I can see your house from here

As the golf matches slow down for a while, its time for house maintenance. The big job I have been putting off is painting the wooden surrounds and soffits on the roof.

It's a scaffold job, and one I will probably need a couple of professionals for. One to do the woodwork and one to do the painting. So it's a few phone calls tomorrow.

I have built a slide in the garden for the ankle biters. The slide is connected to a tree and the kids have two ways to climb up. Either on the rustic ladder or by using the climbing wall. The wall is made up of coloured handhelds and gives them a different sort of challenge. So it won't be long before an A & E trip is planned!!

A new addition to the eco friendliness of the garden has been a water butt which collects water from the room of the storage shed. I am already using the water on the pots and new flower beds and that has allowed us to harvest our baby salad leaves twice already. We already have wood piles, wild flower patches and butterfly & bee friendly flowers so I seem to be doing my bit for the wildlife.

This has been confirmed by a wren nesting in the eaves of the house, a blue tit nest in the wall and a blackbirds in the yew hedge. Just need to keep those magpies at bay...now where is that air rifle?

Barry Bucknell

I am taking advantage of the mild weather to put the house to sleep for the Winter. It does not Winter well, so it needs a fair bit of TLC.
The first problem was that the dehumidifier in the basement packed up so that gives us a condensation problem. The manufacturers have to send engineers from their base in the Isle of Wright to fix it each time. They charge £100 just to visit, so each all-out is ridiculous. Why they don't have regional reps I don't know! Anyway that's sorted now.

Next challenge is the roof. I have been waiting since July to get some tiles replaced by the insurance company. The scaffolder arrived today but decided he had under quoted so is back to the drawing  board. Its a £100 job which needs £4000 of scaffolding. Ridiculous.

I was hoping to get my soffits replaced and eaves painted at the same time but that's not going to happen now.

So what have I done? Well, the rockery is finished,the first leaves are collected and an annoying tree has been lopped. I've done a tip run, and cleared the drain.

So now it's boundary walls and fences, final grass cutting and pruning outside. Damp sorting, some painting and junk shifting inside.

We have another Airbnb visitor tomorrow, and then SWMBO is off to Tanzania. When she gets back it will be into Christmas festivities......roll on March when the heating can go off!

Home alone

SWMBO and her family are entering the second week of their Clampitts holiday in Egypt. Apart from some tourist tummy trouble, all seems to be going well. The kids in particular are enjoying the water park and chocolate parties.

I, in the meantime, am left fending for myself which has been a welcome reintroduction to peace and quiet. The main benefit has been the ability to get on with jobs round the house without having to worry whether an ankle biter will get hold of a chisel or fall over a power lead.

One challenge I have though is that a couple of tiles have slipped during the storms so I am waiting for the insurance go ahead to get the work done. The loss assessor said he thought the door would cost £50 labour and £1500 for scaffolding. Gone are the days when a bloke and his ladders turned up and did it. It's all 'ealth and safety now.

I am all set up with my new tablet computer now as well. I got the latest ZenPad with some vouchers the bank gave me, and it's good to be mobile again. I now have films on tap via Kodi, an X-Box simulator, and sport available via a Ace Player feed. There are a few wires across the floor at the moment but I will work out how to loose those in the next day or so. Luckily the rugby world cup is on ITV so that will be routine.

SWMBO looks like she is off to Tanzania again in November with her dental health charity and she also has a day trip to Dublin for some stand management at a dental conference. Maybe a job opportunity will come up as a result otherwise she will be secret shopping with me.

I am still trying to earn a few bob via e-bay, a couple of pictures and some riding crops from a recent auction seem to be interesting people but the box of Hudl covers I got  have no takers. You win some, you lose some.

It will be disappointing to miss the Bampton raft race this year but I suspect it has run its course as far as I am concerned. Next year I will become an onlooker with 'off the record' Dick. I look forward to meeting up with the S Club in Gloucester for the Tonga v Georgia match as our own RWC mini tour gets under way.

Looks like time for an all day breakfast......excellent!