Life!

2nd - Handbells with Steve in the morning.  Peter joined us and we worked on Cambridge Royal - with me on 3-4!  It went quite well and this is now the project - to eventually ring a peal!  In the afternoon took Suki to the vets - got more tablets, this time for the arthritis.  However have now received two cheques from the insurance, one for £1500 and one for £650 so the expense has been nullified a little which is a help.  I have discovered that giving the tablets to her in peanut butter is the best way - and she looked really interested when the vet was counting out the tablets as she associated them with a nice treat.  He was somewhat amused. Mike got his new car - very swish.  It has several features which will take time to get used to, especially the navigation system which has a mind of its own and has been driving Mike to distraction ever since he got the car. 3rd - Leanne and Ollie came over for the day and we had a lovely time.  I me...

I managed to sneak an extra week in Devon, unplanned, at the end of September and it was great to have that extra time with Jayne.   Lee and Emma stayed on until the Tuesday - which was the day I was travelling down - so we decided that the best thing was for them to take Suki to Bovey and leave her with Jayne on their way home.  I went walking with Maryanne on Tuesday morning and then drove down to Bovey in the afternoon.  It was weird walking without Suki and also driving down without her in the car.  Lee and Emma's car broke down and they spent all afternoon in the garage after dropping Suki off.  I got a plaintive call from them as I was driving to say that the garage were charging more than they were expecting so I helped out with my credit card details!  They later did the garden for me in return - so mutually beneficial. We ticked lots of things off the to do list prior to Jayne's return to India.  We also did lots of walking - including the R...

This was held in Norwich on the weekend of 19th/20th September.  We were not involved in any peals, and had only a half-hearted intention to go to the general ringing in the afternoon so we decided to leave around 10 am.  Lee and Emma had picked up Suki the day before and taken her to Devon for the weekend - they were signing the papers for their house swap to Dartmouth, so we were able to just get up and go in a leisurely fashion.  We made good time until we were held up by an accident on the A1 - on the other carriageway but it seemed as if the queues on our side were caused by people slowing down to look!  We decided to stop just short of Norwich for some lunch - picked an excellent cafe/garden centre/farm shop (posh) at Elvedon.  It was very busy and we had to sit outside, rather than in the restaurant, but service was very quick and we had excellent soup and a cup of tea.  We arrived in Norwich at the time the general ringing was finishing, so we went ...

We came back on Sunday – I was intending to leave in the middle of the day but when I got up in the morning I found the carpet in the bathroom cupboard soaking wet – plus all the toilet rolls stacked in there were sodden having soaked up lots of water – and discovered the stop cock was leaking.  We had had the plumber twice that week already – to change the ball cock in the back loo and to service the boiler.  Anyway we went off to the 8 am service, and to ring, and then when we got back Mike had a go at fixing it – luckily I had seen where the plumber had turned the water off at the road so I was able to do that.  The shed holds a wonderland of screws and other bits and pieces so I found the jar of washers and eventually it seemed to do the trick except for a minor drip from the tap itself.  The plumber came out anyway and tightened things up and all seems well now.  He only charged £32 for coming out on a Sunday! All that messing about with the plumbing meant ...

Mike went off to ring a peal on the morning of Bank Holiday Monday - but didn't get it.  We went for another walk in Stover in the afternoon. Suki hitches a ride! In the evening we went to The Bell for a pint and a pasty with the ringers - Lisa's new boyfriend, Adrian, was there.  I got a phone call from Lorraine to say Rita next door had died - the police were there and wanted her date of birth and thought I might know it.  I didn't! Jayne and I had a lovely day mooching around Totnes on the Tuesday.  We did lots of window shopping, indulged in a little retail therapy and had an extremely nice lunch in a cafe at the top of the town.  Then we popped in to Dartington on the way back and indulged ourselves a little more.  I bought two huge wine glasses which I had always wanted.  I shall probably not dare to use them now! I also purchased a nice crochet book with several things I thought I might crochet - and made a start on a filigree blanket ...

I set off for Devon on Tuesday 23rd Aug about 10.15 and arrived at The Old Inn, Halton at 12.45 to meet up with Jay for lunch.  It has been done out since I was last there and is very nice and comfortable now - and the toilets are inside and no spiders!  We had lovely baguettes for lunch and had a good catch up.  I got to Bovey about 3.30 and Jayne was already home from work which was lovely.  We had a good chin wag and then both took suki out for a short walk round the hilll/bridleway loop.  We had a nice evening in watching tv with a bottle of wine and ham, salad and jacket potato for supper.  The next day we went for a walk together round Parke in the morning with Suki - it was incredibly muddy (regretted wearing sandals) and the river was very full as a result of all the rain they had had lately.  The weir was completely full - which is most unusual in summer.  We dropped Suki off at home and went to Trago Mills to get a few bits and pieces. ...

Rang a nice peal of Superlative on 3-4 with Steve, Hamish and Margaret on 14th.  Very pleased with it. Failed yet again to ring a peal of minor with Caroline and Mike, although we rang about 3 extents quite confidently before it fell apart.  Had a nice supper at Cafe Rouge to make up for it.  Mike got away with going up the escalator at London Bridge and we played safe and went home via Monument. Supper with the Bell and Crown group on 13th - at The Duke of Somerset in Acton as Bell and Crown closed for refurbishment.  Had a lovely meal - Mike and I shared the rib steak (#50) and I probably drank a bit too much wine! Reunion of youth club group at The Duke of Kent in Ealing on 22nd.  Met up with Diane and Moira at Ealing Broadway station and shared a taxi.  Mike not allowed on the 607 because of pushchairs.  I was furious.  Good evening - really weird seeing so many people from the dim and distant past now old!  Chris Still was nice and c...