Sunday

It is just after seven on Sunday evening. This brief note will bring my family and friends up to date with the situation here at 37 - for one very kind family member rang today to ask if I was OK as there has been nothing on social media or emails for days!

Ken, the electrician, and Rob, the mate, worked today - Ken in the loft and Rob on the upper floor. Wiring renewed to lighting. Ken gave us a list of supplies needed for next Saturday when work will start at 8am - with carpets and floorboards up, furniture moving and general mayhem.  We will need some strong men to give us a hand so I will call Luke to ask him if he can give us a hand and bring a couple of heavies along! Sadly, Heather has to work on Saturday for that lass can do the work of two normal folk. 

After Ken departed. Heather cleaned up with the vacuum and we are all smart again. 

Meantime, Graham sorted out my shower - which had an airlock. For that and all the help I am receiving I am so grateful.And so is Socks, whose routine is being disturbed to such an extent that he has given me a clear indication that if this goes on much longer he will move to his other home permanently. 

All is well - and Socks is happy!

My friends will be relieved to now that Tom the Plumber called yesterday and from last evening I had heating, hot water, a shower and peace of mind - and Socks slept on the landing on his favourite spot over a hot pipe leading too the shower, I guess. Works starts next week on sorting out the main power structure but for now I am warm and happy! Thanks to all who have sent messages and to my family who have been just wonderful.

Great day!

I will be brief - for I am fair worn out (but nowhere near as tired as Heather, Rob and Ken most be after their trojan work to get me up and running). Suffice to say from 2pm till 9pm they worked their socks off! I now have a permanent line to the boiler upstairs, a temporary line to my iMac and two fully functional power points in the kitchen - the latter means I can use the toaster, microwave and washing machine/iron - and as the result of Rob bleeding all the radiators and Ken sorting out the timing, I now have hot radiators like I have not had for months and a towel rail in the bathroom that is so hot you dare not put your hand on it! Socks is now in - and rolling on his back in glee - having been out all day! I ill ring Tom the plumber in the morning to ask him to sort out the shower.

Ken will be back in 10 days’ time to sort out what needs to be done. I have to admit that my heart sank at one stage when I saw that they had virtually dismantled one side of the kitchen - but it is all back now. Richard and Graham have been on the telephone to keep up to date with all that has happened. The small bedroom is now the dumping ground and the lounge is out of bounds but otherwise Socks and I are OK.

It never rains but it pours!

Briefly what has happened over the past few days may (or may not) cause you to squirm or sink to your knees in a flood of anguish and tears - but the story has to be told so here goes! this.

On Friday morning I woke at 6am and turned on the bedside lamp. There was a great bang! I had blown the main fuse. Brian Kerrison was very helpful but came to the conclusion that something major had happened. (Thanks Brian - most grateful for your help.) UK Power came out and replaced the main fuse at about 10.30am. I rang an electrician while they were here. He came in the PM and spent time here but told me he could get the lights on but not the power. I need a rewire. I then rang Homeserve with whom I insure for all sorts of things regarding the house. Their man came at 7.30pm. He said the same. 

I spent the evening and night with Heather and Robert as the house was very cold. (Thanks for that both of you - it was so good to get warm again!) Rob has a friend who is a qualified electrician and works with Rob on equipment when a qualified electrician is required to check stuff. Rob told me that his friend will come hereon Saturday nto see what needs to be done. He and Rob would work on this together and Rob would do any necessary redecoration. Meantime Nicholas, Jean and Val have been a great help. They have re-commissioned their chest freezer and I have moved all my stuff from freezers there - so I have access to frozen foods! Nicholas spent a couple of hours here on Saturday morning when he found out that there is power in the summerhouse! He has run a cable from the summer house to my office where I now have access to my iMac and he has installed an electric heater under the desk - and I have the telephone working and my mobile - so what more could an old chap want when he is galloping towards 84! Phew! That's a relief to be able get back to the keyboard again and be warm. (Many thanks Nicholas - most grateful for all that you have done for me).

I am grateful to all my family and friends for their help. Last evening I had my first soak in a bath for about 20 years - and might have used their shower this evening for I do not want to get used to taking a bath! Socks was pleased to see me this morning. He stayed indoors over night.

I have to tell you that throughout Saturday I have been wearing the dark brown Onesie I bought at last weekend’s Coffee Morning for a fiver. It was new in its pack from Dunelm no less - and is so lovely and warm. One of my neighbours called - and was somewhat taken aback to see me in a Onesie with two ears! But I do not really care as long as I am warm!

