The Rainy Season Edition?

Sunday 18 Nov

Rugby International  - England 14 - 20 Australia.  Only highlights shown on the box but it was a pretty good game.  England now play in purple with gold numbers!  Can you believe it?

A real good night's sleep and woke up this morning gout free.  Its weird that it can go so quickly, but I sure am glad it has.  A lazy day spent in front of the box with the iPad catching up on emails etc.

Monday 19 Nov

A hectic day trying to install the new computers.  Not as easy as it first seemed.  Isn't that always the case.

Mum did the weekly shop and was brought home by Han and Matt.  Well, she got into the car OK but had a bit of trouble getting out - something to do with the seat being too deep and her legs not being long enough!  At least she was laughing about it!

Tuesday 20 Nov

Won £4.00 on an on-line lottery scratch card.
On closer examination of the chilli plant there appears a total of 4 chillis growing.  One has gone red and the others are still green.
There are temporary traffic lights outside Trull Stores.  This morning the queue was right back to The Crown in Staplehay.  So to pick up Nev I had to drive up to the Crown, turn left and then go around to Trull that way!

The Town Bridge

Wednesday 21 Nov

Goodlands Garden on the left, Lidl on the right

Looking from the Brewhouse car park over to Morrisons

Woke up to heavy rain and high winds which receded during the day.  I've never seen the river Tone so high though.  The river burst it banks by Morrison's and you couldn't see under the spans of the bridge in the middle of town.
There has been some major flooding across the county and because of closed roads, Reuben (Wellington) and Sabrina (Wiveliscombe) couldn't get into work.  More rain is expected tonight.
Fred, the old boy that Wendy and Andrew keep an eye on has died.  Poor old Andrew, he found the old feller.  A bit of a traumatic thing to have to deal with.

Thursday 22 Nov

More high winds and heavy rain today.  Part of the roofing felt on the tool shed was blown off.  Mum and Hannah went late night shopping, they said because of the bad weather the town was really quiet, with many of the shops closing early.

Took a nibble from the home grown red chilli this evening.  Ooops, big mistake, it was more than a little hot!

Friday 23 Nov

A respite from the heavy weather, actually saw some sunshine but the forecast for the weekend is not good.

It was Geoff Hewitt's funeral today.  He was the old boy that lived in Trull Green Farm house, the big old thatched house on the corner of Dipford road and Comeytrowe lane, the one with the really high Leylandii hedge.  Nev took Ray and Dee to the Funeral.  Nev said that he was expecting a bigger turn out, Geoff was a Village personality, being the Chairman of the Parish Council for years.

It took over an hour to get home tonight.  It was absolutely chokker block with vehicles coming into and driving out of the town, I can only guess that there was an accident or something on the motorway.

I thought I had some roofing felt left from the "Didyabringabeer" build but it turns out there wasn't enough to make a permanent repair to the tool shed so I fashioned a temporary job with sheets of plastic.

Saturday 24 Nov

Glad I got the temporary repair done to the tool shed roof last night, cos its raining again today.  Just hope it holds the water off until I can get some proper roofing felt on there.

Verity

UFO Over Combe Martin

Nev picked us up in the Kia at about 11am.  Uneventful journey to Ilfracombe where we had a bite of lunch at Dolly's cafe.  Spent a whole £1.00 in the penny arcade.  Wendy and Hon won a key ring .  The went to see Verity, the Damien Hurst Statue that has been erected on the harbour wall.  Personally I think the thing is hideous.  Its a statue of a pregnant lady, holding a sword in one hand and scales in the other, one side of her is as if she is naked and the other is as if her skin has been peeled away showing muscle tissue and bone and the unborn baby in the womb.  Not my cup of tea at all.  The weather was pretty terrible so we headed off to book into the Sandy Cove Hotel at Combe Martin.  This is the same place that we stayed at last year.  Luckily it was just as good this year as last.  Spent the rest of the day chatting and just generally having fun  and enjoying the company.  I managed to catch a photo of a UFO flying over the bay.  And just to prove it didn't rain all the time a picture of the sun breaking through.

Sunday 25 Nov.

