After two weeks of being here and there I’ve taken time out to catch up with the website.
In the last week of July I took some of my redundant bee keeping equipment to my friend Gary in Banbury. I was pleased to find a home for it where it will be be put to good use. Whilst there we went for a walk around Great Tew (a Cotswold village where only the rich and famous can afford to live) and in the evening had a superb Lebanese meal at the Cinnamon Stick – good food and great company… you can’t go wrong.


On my way back from my overnight stay in Banbury I collected Helene and we stayed at the Sedgebrook Hall Hotel where we enjoyed the swimming pool, a pleasant dinner and a full breakfast.
The following day we repaired Helene’s fence. One of the posts had rotted through and was hanging by a splinter. We had to clear the hole, concrete in a fence post and then secure the fence rails to the post. Before I headed home we enjoyed dinner outside at a local tavern.


In the past week I met up with my college friends at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. YSP has to be one of my all time favourite places. It is expansive; the exhibitions are stimulating whilst the surrounding parkland is very tranquil even when it is busy.








I finally finished the job of filling the gap in the corner between the front wall and the side atrium window. I was reluctant to start the work because I had no idea how it might finish up however, despite my misgivings, I’m really pleased with the way it has worked out.
Using the same special, gritty paint that was originally used on the walls it now looks as though it was always like this.

Back in November I was going to treat myself to a new multimedia system in the Porsche however, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find a company to undertake the work or have the Kenwood system I wanted.
At last I got round to following up with Audio Island based in Grimsby. They have one in stock and it’s booked in for the end of the month. Watch this space for how it turns out.

Like all gardeners, when things don’t go well I blame the weather. This year I have good cause because it has been incredibly dry and hot for many weeks. As a consequence the vegetable plot has suffered. The rainwater harvesting tank (3,000 litres) ran dry.
Despite this there are some potatoes, green beans and runner beans. Sufficient for a meal I’m cooking for the neighbours.
I’ve started making notes about my successes and failures in readiness for next year. I won’t be growing dwarf green beans again… the climbers have done far better.