Ken, the electrician, came this afternoon. He has given me temporary heating and will return on Sunday to make this permanent. He says he will be able to complete the rest of the work in about a week to ten days' time - Rob will give a hand. Heather and Rob came over with Ken - and late this afternoon we started to move some of the furniture in my office to make way for the cables which will have ro run under the floor on Sunday.

What would I do without my family and friends? Now for an early night!

My Onesie day!

There are days in this life when we need to have a good laugh - and today is one of those days.

On Saturday last I spotted a brand new Onesie at the St. Peter’s Coffee Morning and Bring & Buy Sale. It was in its pack - Dunelm no less - and the colour of which Yvonne would approve. Reduced from £14.99 to a fiver. I could not resist! As I am spending the day indoors revising and updating my book 'Aldborough Hatch - The Village in the Suburbs - A History' - ready for a reprint, I have decided to remain in my jim-jams and don my Onesie over the top. And very cosy it is too, I will have you know! We old people need to keep warm - and this Onesie seems to be the answer when you are sitting at the iMac waiting for the muse to move you (for I am writing some extra pages for the book on sand and gravel and orchards!) This self-portrait with my iPhone just shows the top bit - you will have to wait for someone to call to take a full length shot (although I am having self-doubts about the advisability of a second photograph!). 

Laugh! Go on! Tell me you have done so!

Pruning at the Dick Turpin

Volunteers gathered at the 100-year-old orchard at the Dick Turpin Restaurant on Saturday 7th January to prune the apple and pear trees ready for bumper crops in the autumn. 

Pruning the trees and many months work clearing the mass of ivy and brambles means that light will now reach the fruiting boughs, ensuring that we have a better crop - which will be picked for the benefit of the local community. It was a cold, damp day but the work kept the volunteers warm. The bowls of steaming hot soup at lunchtime provided by the Dick Turpin Restaurant were most welcome!

Arboriculturist Russell Miller and Orchard Restoration Project Manager Stephanie Irvine demonstrated how to prune and soon the volunteers were hard at work with a variety of specialist tools and equipment.

The team tackle pruning included Suzanne and Lorna Batey, Chris Gannaway, Russell Miller, Stephanie Irvine, Jenny Chalmers and Graham Carter.

Happy New Year!

Made beef and vegetable stew overnight in the slow cooker - now cooling ready for the freezer. 

Decanted into five plastic boxes - take to the freezer in the summerhouse later - just in case we are snowed in. 

To Oaks Park High this morning at 10.30am then to Ilford to buy fruit to chop up and box for the freezer. 

I am ready in case there is a snowstorm that means I cannot get out! 

I also have meat in the freezer for the same reason. 

And plenty of food for Socks, too! 

You cannot be too careful when you are galloping towards 84! Happy New Year!

Goodbye Christmas - for another year!

I can never be sure for certain when 12th night falls! So I have started taking down the Christmas here at 37! Just to be sure! All a bit sad really as the boxes come out from under the bed and then go back under again for another year! Happy New Year!

New for 2017!

This is not the most flattering shot of me - but it is not the face to which I would wish to draw your attention - but the shirt and tie. Both purchased in a moment of madness at M & S in Westfield Stratford yesterday. A kind friend gave me a voucher which helped with the cost. It is a non-iron short, of course - and a bit jazzy for me - but there - when you are galloping towards 84 you have to cheer yourself up. I am off to Oaks Park HIgh to invigilate mocks shortly - so they will be in for a shock to the eyes!

Things are disappearing!

I fear that things are disappearing in my house. 

First, the charger to my beard trimmer went walk about. I have all my chargers in the spare bedroom, plugged in to a series of four sockets, ready for use as required. Shortly after youngest son Richard flew in from Norway for a long weekend, the beard trimmer charger was no longer there. Richard assures me he did not take it back home to Norway.

More recently, two white soup bowls have disappeared. 

Both are microwave friendly and served me well when I wanted to heat up some soup. They reside in the cupboard over the worktop in the kitchen - or they did!

I have today purchased a new beard trimmer in Boots at considerable expense - well £14.99 no less! 

I have resisted the temptation to buy two soup bowls and will use pudding basins in future.

I have talked this over with Socks and he is equally mystified. In fact, he yawned and went back to sleep. 

Fat lot of help he is!

Advice would be appreciated. But I am keeping all external doors locked at all times. You cannot be to careful.