Grey.

I got a clean bill of health at the doctor's this morning. At least so far as blood pressure and ECG readings were concerned. The surgery had rung me in the morning to let me know that the 'blood' nurse had to cancel her appointments but I hadn't recognised our new phone ring and thought it was the neighbours' phone. As I was already at the surgery the nurse who did the ECG also took some blood. I've got good veins so it's relatively simple to take my blood. I'm still following the research that found watching the needle go in leads to less perceived pain and it does work for me.

Today has seen even more stuff leave this house. Not only did I take a large bag of things to the charity shop, two bags of weeds to the dump and got rid of my food processor but the people from the furniture charity came and took the fridge, a room sized rug that I had bought to cover the bare concrete floor of the conservatory at Dingles and a large feather filled bolster. Unfortunately they were half-way down the stairs with the mattress when they realised it didn't have a fire safety label so they couldn't take it. I was out at the time so it ended back up in Peter's study. I would have pleaded with them to take it in their van and drop it off at the dump, only 5 mins from their store, as being a sprung mattress it will be difficult if not impossible to jam it into my car. 

With the fridge gone an unpleasant hole was left under the kitchen counter with a bare concrete floor and tatty back wall. At least with the two basket trolleys pushed under there it doesn't look so bad but the sooner we organise proper units under there the better as far as I am concerned.

Even though the loft is only partially boarded we put some things up there just to get them out of the way. That was quite tiring so I planned to take the rest of the day easy but then I got drawn outside again. This time to the back garden where I weeded a narrow raised bed and found more of the dreaded bindweed roots. Once that was done I placed some of my trays of pots over the fresh soil to protect it from the cats, and trimmed back the ivy growing on the garden fence. And then I had a rest.

Sunny.

It's starting to get really cold but there was enough wind today to get another lot of washing dry. Once again I was tempted out to the front garden and was able to weed all the paved area. I also made a start on the flower bed by the paving. The main culprit there is one I've been pulling up for years but did not know its name, Herb bennet, until now. There is some sort of ornamental rush, possibly Greater woodrush, growing in there which I might not keep. 

While I worked out in the front garden apart from the sound of somebody using a strimmer or similar mechanical device and the odd seagull the main sound filling the air was the bleating of sheep out on the hillside. Not a cacophony but enough to make me feel closer to the countryside. Yesterday evening I could hear the occasional sound of bell ringing practice at the nearby Pilton Church (St Mary's). 

The Hurricanes were flying in and then out of Chivenor again this afternoon, this time in pairs. It's either training flights or gearing up for a mission. 

Peter was out rowing this afternoon after which he went over to B&Q to buy me a roller, tray and paintbrush so that I can make a start on some painting. The irritating thing is that most of our tools are in the garage and currently inaccessible. That's because the door is wonky and Peter isn't sure if we will be able to lock it again. So far he's not heard back from the garage door man as he's very busy but a friend of Peter's is a good friend of the garage door man's wife and will have a word to see if we could at least have a temporary fix until we get a new door.

Cold.

This morning was bright and breezy and also very cold. It was dustbin day so I duly wheeled the bin down the garden path with its four steps and around to where the other bins from this side of the grass were. It was so nice and sunny out at the front that I thought I might do some gardening there. I donned my gardening clothes and got on with a familiar task, prising out weeds growing between paving slabs. Although there is more to do in the paving under the sitting room window I did get the whole path done and continued along the outside of the garden wall. 

I got one load of washing done and hung up outside. I kept an eye on the weather as I played my piano and was able to quickly bring the washing in when hailstones and then rain came down from one of the passing black clouds. Fortunately the duvet cover and pillow cases were dry enough to iron.

From the upstairs windows I can see the weather moving across the vastness of the sky. 

 The best picture I could get of a small 'cloud rainbow'.

All afternoon Hurricane transport planes have been landing every 15 mins at Chivenor so I guess the marines are off abroad soon.  

Sunset.

Cold.

It's been cold, grey and very wet today so I took some pictures of a couple of elegant orchids amongst the clutter of the kitchen.

Most of the morning was taken up by the visit of a central heating plumber. As well as organising putting in radiators in the bedrooms and a heated towel rail in the bathroom and refurbishing things in the bathroom he worked on the boiler to get it running properly. He also tightened up some loose nuts that had been the cause of some slight leaks from the hall radiator. (A good thing we have marble tiles there.) The proper work will be done in January.

Afterwards I drove over to the dump to get rid of that bag of glass and cardboard and a few extra items. Then it was over to the window people to set things in motion. I had thought I would be able to set a date but no, first they have to come over with a contract for us to sign and the work won't get done until after Christmas. At least that will give me the chance to sort and organise more stuff, hopefully being even stricter over which things we are going to keep.

So far my trips out have been by car while Peter has taken to walking to most places even in this horrible weather. Today he got a helmet and lights for his bike so soon he will be whizzing all over the place and once I get my bike we can take advantage of the Tarka Trail. Peter used to be a bicycle courier in Central London so I won't be worried when he's out on the roads.

Cold

We've had a cold, grey day with frequent icy showers. Although there are no radiators in the bedrooms (?) the rest of the house is warm and toasty.

I've got quite a few things done today which for me makes it a good day.

Having given up trying to sort the TVs yesterday after a good night's sleep I hit the internet again. This time I found a site telling  me the name of the instructions I should be looking for and then the Sony site for our TV gave two possibilities the second of which did the trick.

The bathroom door latch has been a bit sticky and this morning just after Peter had gone out it gave up completely. We only have one toilet and it was on the other side of the door! I turned to Google but the methods using a credit card or paper clips didn't work and I wasn't sure I wanted to try forcing an axe into the gap though there is an axe downstairs. Instead I unscrewed the handle and used the largest screwdriver to try and force the turning part around. This resulted in bits breaking off and when I took them out hey presto the door opened. I removed the latch and sent Peter a text suggesting he buy a couple of hook latches as a temporary measure (Patch needs to be kept out of the bathroom as he  tends to piddle in there). Then with Peter on one end of the phone in the DIY store and me in the kitchen with latch and ruler he was able to buy a replacement which I have now fitted Peter having had to go straight out to collect a bike he is buying from a friend.

Peter's first trip out had been to go and collect a piano stool from Tiverton that I had bought on eBay. The new headphones arrived yesterday so I am all set up in my temporary music corner by the front window. 

The neighbour on one side has a cat in her garden which I am sure is not as much bother as our two. 

This is the grand house behind us. Somebody told me it belongs to the owner of one of our local estate agents. In front of the garage? on the right is a tall dog house and run for their greyhounds. The vegetable garden runs across the back and on the left of the green poly tunnel is a glass and wood green house with tomatoes in. I can't wait to get rid of our disreputable shed, on the left and this afternoon I removed the remaining glass panes and carefully broke them up between layers of cardboard. It took a bit of doing but finally the pieces fitted into a smaller cardboard box in a bin bag and the whole lot is in my car ready for the dump. If I had left the panes whole, which would have been much simpler I would have had to pay to get rid of them at the dump. I'm now waiting for Peter to return home with his bike and we can settle down to an evening of Strictly.

Winter is Coming.

Last night, just as we were heading upstairs we heard bangs and cracks coming from the kitchen. It turned out that the noise was due to large hailstones hitting the conservatory roof. No ordinary hailstones these, many of them were the size of peas which I've not seen before. A sure sign that winter is coming. Today has been bitterly cold with the occasional almost sleety shower.

I went into town today and got nearly everything done that I had planned. First was a quick stop to offload yet more stuff at the charity shop. Then over to the dump to get rid of 3 sacks of weeds from the garden and a selection of spare hoover hoses. After that I parked up and walked back to the High Street to meet Ross Mullan (he plays the White Walker in GOT) at Eclectic a memorabilia store. I've never been to a signing before and I have to say that Ross was charming. I was the only fan in the shop at the time and we chatted about GOT, Tolkien and Canada (he's Canadian). 

Afterwards I went to Asda to pick up some winter pjs that I had ordered on-line. I'd seen them in store and had fallen for their soft fluffiness. However the only two sets in the larger size had nasty grease or oil marks on them so instead I ordered them on-line. Ordering and then picking them up in the store means no delivery charges. The bottoms will need some alteration as they are far too big but that's not a problem. Naturally I checked out the reduced sections, no massive reductions but I got cinnamon and raisin bagels, olive pitta breads and onion bahji naans (no sure about their authenticity) for about 30% off.

One of my town stops was to the charity furniture shop to arrange for them to collect our under counter fridge and a good sprung double mattress as we found we do have room for our sofa-bed which is currently in the garage. While I was at the dump getting rid of the hoover parts a RSPCA man was unloading lots of excess stuff from their charity shop. I saw him put out the green basket trolley so I asked him for it and he offered anything else from his van. It was a shame to see good stuff being thrown out but the only other thing I took was the white trolley. Once the fridge has gone they will fit in the space until we can organise putting in matching cupboards.

The only thing I didn't manage to do was to speak to the window people to set a date for them to start work. I called at their office but unfortunately they close at 12.00 on Saturdays and I was too late.

At home we have been trying to link up the bedroom TV to the main TV downstairs but despite many trips up and down the stairs to check out 'help' pages on-line and press various buttons on both TVs we haven't quite got there. I have to say I do revel in the luxury of watching TV in bed and I'm sure the system will work eventually.

Chilly.

We've had a chilly bright day. I put some things in the washing machine but the lack of wind meant that it wasn't as good a drying day as yesterday. Going out to load up my car with things for the charity shop and dump tomorrow I noticed that my extremely tidy neighbour had a rack of washing drying in the sun in her front garden. Some of the front gardens have benches in them and the other day I noticed a whole family outside, mum doing something with the car, son sat on a dining chair and dad doing something else. I like the idea that people are using their front gardens as living space, it makes for a friendlier environment. 

The electrician came again this morning to finish off the work including changing the down lighters in the bathroom. I'd asked him to change them because the fittings looked yellowed and cracked. It was a good thing he did change them because they were in a poor state electrically with one of them having something partially melted. Everything has now been tested and it's all safe with an up to date certificate. He also took down the fancy dining room light which all of us had hit our heads on and put in an ordinary pendant fitting. I'm quite happy with simple round paper lantern lightshades for overhead lights. 

While the electrician was here I carried on working in the garden and have pulled up and bagged all the brambles and bindweed I can reach. There is a void space between the back wall of the garden and I'm tempted to blast it with some strong weed killer. That bit of ground is below the level of the vegetable garden of the architect built house above that extends across about 8 houses in our street so it shouldn't affect the hedge they have planted. I'll have to think about that.
Now that the electrical work has been done I was able to carry on sorting out our studies. Peter's rowing machine, currently folded up, is out of my study and temporarily on the upstairs landing and I was able to bring all the storage boxes and bags into my study. 

Both cats have been exploring around the green out front. First thing this morning Speedy was peering out of the open front door when he got scared by somebody walking past the house. Later he took himself out and completely disappeared. After about half an hour I heard a scratching at the front door and there he was waiting to come in. Patch eventually got the courage to go out later in the afternoon. When I went out to bring him in I couldn't see him only another black cat with a smaller face. Its tail was all bushy and sure enough I heard a growling from the other side of a bush and there was Patch also with his tail big and bushy. I think he was quite relieved when I scooped him up and took him back indoors.

I was treated to a lovely sunset this evening. Each time I looked up the colours had changed. I had to clean my window as the marks from its last clean kept confusing my camera.

Having sorted out the headphone plug I had a lovely long practice session on the piano yesterday evening while Peter was out at a gig club meeting. I kept finding small black bits (larger than specks) on the piano keys and after first thinking they must have come from the dustsheet that had been over the piano while the electrician worked I realised they were coming from my headphones. They are the sort like ear defenders and the plastic over the big earpieces is so old that it is disintegrating and falling like black soot. Another pair have been ordered and should be here in a few days. I've also bought a proper, second hand piano stool from eBay as last night my foot went to sleep after all that time sitting on a wooden stool. It has a padded leather seat and the height can be adjusted.

Windy.

Our house faces south-west so we don't see the 'real' sunrise but this morning a large cloudbank out to sea was glowing pink with a reflection of the sunrise. As the cloudbank rolled in it looked like a very slow moving pink tidal wave turning to grey as it approached. Then as an encore there was a rainbow which was brighter than in the photo and eventually arced right up and over the house.

We've had the electrician  in all day, mainly turning single wall sockets into doubles and a few other bits including putting covers over some exposed wiring in the fuse board which would be lethal if we started fumbling around with the fuse board in the dark. With most of the power off for the day I occupied myself by carrying on cleaning the cooker. I didn't get round to the larger oven but the top oven is now clean and sparkling. When I pulled out the metal shelf at the back I found the handle that clips on to the grill tray when you want to pull it out. 

It was very windy in the morning so I hand washed the crochet throw from my computer chair and hung it out on the line to dry. Then, as there was little I could do in the house I did some gardening. I was able to pull out and chop up several bramble bushes and dug up a lot of bindweed roots. From the size of the roots they have been growing for a number of years.

Although they shouldn't be officially in contact with other cats until tomorrow I let the cats out for a wander in the back garden. Speedy was more adventurous and it wasn't long before he had jumped up on the handrail and walked along the dividing wall. As the neighbour's garden is very neat and tidy I thought it best to call him in before he began exploring further. 

The headphone problem turned out to be due to a defective jack plug. I've now got one that sends sound to both sides and can play to my heart's content.

Grey and Wet.

It's been another grey day with sporadic patches of light rain. I had to pop into town for a couple of things including paint for our bedroom at B&Q, it's 10% off for us oldies on Wednesdays. I also wanted to locate a shop which was moving premises and having a re-opening on Saturday by Ross Mullen who played the White Walker in GOT. That took quite a bit of a search as I generally locate places in town by reference to nearby shops or notable buildings and I'm a bit hazy as to which street is which. (Only been here 25 years.) Even consulting the street map in the shopping centre didn't help. Eventually I called in at Super Heroes which sells manga related items, which I had originally thought was the shop relocating when I read about it in the local free newspaper, and the chap in there directed me to the right place. If only the newspaper had said it was opposite the kebab shop and Beats Workin I would have known straight away where the shop was.

 Butchers' Row with the Pannier Market on the left.

 Originally the Girls' School built in 1658.

 St. Anne's Chapel built in the early 14thC on the left with the church hall on the right.

Haven't got any information on this building but it looks like it also dates back to medieval times.

One of my stops today was Wilko to get some cooker hood filters. We've never had an extractor hood before and it was a bit of a shock when the panel with the filter fell down onto the glass cover of the gas cooker. No damage to the cooker but we simply could not work out how to put it back. A friend came round to look at some building work and he was also stumped. I used good old google to look at the hood manual which solved the problem. We had thought the filter panel went in flat above the cooker whereas it stands almost upright. I've been gradually giving the cooker a thorough cleaning as although it wasn't especially dirty it wasn't left spotless. Grease is my bete noire so I've been working on one part of the cooker at a time removing every last speck of grease from each nook and cranny something that wasn't feasible with the ever hot rayburn.

We haven't quite got the hang of shutting the front door and shortly after I left this morning Peter went downstairs and found the front and porch doors blown open by the wind. Both cats were sitting there sniffing at the open door but not venturing outside. I told Peter that was because every time I go out to the bins I tell the cats to stay inside.

For the moment my digital piano is set up in the sitting room. When I tried using my headphones the jack was too small for the socket but today Peter gave me an adapter. Much better to not irritate the neighbours with my playing and nobody will hear when I go wrong. The only problem at the moment is that my headphones are stereo headphones so I only hear the piano in one ear and the clunking made by the action of the keys is noticeable. Earbuds don't stay in well in my ears so I'll have to look for some mono headphones. 

Grey.

It was my turn to go out today. I had made an appointment to see my doctor as I've been a bit concerned about my heart skipping beats. Not just occasionally which I know is normal but quite frequently especially after all the heavy work associated with moving in. At least now I know it's nothing to panic about and I'm booked in for a blood test and  ECG next week with a follow up appointment after that. I also asked hopefully if there were any new sinus treatments. I know it's not a major ailment so they can't throw extra strong antibiotics at it (I've had the usual ones and nothing ever made a difference). However the doctor has changed the spray I use daily. It would be nice to be free of the frequent headaches. Being away from the damp environment at Dingles might also help.

