Category Archives: trixi field

Thursday 13th February 2014 – IT TOOK ME MOST OF THE BLASTED DAY …

… to fit one tread of the stairs.

But then again there are several good reasons for that.

Firstly, it’s one of the larger stair treads and is on an angle. Furthermore, access is difficult and the tongue needed to be cut off the first piece and then sanded down to give it a professional appearance. I’m not going for half-measures here. And not only that, it needed to be cut in 7 different ways, with the use of a floating T-square and other geometric instruments.

The result wasn’t perfect, but where it missed, it would be covered over by plasterboard so it didn’t make much difference.

Next I cut the second piece, and that was an excellent job but … hang on … the levels are out. And it’s from the same plank of wood. But the tongue is off-centre and so I must have cut the second piece upside-down.

And so I recut a second piece and made sure that it was the right way up before I shaped it. And then took it upstairs and … hang on … the levels are still out. Dammit dammit dammit! It’s the first piece that I’ve cut upside down after all of the work that went into it and the time that it took!

And so I recut a first piece and learning from the errors of the first attempt, this one ended up pretty near perfect and it’s ever so impressive, even if by now it was lunchtime.

After lunch I cut the third piece, which was another good measure, and then for the fourth and final piece I had an offcut from the bathroom that was the correct basic length before shaping.

And having done that, this was when I realised that despite the wood of the bathroom being exactly the same as the rest of the wood, the tongue was too long. That therefore had to be cut down and filed.

Once all of that had been done, the whole tread needed to be properly aligned, screwed to a batten to keep it all in position, lifted off, taken to the workbench for trimming with the circular saw.

It was at this point that the battery in the circular saw went flat.

Once the battery was recharged and the tread trimmed off, I could put it back in position and nail it down, finally removing the batten.

So now you can see why it took most of the day to do all of that.

With 40 minutes left, I measured up and cut the first piece for the upper stair on the reverse angle. That involved nine cuts with all kinds of geometric equipment and also a hand-drawn angle as I couldn’t fit the floating T-square into the gap. And to the surprise of not only Yours Truly but everyone else reading these pages, that ended up millimetre-perfect. And the correct way up too. I just had to trim a little off so that I could swing it round the corner and into position, but the plasterboard will cover that gap.

So what’s going to hold me up tomorrow then?

In other news – we had one of those days where we had everything – except the Plague of Locusts. Wind gusting up to 67km/h, torrential rain, hailstorms. You name it, we had it. It’s like Passendaele 1917 outside here right now – most unpleasant.

And tonight, just as I was about to start eating my tea, Trixie phoned for a chat. I ended up with cold pasta and aubergine casserole, but as I have said so often before … "and you’ll say it so often again" – ed … what’s a little inconvenience when it comes to your friends? I value my friends higher than my stomach. But it’s amazing how often it happens, isn’t it?

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Thursday 2nd January 2014 – AS PREDICTED …

… I didn’t do anything today. I had yet another day of rest.

And quite right too.

Mind you, it wasn’t so much of a rest seeing as how I had a very disturbed night with all kinds of weird dreams – I was with my younger sister, and then I was on a motorbike going through the suburbs of Paris although it wasn’t Paris, all kinds of things. No wonder I hardly had a minute’s sleep.

And awake before dawn too. Not very often that that happens, but it’s been happening too often for my liking juqt recently.

After breakfast, another couple of DVDs and then I finished the outstanding web pages for Les Guis. We now have pages for 2011, 2012 and 2013 all organised. But I’m going to have to do some more work on them as there is a pile of coding that needs updating. I really have been letting things slide.

Not the music though. I found a couple of old 1GB SD cards and I repaired a 2GB card where the locking tab had broken off, and then uploaded all the music. Now I can have music wherever I go.

I had a pleasant 75-minute chat on the phone to Trixi too. I haven’t spoken to her since we were in Greece together in October and there was a lot to catch up on.

And tea was boiled rice, steamed veg, and curried mushrooms with onion and garlic gravy, all cooked on the wood stove. I’m getting the hang of it now.

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Monday 14th October 2013 – I’M IN PARIS NOW …

air france airbus 319 athens airport greecealthough I rather wish that I wasn’t. It’s wet, depressing and miserable, just like I am.

And compare that to the photo here that I took of my plane at Athens Airport – bright gorgeous sunshine enough to put a smile on the face of anyone. I can understand why people who live in countries like Greece and Italy are so happy. Who couldn’t be, with weather like this?

Our ‘plane was an Airbus 319 which was quite comfortable even if there were 150 – 25 rows of 6 – of us aboard. What was rather funny (or not, though) was that there were two toilets on the plane, one for First-Class passengers (of which there were about 30) and one for the huddled masses such as Yours Truly, who were kept well-and-truly curtained off from our elders and betters.

On the ‘plane though, dressed in the traditional habit of an Orthodox Monk, was a dead-ringer for one of my childhood heroes, the Cypriot champion of Enosis and clandestine leader of the EOKA, Archbishop Prekarios.

sunrise over Aegina greeceThe morning was totally beautiful, though. I was up quite early and went out to take a few photos of the sunrise and that didn’t disappoint me at all.

And what was so funny about that though was that the Transcendental Meditationists were already up and about, encamped upon their little terrace, presumably to stop Trixi and Yours Truly invading it for our morning session on the mats (followed, of course, by a little yoga). Clearly even Western Transcendental Meditationists are allowed to have issues over possessions and territory here on the real earth. Perhaps they are just beginners.

I found that almost as funny as the leader of another group storming up, rather aggressively, to another bunch of people, adopting a menacing pose and shouting in a voice loud enough for those on the island of Angina to hear clearly “would you mind being quiet – I’m trying to give a seminar down here and you are disrupting me”. That was the leader of those engaged in the “Non-Violent Communication” sessions.

rosy's little village agistri greeceWe went around afterwards and photographed the complex where we were staying. This is part of one of the blocks of accommodation – my room is down there in the bottom right-hand corner and even though it looks right out of the way, it’s quite deceptive because there’s a substantial slope down to the cliffs and I had a small terrace with a view over the sea and that suited me.

All in all, we had a very good time here. I was certainly glad that I came and wouldn’t hesitate about coming a second time, even if it was just for a holiday and not for a course of something.

village of megalokhoros agistri greeceOur ferry back to Piraeus sails from the port of Megalokhoros – “Big Village” and, true to form with everything else that has happened so far this holiday, it was late and so we had to loiter on the quayside for quite some time.

The bus ride back to the airport was quite uneventful – no-one killed or injured and no luggage sailing up and down the bus. Somehow it was quite a disappointment, even though I did quite clearly see an old white Wolseley 6/80 in a scrapyard at the side of the road. I can see myself needing a much bigger suitcase next time I come here because what with the Wolseley and the Zundapp pick-up, I’m going to be rather overloaded.

The plane was late too, just for a change, and so we had a final coffee together. She then went for the train to Athens and I headed for my plane. Greek security was thorough, but cheerful. They were smiling, saying “please” and “thank you” and generally relaxing the passengers rather than stressing them out in the British, French, Canadian and American style.

There was some real excitement though. A couple with a baby were trying to take all of their worldly possessions onto the aeroplane as cabin luggage, even though it would clearly not fit into the measuring gauge. When the girls at the ticket desk tried to explain this, the woman became quite hysterical, and, shame as it is to say it, rather nasty and offensive. I’m not quite sure how the situation developed but when I passed them by on my way to board, a senior Greek airport official backed up by a quitedetermined-looking policeman, was saying patiently to them ