taxi driver in a town full of squaddies previously, so knew not to argue. Fortunately, they didn't live too far away and I think they paid as well.

Right, I warned you; here are some of this year's sheep. They're much like last year's, but a bit older; in fact they could be last year's youngsters for all I know!

That's our Secret Garden behind. It's not very secret from this angle!