Afterwards I went over to Roundswell where the pharmacy in Sainsbury's had the new sinus spray which hadn't been in stock at the surgery pharmacy. Wandering around Sainsbury's I found some reasonably priced white wine vinegar which they have stopped doing in Lidl's so I bought a couple of bottles to use in my salad dressing. Then I called in at Dunelm where I bought some curtain draw rods. Being in town we have to draw our curtains in the evening which we didn't often do at Dingles. Our white old sitting room curtains were the right size for this sitting room and the draw rods will prevent the curtains getting grubby from being opened and closed by hand. Incidentally once windows, electrics and wall are done I shall paint the sitting room white. Up in our bedroom where 3 of our old bedroom curtains fit the wider window with the fourth going over an alcove with shelves, the grey walls will be painted cream like our old bedroom. I'm nothing if not consistent in my colour choices. I've always taken a keen interest in interior design with my personal style being a cross between artist studio/Scandinavian white and pine/comfy country. The dinning room and hall will also be white while I haven't decided yet whether to keep the mushroom coloured walls in the kitchen which match the light brown high-gloss cupboards or go with cream to match the tiles.

Speedy is getting very bored with being stuck in the house. Right now he is sitting in my window watching the world go by. The cats' vaccinations won't be effective until Friday, also the vet suggested keeping them in for more than 2 weeks so that they don't wander off and get lost. I think Patch will be content to stay in the back garden but I can see that Speedy wants to go out and explore. He was originally a town stray so hopefully he will take care on the road.

When I got back home I went for a stroll around the block to take some photos. It's been a grey day so everything looks drab. I'm sure it will look nicer in the sun. Our house is the central one above. I'm currently in the room on the left with our bedroom on the right. Being set back from the house on the right, lived in by a retired police lady, gives a bit more privacy to the front garden especially if we want to sit outside in the afternoon sun.

Diagonally across the grass is a path leading down to the road below where there is a better view of the countryside beyond. 

Then going left and left again brought me back to the start of our road. Our garage is in a block off to the right.

And back up to where my little green car is parked with our front door and my study window above just visible.

Wet.

It has been a wet grey day. The rain did stop eventually so I took the opportunity to scrub parts of the decking with bleach. I scrubbed the central parts of the first 2 levels as they were slippery to the point of being dangerous.

My main job of the day was to get a good deal for gas and electricity. The cooker, hot water and central heating run on gas and it was a real pain sorting out the change of supplier. I went through the govt. site to compare prices for gas and electricity together which was relatively simple and came to a lot less than we were paying at Dingles. However when I rang British Gas to inform them that we had moved to this address and were going to use another supplier I had to set up an account with them as it takes 10 -14 days to switch over. The poor person on the other end of the line had to ask me so many pointless questions about our usage and how we were going to pay because that was the format she had to stick to. EDF for electricity, on the other hand simply took my name, address and the meter reading and will send me a bill when the new supplier kicks in.

We've both been popping out for various things and it is really strange to get to places so quickly. When I took the cats to the vet last Friday for their final injections it took me 4 minutes to drive home. Another good thing about moving here is the familiarity with the roads and everything in town. From my old route to work I could almost see the turn off to our little street. 

There is a bit of a mystery with the house numbers in our road. Our side is the even numbers which go up to 36 with the other side and around the grass being the odd numbers which go up to 33. How had I missed number 35? Maybe it was tucked around the corner. However when I was on one of the comparison sites and had to type in my post code the list of houses went up to numbers 33, 34 and 36 but did not include 35. The developers must have made a miscalculation when they built this little estate.

A Little Gardening.

A bit of a grey day today. At least it wasn't raining. I did some pottering about, washed some shelves in the bathroom so that I can store towels on them. There's so little storage space here and of course we have far too much of most things. For example I know I've got sufficient towels for half a dozen people to go surfing and then have showers after. I really ought to sort out a stack of towels to give to one of the local animal rescue places, either the Cats' Protection League, Dogs' Trust or RSPCA. 

