Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

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Respect to you @Obelix-Vendée. Fascinating posts on your travels - most interesting to read. I had looked on a map when you first mentioned your trip and it seemed a humungous distance to drive - at least you got the music choice!
@Ergates, have a lovely meet up with your sister today. I am like you and if/when I have to train travel I go first class using my railcard.
@RowlandsCastle, I hope the visitors recover well. Once my green bins get emptied today I am hoping to continue hedge trimming but its raining at the moment. Not going to Bestie's today as I'll see her tomorrow when I pick her up to go to Southport Flower Show.
@Liriodendron, hedgehogs are featuring on the Beeb this morning. Grounds for hope!

 

I had a rather unpleasant encounter with a very rude, grumpy supermarket, on line delivery man last night. He phoned me asking me where was I? It turned out he was standing on my back patio in total darkness despite my having my hall and kitchen lights on in the front of the house to show him where to come. He said he had just stepped in a pile dog s**t on my patio and didn't know where he was because he hadn't delivered to me before. After turning off his phone when I asked him to bring his van to the front of the house he arrived at the front door in a proper paddy. I offered him a roll of kitchen paper to clean his shoe and put on the floor of his van, which he refused saying it wouldn't work and said he wouldn't come into the house with the trays. I didn't realise he had left my back gate open enabling my dog to get out to chase my neighbour's chickens if he had found it open.
I was very tempted to lodge a complaint against him but decided to let it go as perhaps he had had a bad day and just wanted to go home.
When I checked the patio, yes, he had stepped on some dog poo I had missed but it was very dry and intact so there had been nothing on his shoe. I feel he was just looking for an argument. A shame as every delivery man so far has been extremely pleasant, helpful and cheerful. The whole incident left a sour taste in my mouth.Grrhhh!
Take a long deep breathe in, a long breath out and let it all go!

 

Morning folks, overcast but warm today so may get something done in the garden today. Just finishing my coffee after my usual walk to fetch our paper.

The company who recently installed our new satellite dish sent another engineer to check the installation as we're not happy with it - keeps losing the signal when it rains. He told us that we should have the neighbouring trees just outside our boundary pruned back one side in order to get a better signal through the valley. Either that or we could have a very long pole attached to the chimney. Both options sound rather expensive. The trees are 40-50 ft high and are maintained by the Council who would very probably require us to go through planning as we're in the World Heritage area. That gives them a blanket opportunity to say no to almost everything if they are so minded. Much food for thought!

Enjoy your visit to the Southport Flower Show @Ladybird4.

@Goldenlily26, what a horrible experience for you and late at night too. We usually book a daytime slot as sat-navs misdirect them and our house has a long steep drive, not good in the dark.

Hope @Obelix-Vendée managed to find the train station to pick Possum up last night, sounds a nightmare journey to Grenoble. How odd the sat-nav didn't do Italy.

Right, I'd better get going.

 

Good afternoon,

Rather grey and drizzly here at the moment (the very fine drizzle in the air). Definitely cooler than yesterday.

Oh dear @Goldenlily26, he was a very grumpy, rude delivery person. As you say, he might have had a difficult day, but that is still no reason for him to be rude to you. It’s a good thing that you’d noticed he’d left the back gate open, too. You did all you could to help him by leaving lights on at the front and offering kitchen towel so he could clean himself up and put some down on the floor of his van. Sounds like he was just an unpleasant grump. It certainly wasn’t your fault that he’d never delivered to you before.

That sounds a very bizarre solution to your signal problem @lizzie27 - had you had signal problems like that with your previous dish and was it located in the same spot? I think perhaps asking for another visit for a second opinion could be in order, especially if the signal works when it doesn’t rain, as the trees are still in the same place, whatever the weather, so if it really was the trees at fault, then surely it would be happening all the time? You could be faced with unnecessary expense - it sounds as if the installers didn’t do a thorough check before leaving.

 

Thursday morning, not quite 9Am. and nice temp. 69 degrees.
Went to get a dozen eggs at my farm market all sold out. He says he'll get me a dozen to get this morning from the late evening and early mornings lays, nice to know that dozen I am getting today is mere hours old.

@Goldenlily26 , he was probably pissed at himself for be so unobserving, after all there were lights on directing him to the correct location. I worry about how easy to open the gate where your dogs are, perhaps a locking chain thing is needed.

At this point never have had grocery delivery. But we do, of course get other deliveries. When husband was running the company we had a special bin on the side of the driveway for the UPS folks to put the boxes in. A sign on top, seemed to work well.
Well continue gardening stuff. Finish staining the deck bench.

Take care all.

 

@Goldenlily26, he had no cause to be so unpleasant and him having a bad day or not his behaviour is totally unacceptable. I would report him in case he is as rude to some one else. He is not doing the SM any service either.
@lizzie27, I have to agree with @Blue arbour about that being a somewhat extreme solution to your problem. It did bring an amusing picture to mind of my nieces leaning out of top hotel windows whilst we holidayed in the Lake District, attempting to get a decent signal on their mobiles.
I got good news today about my great nieces and their A Level results. They got what they needed and both are off to Durham University in September. Their Dad - my nephew studied there. One is studying Climate Science and the other Archaeology.

 

I have begun using online grocery deliveries since the weather became so hot and I developed a heart condition. . A bit of a luxury but by the time I have driven into town, dragged myself around a super market, unloaded my trolley at the till, loaded the shopping into the car, driven home and then carried my shopping down a flight of steps and through the house I am finished for the rest of the day. I use a late delivery slot because it usually means I can get next day delivery.
Where I live is rather isolated, at the end of a winding 500 yds. privately owned, off an unlit B road, lane which opens out onto 3 cottages in the middle of fields. No nice tarmac surfaces, pot holes aplenty and no overhead lighting. Rural one might say. I love it, but it does have its draw backs. Fortunately when my dog has escaped he is more interested in finding next doors chickens than walking the length of the lane onto the road.This sort of location is very common down here, I have to walk across the front area of Nos. 1 & 2 to reach my front door. Right of access etc. The upkeep of the lane and surrounding parking area etc. is supposed to be divided equally between the owners of Nos 1, 2 and myself. Unfortunately neither of the other two people have any money to do anything so it remains "interesting". I have offered twice to pay for a load of granite chippings to back fill the pot holes, robustly refused by the land owner in No 1. "No, no, I will do it myself during the autumn". That was 5 years ago. It is called priorities. He can afford to go on holiday, enter Iron man events at £80.00 a time, etc. but not invest in his land. He owns the two fields surrounding my cottage but has never done anything with them in the last 15 years. The one in front of me is so overgrown with brambles and goat willow you can barely get into it, the field behind me was the same but cleared by my neighbour in No 2, and her parents, to run her ponies on.
That is life down here.
No point in me getting my knickers in twist about it, it wouldn't do any good or make any difference.C'est la vie.

 

Fair enough @Goldenlily26. You know your terrain and its quirks but I just feel so cross that someone should behave so rudely to one of his employer's customers. At least you know that there are some nice delivery drivers.

 

Yes Ladybird, and most of the pleasant ones have been young men. Even carrying the trays into my kitchen and helping me to unpack. The grumpy one was a more senior aged man, I will not call him a "gentleman", so should have know better.
I shall be ready for him if he ever comes again.

 

Good on you @Goldenlily26. I used home delivery when things were difficult during covid and I only had positive deliveries with lovely delivery drivers. It is a super system, I must be honest.

 

@RowlandsCastle, hedge cutting had to go on hold due to the fact it has been persisting down all day here. Maybe the weekend might be a possibility.

 

Signing out for this evening. I'll see you all in the morning before I head of to the Flower Show. Its the hundreth anniversary of the show. @Busy-Lizzie, they have show jumping this year too. Adam Frost and some of the Beechgrove presenters will be there. I am really looking forward to it.

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@Goldenlily26 , I am just 4 years now retired. Prior position was of oversight of lots of staff, hiring, firing, training, etc. I have noticed there seems to be a certain age beginning to look for a job they seem to lack a few brain cells of common sense, lack of observational skills, critical skills etc. I preferred to interview/hire the more mature person. Sadly older I get the more that a certain generation will be out there to "take care of me"??? Help us all.

 

Evening all.

Your cottage sounds idyllic, @Goldenlily26 - potholes, brambles and all. You must be surrounded by wildlife... hope you don't get that grumpy so-and-so doing your deliveries next time!

This morning I drove to the petshop in the nearby town, to buy suitable food for the hedgehogs. They loved the chicken I gave them, but it's an expensive way to supplement their natural food. No hedgehog food available, but good quality dry kitten food is supposed to be a good substitute, so I bought some. Ten minutes after my return, we spotted Mum hedgehog on the lawn, looking a bit lethargic, so I tried out the kitten kibbles on her. She immediately perked up and started eating them, so that's good. Then in the afternoon I was on Hogwatch, because one of the hoglets has shown an interest in going into the front garden, and we're on a fairly main road. To be fair, he was more interested in snuffling through the "wild flowers" (aka weeds) growing in the edge of the gravel drive, but I stayed close by so that I could head him off if he showed any intention of going towards the road. He found a small slug and made great lip-smacking noises eating it. Finally I picked him up and took him back to the shed, and he shot back underneath.

Last night's hog photos were somewhat marred by the mother hedgehog virtually sitting on the camera while eating her chicken. A good number of photos of a (surprisingly furry) hedgehog bum...

Hope all is going well for @Obelix-Vendée , without too many thunderstorms or frustrating one-way streets.

Have a lovely time at the Southport show, @Ladybird4 . I enjoyed a visit there, quite a few years ago, when a colleague at the garden centre where I worked won a competition to design and build a garden at the show. They sold fantastic strawberries, I remember... and there were some interesting gardens to look at.

 

@redstar - I forgot to comment when you were writing about your trip round Scotland. It is indeed beautiful - glad you enjoyed it! This is the view from the hill behind our cottage: