2014 -  Fruit cage madness, New Grandson etc. etc

January

New Year’s Eve in front of telly watching Jools Holland.

Oli & Husna for lunch on New Year’s Day

First excursion of 2014, a walk up Cley Hill.

managed to find a 4 hour gap in the storms to go for a new mooring reconnaissance trip in Half Nelson with Tim.

A most enjoyable 1st In Denial practice of the year brought complaints from the White Hart’s neighbours of being too loud.

Too much time being spent on the Raspberry Pi project.

Bought a cross trainer on eBay for £60.  Had bit of a game collecting it as it was far bigger than I expected it to be.  Needed to go back with the trailer.

Garage now being used as a gym.

Raspberry Pi Weather Station set up and running.

Decorating garage to make it a better environment for exercise. Getting some resistance to the project as a waste of money!

Day out in Oxford visiting the Ashmoleum and the History of Science museums.

First phase of garage into gym project completed.

A sunny Sunday walk to the Lamb for a pint.

Old Aviary recycled as a fruit cage.  Sounds easy, but it took three days, close to 900 miles driving, as it had to be collected from Leicester via Bury St Edmunds to borrow my brother’s car trailer.

Completed a very busy week by fitting new carpets to all the carpeted rooms. Much moving of furniture.

Went to the Faraday Lecture at The Royal Society given by Prof Frank Close on Un-symmetry.  Tom unfortunately missed it!

Went to see Gravity with Paul.

After weeks of trying, I’ve finally got a working webcam.

Upgraded to iPhone 5S.

Jan and I had a Swedish evening with Liz & Paul to watch the last episode of the Bridge.

A visit to the shed revealed roof leaking problem, so off to Wicks to get felt etc for a day of roof repair.

Wind sensor jammed. Dismantled and decided to buy a new one.  Resighted the rain and temp sensor.

February & March

The wettest month since 1776 showed up weaknesses of the shed roof, so I spent Sunday afternoon refelting.

Found out my Grand child will be a boy!

Visited Lacock Abbey to see it illuminated for 175th anniversary of Fox-Talbolt’s first photographs. (My photographs).

Raspberry Pi II arrived today.

MOTs for the MX5 and the Camper Van obtained with no problems.

Trying to save postage money, we bused into Bath to collect the wind sensor replacement for the weather station from Maplins, ending up paying for lunch at Carlucci’s and 2 cinema tickets. Not to mention the long wait for the bus home.  A good adventure though.

Saturday’s sailing and Sunday’s canal restoration cancelled due to the continuing terrible stormy weather.

Ate at Wagamuma’s in Bath with Rod & Mandy before going to see Anna Calvi at Komedia.  A very good gig.

Maple tree reduced by a third by Trevor the tree surgeon.

Spent two days building chests for 16 drawers for Gemma.

Pub Quiz team hit rock bottom. Last place with only 16 points! Including bonus round of 5/30. Won a bunch of tomatoes.

A day out in London visiting the Tate Modern for exhibitions by Paul Klee and Richard Hamilton then onto the Institute of Physics for a lecture on Quantum Entanglement by Prof. Vlatko Vedral. All washed down with a few pints of CAMRA beers in the company of Rod.

Weekend sail with Tom & Colin reduced to a day sail due to weather but what a great sail.

In Denial monthly practice. New tunes to learn; Oh Pretty Woman (John Mayall), Addicted to Love etc.

Good news.  All fish, after disappearing for the whole winter, have reappeared. The big Japanese koi were last to appear.

Doing three days supply work back at the Blue School.  And they want me to go back after Easter for some exam groups.

A day sail with Tim on a sunny day for a change.

A new season in the camper van kicked off with a trip to Liverpool and Wales.

Fixed fence post with two strips of angle iron.

Started work on my model railway project.

A trip to IKEA to buy a new sofa.  Brought it back down the M4 on the roof.

Three days in Norfolk maintaining properties, with a Mother’s day visit on the way home.

April

Half Nelson moved to new berth.

1st April: broad beans planted out

2nd April: tomatoes, chili and sweet pepper seeds in propagator, Onion sets in.

12.2 mile cycle to Devizes for market and to visit Rose’s Ironmongers for Copydex and netting for allotment.