Sunrise over the bay

After a hearty breakfast with copious amount of coffee we headed off for a wander around Combe Martin Village.  Had a stroll along the beach but there wasn't a great deal to see.  Mum said you and her came here to collect shells.  Then a short ride in the car to Lynton, where we had another stroll about and did a bit of window shopping, bought some pasties for tea and then decided it was time to head home across Exmoor.

All in all a very pleasant weekend.  Oh, by the way, the UFO, they were all saying its the reflection of the light in the room against the window, but I say it is a UFO!

Snelly Brown Fish at Combe Martin

Remembrance Day Edition

Sunday 11 Nov

That one day each year when we spare a thought for all those who have paid the ultimate price in protecting our way of life.  I didn't go to any of the services, I just had a private moment in the shed where I raised a glass of  "Nelson's Blood" (Rum) to those who have gone before us.

Was great to speak to on the phone this evening.

There has been loads of rugby on this weekend - the Autumn Internationals - England 54 - 12 Fiji, France 33 - Australia 6, Ireland 12 - South Africa 16, Wales 12 - 26 Argentina (there will be no singing in the hillside this evening), Scotland 22 - New Zealand 51.

Monday 12 Nov

Bought some shares in Kingfisher and Lok'n Store.  Now its a waiting game to see if their share price rises and to collect the dividends when they are paid.

Tuesday 13 Nov

Won £2 with an on-line lottery scratch card.  Well, when I say won, the card cost £2, so I really only got me money back.  I wonder, will I win the Euromillions tonight - the jackpot is £136 million!!

Wednesday 14 Nov

Golden Leaves, you can just make out patches of frost on the grass.

Surprisingly I didn't win the Euromillions last night!  Some lucky snail eating French git got the jackpot! 

It seems like all of a sudden the leaves on the trees at the bottom of the garden have turned from green to a golden brown and are now falling from the branches.  We have a carpet of fallen leaves around the shed already.
The kit to brew some more Belgian beer arrived today.  I've left it too late for it to be ready for Xmas but I reckon it should be just right for the first BBQ of 2013.
Got a Poinsettia plant for the house for Xmas.  Just hope the red leaves stay red for the period.

Thursday 15 Nov

Woke up this morning with a very sore toe.  Yep its another dreaded gout attack.

Mum went down the Winch with the ladies, Han and Matt were out, so it was curry for tea for me!

Poinsettia

Major problems at work with our e-mails.  It looks like we will have to purchase a new computer for the admin desk.  If nothing else it might keep Louisa quiet for a bit.  She's been off today and will be tomorrow also.  She's spending 12 hours at the cinema watching the Twilight movies that are playing one after another!

Friday 16 Nov

Foot is getting sorer.  Couldn't bare to wear my shoe today.  Hobbling around like an invalid.

Mum didn't want any tea tonight, said she wasn't feeling too good but wouldn't tell me any more.  If its anything serious I'm sure I'll get to know eventually.

Saturday 17 Nov

Terrible night last night.  The toe was really painful and swollen.  Couldn't sleep and spent the night on the sofa.  I remember seeing 5am and then all of a sudden it was 7:45 and I'm late getting up for work.  Couldn't bear to wear socks and so went into work in my holiday sandals - NO not the old leather ones!!

After work Nev and myself took a trip out to PC World to buy a new PC for the admin desk.  We ended up getting a new lap top too.  Your old one, which we use for on-line stock ordering and the accounts has started playing up so we thought we'd better replace it too.  It would be a nightmare if we lost all the accounts data!

Red Chilli

Arrived home to find Mum still not feeling too good.  Again she didn't want any tea but had some soup later on in the evening.  I hope we're both better by next weekend, cos that's when we are going to Combe Martin for the weekend.

Well I might not have won the Euromillions on Tuesday, but I DID on Friday!  Don't go getting too excited, was only £6.40!  But hey, a win is a win!

What d'ya reckon to our prize red chilli?  Good Eh?  Did I mention we've got another growing but its still green at the moment.

Guy Fawkes Edition

Sunday 4 Nov.

Walked into town to pick up the car.  A pleasant stroll and I only got caught once by the rain.

Received an e-mail from Scottish power telling me they are going to put the gas and electric prices up in December.  According to "YouSwitch" I could save almost £300 a year by switching to another company, so I reckon that's a no-brainer and have started the procedure.  They reckon it could take about a month to complete.

