What are you all up to
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No, no free nights, but we really do not need them, and OH is not really up to being away at the moment, plus we have a pretty full schedule at the moment with various appointments, grandparent duties, and stuff at home to take care of.
We will set up everything here at home soon and check it all out, might even try out the beds, but it all seems very straightforward. They had the van plugged in and the heating was working, as were the lights. We were shown how the remote for the lights works, how to operate the fridge and the control panel above the door. The Alde panel has a few more functions than our previous one, but still quite easy to operate. Battery back up for it is fitted, but I will add the load monitor. Only thing not connected was water, but we can do that here, see how good the shower is, in case we want a different head.
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The day started off cloudy but thankfully the sun came out in the afternoon. We drove over to Doune and did the circular walk past the castle and along by the river. After lunch we had a walk through the Doune Ponds nature reserve.
Came across this nice Otter sculpture on the river walk
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David…..there is no accounting for how some people behave! DD lives next door to a school playing field, so when there is something on the parking can be very inconsiderate, and busses dropping off the kids frequently think it OK to sit with engine idling to keep the driver warm.
Just to add to the chaos, the houses opposite are terraced, generally have 2 cars each and, despite having a back lane and garages, prefer to park on the street. With cars parked opposite and cars right up to her drop kerb either side, it can be very difficult to swing out of her driveway safely, especially as visibility is restricted due to all the big cars.
Then there are the delivery drivers who like to stop right over her drop kerb, despite there being empty spaces a few metres down the street, and deliver verbal abuse when requested to move!
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https://clubtogether.caravanclub.co.uk/discussion/comment/890590#Comment_890590
All sorted then, very good. 👍
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Our neighbour popped in every weekto check the house whilst we were away for almost 3 months over Winter in the M/Home. The quid pro quo was for him to park one of the cars on our drive to avoid the shuffling of cars since all 3 adults work shifts which don't often coincide. But, again, the use of our driveway is agreed in advance, and the parking and vehicle movements make the house look occupied
Steve
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Parking can often be a problem it seems these days. Years ago our next door neighbour then worked on a farm, he sometimes parked his car and trailer outside his house and ours, but he would then give us a sack of spuds as the trailer was outside our house, no inconvenience to us unless we had visitors as we have a drive and we said this but the spuds still arrived. It seems no such thoughtfulness now from some people. When we looked at one stage to move we noticed parking might cause problems, especially on new builds. We now have a large wide drive to accommodate two or maybe 3 cars, but it annoys me that we paid a heavy sum to have it made but people locally, especially one who has 3 cars and a caravan don’t bother to increase the size of their drive but park their cars so that it is difficult for anyone, including us, to park opposite them outside their own house.
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My disabled son is regularly visited by the district nurses and some years ago I was sent into panic mode when the nurse mentioned that she had found MRSA after taking a swab. It turns out that many people have MRSA, don't know about it and it often doesn't affect them at all.
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@Wherenext I noticed today he has parked his car on his other next door drive which won't be a problem because the owner lives in India and only comes to the UK for a couple of months a year, although that is in doubt this year because he suffered a stroke earlier in the year. I am perfectly willing to accommodate neighbours if they need to park across our drive as our next door does when he brings his twin axle caravan home in readiness to go away so for security he hitches up and parks across our drive, at least he asks!
David
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Yes, lots of folks live with MRSA with few issues. It’s when it gets into a wound site that it can become a problem, hence why we had to act quickly. Mum is 97, with advanced dementia, so hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Her small foot wound simply wasn’t healing, it dates from early December, and she has been having District Nurse care since then. Getting her to eat the right kind of nutrition to aid wound healing is very difficult, but two courses of antibiotics have helped. It was getting hold of the antibiotics, in a form she could ingest that was stressful. Three pharmacies tried for us, only to be told manufacturers had no availability, so we dropped very lucky at a fourth attempt finding some. Thankfully she appears to be ok in herself. Not sure if she will be retested, but nurses think wound is looking better. MRSA treatment, in the form of antibacterial body washing is routine for anyone having surgery. We usually have bottles of the wash left over from OH’s hospital visits. Thankfully, he’s not had a problem. But it’s good to know there is help, and to understand a bit more about it, it’s a nasty surprise when it’s mentioned.
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@KjellNN - hope you enjoy your new van - I'm sure it's quite an exciting time for you. One thing I did when we got ours was to change the existing Truma (external) and Reich (inboard tank) pumps over to Whale Highflows - that improved the pressure and flow rate of the shower considerably. I also swapped the standard shower head for an Ecocamel and that helped as well. The shower in the van is now almost as good as that at home.