These photos are very much the 'before' pictures. I finally gave in and after trying to sort the 3 crates of 'garden stuff' that ended up here rather than in the garage I went out in the garden to do some weeding. I had to be careful as the decking is very slippery. I think that having the spaces between the boards blocked by soil and weeds stopped the water draining away which didn't help so I used an old knife to clear some of the gaps. Once I've done more of the gaps I'll scrub with bleach which should do the job. The pressure washer would do the job but I don't know how deep it is buried in the garage and also our water is metered.

So far only Speedy has ventured out through the cat flap into the  dog crate. I watched Patch sniffing at the way through but then he changed his mind. He did slip out into the garden last night when I had the back door open to air out the conservatory and I spent an anxious few minutes before he came back. Speedy has tried to sneak out of the front door, I think he is getting bored with staying indoors. I bought some little balls with bells inside which he played with for a while but he spend more time batting at one which I hung from the bannister with a long bit of string.

The garden already looks better than the above photo now that most of the weeds are gone from the decking. Apart from the little weeds popping up between the decking the main weeds are my old friends, bramble and bindweed. I think I prefer starting with a garden that is neglected rather than taking over somebody else's neat and tidy creation. While I was working outside I could hear the roar of town traffic with the occasional siren but there were also birds singing and the evening chuck-chuck of a couple of blackbirds. 

New Home.

Phew! We made it. Let me just say that 5 1/2 days to pack up a 6 bedroom house that you've lived in for 25 years is not enough. (That was the time left after the removal men had taken the stuff that was going into storage.) On the actual day the removal team were like a whirlwind with stuff disappearing before I even had time to put it into boxes. The furniture vans and Peter left mid-afternoon while I stayed behind to; finish cutting up the sofa, make 2 trips to the dump, hoover the whole house, take down a heavy full length mirror I had forgotten to remind the men about, cram the mirror and 3 crates of garden stuff from a shed and the cats into my car and return the screwdrivers I had borrowed from our neighbours because the screwdriver set had gone. I arrived to the new house to find every room jammed full of boxes and a lot of furniture in the wrong rooms.

In the kitchen the washing machine was blocking off the sink because it was too big to fit in its space and the fridge freezer was still in its packaging. With all this chaos it was wonderful to find a friend had been round earlier in the day to leave a card and a home-made coffee and walnut cake. The cake was especially appreciated as it was my first food of the day eaten at about 9.00 and kept me going through a weekend of heaving things around and unpacking.

We've been here a week and most of the furniture is in the correct rooms (a large cupboard is still in our garage down the road). Because we have moved to an area we are familiar with Peter knows a wide network of people which includes many trades people. Through his contacts he has organised; replacement of all the double glazing and glass doors to the conservatory, new hatch to the loft with ladder plus flooring and insulation for the loft, putting in more electrical sockets and a ring main, removal of the shed and taking out a false wall in the sitting room with a nook for the tv. I foresee a lot of mess in the next few weeks but it will be worth it to have everything in good condition with all the relevant certificates. When all that's done we'll be painting the walls as grey is not really our colour scheme. We've already has the people from Sky come and install a dish which involved throwing wires over the roof in a hail shower and the telephone and internet both from Sky are up and running. 

It may sound as if there are a lot of things wrong with this place but we had anticipated the necessary work and will recoup the costs when we sell up. On the other hand the things that cannot be changed, the location, the quiet and the views are all excellent. The house faces south west and being on a hill has wonderful views (which I haven't really shown) of the estuary, Braunton Burrows and on the far side of Barnstaple Bay the land leading out to Hartland Point. Best of all are the amazing sky views and wonderful sunsets. The photo above shows what I see when I'm sitting on the sofa but if I stand at the window I can see the countryside for miles towards Hartland.

We couldn't be in a quieter location, not only are we at the end of a cul-de-sac but we face a small grassy area away from the road. There is only one road of houses to the right before the fields begin. 

This is my view when sitting in bed (spot the condensation on the existing windows), the tops of some trees, fields and lots of sky. 

Some of the places we can see from the front of the house. Sadly no sea views as the sea is on the other side of Braunton Burrows a Unesco Biosphere reserve. 

I tried to capture the magnificent sunset last night but the photos with the best colour came out blurry.