While in the mood for switching thought I'd check out BT's Infinity Broadband.  Its supposed to be really fast.  Went on the site, put our tel number in the checker and apparently it is available in our area.  Started the application process only to discover that it actually isn't available to us.  Wish they'd make up their minds!

Monday 5 Nov

Rhubarb didn't get any better over the weekend so we had a trip to the vets.  An injection of pain killer and anti biotics and some pills for the rest of the week should have him sorted out.
Guy Fawkes night.  Not a lot of fireworks, I think it all sort of happened on Saturday.

Tuesday 6 Nov

There's always someone who ruins a photo!

Nothing of note today so I thought you might like this pic!

Wednesday 7 Nov

It's time to start thinking about Christmas.  Mum has done the cake.  Presents, lets get those wish lists in early. That also includes those who happen to be spending the festive season in the Amazon Jungle!

Thursday 8 Nov

The green chilli on the plant has now turned red.  It isn't very big, about an inch long I guess.  I wonder if this means it is a really hot one.

Friday 9 Nov

One of those, got up, went to work, came home, glass of wine in the shed, had tea, watched telly, went to bed, kind of days!

Saturday 10 Nov

Becky has decided to resign from her job at Musgrove Park Hospital.  Andrew is trying to persuade her to chill out and take a break.  So we did her a "WWBD" (what would Becca do) T shirt.

Andrew came round for a "solving the world's problems" session in the shed this evening.  We had a couple of beers and talked a load of stuff, lit a fire. T'was good.

Rhubarb is back to his normal self but has started using the dining room as a toilet.  Not sure what that is all about.

.....and there we have it for another week.

Mum's Birthday Edition

Sunday 28 Oct.

The clocks went back last night and so we all had an extra hour in bed which was nice.  It was good to hear you on the phone today, albeit very briefly, but it is important that we get this Student Finance problem sorted out.  You have to ask why they make things so difficult.

Mum did a roast for just the two of us, Hannah and Matt were out, and we spent the rest of the day in front of the box doing IPad stuff!

It looks like moving the chilli plant has worked as I have noticed that there is another fruit growing.

Monday 29 Oct.

The schools have all broken up for half term so the junction of Church Road and Wild Oak Lane isn't its normal chaotic self for the drive into work.
Put the heating on in the shop for the first time this year.

Tuesday 30 Oct.

Myself and Nev took a trip to Congresbury to see our accountant today, leaving the girls in charge of the shop.  We have classified today  as our second worse day takings wise.  Would you believe that less than £10.00 went through the till!

Hope you got the texts from Mum regarding the contact details for UWE Registration.

Wednesday 31 Oct.

Its Halloween - spooky!  Glad to hear you got Mum's texts for the UWE contact.  Hope you managed to get everything sorted but I suspect it will take more than one call to achieve the aim.

Takings today were more than 200 times yesterday's - weird ain't it!  So it was a good day at work.

Thursday 1 Nov.

Mad panic to buy Mum some Birthday Presents, I've left it to the last minute again!  I did remember to get her a card this year though.
Sold my shares in Home Group (they are the company that owns Argos) making a nice 6.3% profit.

Discovered that my old earphones (bought on a flight to some holiday destination that I don't remember) work on my iPad, so spent the evening watching Shameless.  The iPad copes with video feed much better than the computer upstairs, which suggests that it might need renewing to a more modern device.

Friday 2 Nov

Happy Birthday Mum.  Hannah had the day off so she and Mum went to Street for the day for some retail therapy.  Then in the evening after opening her presents, Hannah and Matt got a take-away tea.  McDonalds for Han and Mum, fish and chips for me and Matt.

Rhubarb came in limping and looking sorry for himself.  Looks like he has been bitten in the front leg, so if it doesn't get better on its own I guess it will be a trip to the vets to get him sorted out.

Saturday 3 Nov

Nev had the day off and so it was only Sabrina and me in the shop.  It wasn't particularly busy but we took a few quid.

We went to the Sanctuary restaurant for Mum's birthday meal.  The food was really good, Mum went veggie, I had lamb, Matt had steak and Han surprisingly had pork.  They even managed to get a bottle of Asti in for Mum which was well appreciated.  Afterwards we had a couple of drinks in the Castle on the Green pub which is the name of the old Firestones where Han used to work.  A very pleasant evening all round.

Won a tenner on the National Lottery.