Collect a car & trailer load of old decking to recycle as raised beds. Kate gets the unwanted stuff for her log burner.

8th April: Tomatoes are up!  Allotment rotovated.

Visited by Oli & Husna and Sunday lunch at the Lamb on the Strand.

Trailer of compost for the raised beds.

Sailing day with Tim

Rob Main visited for a day en route to his brother.

came to the end of Breaking Bad. 65 episodes of gripping tele.

Back to work for a bit of A level revision.

Up early Wednesday morning to see the Cathedrals Express pass through Melksham.

Evening out in Bath to celebrate Rod’s birthday. Pint in the Raven, meal at Cote Brasier and then onto Chapel Arts Centre to see Ben Reel band and Eric Andersen.

Busy Summer

Sailing weekend with Gemma.  Trip to Lymington and back.

Finished my 3 week spell as a part-time A level Chemistry teacher at the Blue School.

Planted out all our remaining seedlings on the allotment.

Fitted a lock on a storage compartment in the camper van.  We now have somewhere to lockup our valuables.

Back from our trip to Corsica and France and straight into heavy weeding sessions in the allotment and garden.

Visit to Mum.  She’s been in her new home over a year now.

A day sail with Tim.  Weather so good that Jan came too.  News came through whilst in the Solent that I’d become a Grandfather.

Visited my new Grandson Arlo for the first time. Great little chap.

Weekend spent at Gemma’s, helping with post re-wiring clear up.

We have a week on board Patience.  A visit to Manchester, Chester and a memorable journey along the LLangollen Canal.

Took Mum to see two and a half week old Arlo.

Weekend sail with Gemma.

New nearside rear tyre for Octavia. £78.

Much work on motorizing points on MRP

Camper van gets a service.  Started planning a trip to Morocco.

Day sail with ex-colleagues, Ian, John & Chris to the Folly Inn and back. Very very warm and enjoyable day.

Took advantage of the very hot weather and travelled by MX5 for a day at Studland.  It was like the Costa Brava.  

Four new tyres for the camper van. £376.

Visited David & Wendy, went to Joe’s leaving party and then on a 4 day camping adventure in Suffolk with Rod & Mandy.

To Wicor to find out about all the new systems required for sailing from a mid river pontoon! Launching Quarter Nelson is probably the most onerous.

New battery for the Octavia under guarantee, fortunately.

Great cruise to Poole and back with Rob & Sal.

Five 12 hour days of hard labour installing a kitchen for Gemma.

Returned from allotment to find a 4 foot grass snake looking at us from the lawn.

Celebrated Jan’s birthday with a train trip into London to see the Matisse Cut-Outs and catch up with Arlo, Oli & Husna.

Married 10 years!

Autumn through to the end of the Year

Camping with Rod & Mandy at a secret location near Bath

Antifouling Half Nelson

Birthday Camper Van trip to Bideford and a cycle on the Tarka Trail.

Tall Ship Festival Greenwich with Colin on board Macaret.

Another week at sea with Wave Wash & Tom & Nigel

Made a decision to have a new roof put on the conservatory.

Spent October touring the Iberian Peninsula. Great weather, didn’t want to come back home.

Skoda Octavia sailed through its MOT for I don’t know how many years running. What a car!

Charlie joined the MRP.  Much work on scenery & background.

made a trip to a wood burner stove showroom in Brislington to cost out an installation for our conservatory. We’re going to go ahead with a Hobbit.

Busy day setting stepping stones into the lawn and getting/spreading manure on the allotment.

Day sail with Tim from new winter POG berth with new main.

Jan had surgery for Dupuytren’s Contracture at Devizes NHS treatment centre

A very enjoyable evening having dinner at Tom & Joyce’s with Colin, Yaffa, Nigel & his Jan.

Saw Purple Fish perform Dark Side of the Moon at the Corn Exchange.  Absolutely fabulous.

Day sail to Chichester

5 Days in Norwich fitting upvc windows & repairing a roof.

A weekend adding the finishing touches to Gemma’s Kitchen. Saw The bootleg Beatles at the Colston Hall. Fabulous show.

Extensive feasting and celebrating period, with R & L & B.

Visit from the Berrymans.  All 5 of them. Lovely day.