Went to a local independent garage to fill the Safefill bottle before we go away next month. I also topped the car up with diesel and at £1.73 a litre it was 5p/litre cheaper than our local Tesco. And they expect us to believe that there's no profiteering going on!
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It's our favourite week of the year! We are on our way up to Matlock for the annual Irish Setter rescue walk on Sunday. Stopped off again for 3 nights at the lovely Moat House hotel near Stafford, just a stone's throw from the M6 (we can actually see the motorway from our bedroom window!) though you'd never believe it, it's so peaceful here. The swans have hatched 5 cygnets, very early, never seen that before. Will try to post some pictures of them if I can get close enough!
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Today we walked along the Stafford & Worcester canal and then headed to the NT Shugborough House (another reason for stopping off here). The gardens are looking lovely, particularly the view of the back of the house with the golden yew topiary. The tulips in the orangery garden are just past their best, but the tree peony is just coming into bloom.Just outside of the estate is the ancient Essex Bridge over the River Sow, it has 14 arches in all. A lovely day out.
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Dug out overgrown borders aroung garage and alongside the parking for the M/Home; then 1700kg of Scottish Pebbles arrived [special offer at MKM Building Supplies, £30 cheaper than last year so grabbed them before price reeturns to normal on 1st May]. Started to lay the pebbles in the new trench alongside the parking then had a bright idea of using spare hexagonal slabs from last residence to make stepping stone path, so raked out the newly laid pebbles and started again - oops!
Steve
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@marchie did you lay a membrane over the earth. Reason I ask is that we replaced our lawns with gravel without a membrane and we get a lot of bother with weeds.
David
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Looking good @marchie
Still no rain here. I got excited late Monday afternoon because rain clouds blew in on a sudden gusty wind so I got the washing in and quickly finished my gardening but it blew over without a drop of rain and an hour later the sun came out. Tuesday started off grey and slightly damp then the sun came out and it has been a lovely sunny day today but with a decidedly chilly wind. I planted my dahlias on Monday which wasnt easy as the ground is rock hard. There has been a lot of watering.
Regarding parking - we live on a busy road and have room to park 3 cars side by side on our drive. I find it surprising and very annoying how some people think it is OK to park on the road outside our house blocking one if not both of our cars in.
Great photos @moulesy Have a great time at the setter get together.
Glad to hear that you have your new caravan @KjellNN Exciting times ahead
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Great photos, @moulesy hope you get decent weather for the charity walk on Sunday.
A good piece of work there @marchie looks grand.
Lovely sunny day again with just a gentle cool breeze. We had a very pleasant walk around Cocksburn Reservoir and then the short White Hill trail. Spotted these practice sculptures close to the path.
After a brew back at the van I went for a walk up to the Wallace Monument, past numerous more sculptures, and had a good view across the rally field and the distant Highlands.
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No, David. When we bought the house almost 18 months ago, it came with 27 conifers [plus a spare in a large pot behind the garage - seems you cannot have too many of them …] which we dug out by hand over 2-3 concerted sessions in Winter/Spring, excavating the roots and killing off pretty much everything that was lurking beneath [including an ash tree root that ran for about 7 metres underneath many of the slabs we finished lifting last weekend; the root came out in about 5 sections over the 18 months, a wee bit at a time. The pebbles are dense enough to throttle most weed growth, and the new infestation can be picked by hand quite easily.
We inherited the black matting at our last abode - it didn't stop the weeds, but did get damaged and entangled during the weeding process!
Steve
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@DavidKlyne I think you mentioned a few weeks ago that you got a small job done in your home. Was it Age UK or Age Concern that helped you at a reasonable cost and how did you contact them? We need another bannister rail put up on the wall on our hall stairs to help OH to get up the stairs and hope they might be able to help. Thank you
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I’m not David but I looked this up at the time he posted, Millie. I think Age UK and Age Concern have amalgamated. Here’s the link to Age UK Handyperson Services. Our Council runs a similar scheme and it might be worth you checking with yours.
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Thanks so much @Tinwheeler I will investigate.
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@milliehull I'll be interested in how you get on. Locally we've used Safe Local Trades since we moved. Based locally and I understand the lady who runs it sets them very high standards! We've had good work at reasonable prices. Drop me a line if you need details.
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Here's the proud mum (or might be dad) with 5 cygnets by the lake at the Moat House. There's also a clutch of moorhen/coot chicks on the smaller lake though they're not so keen to pose for the camera! It's a very peaceful spot. Right now I'm in Mrs M's bad books because due to a slight navigational cock up, today's 6 mile walk turned out to be more like 9 (Ralph was quite happy though!)
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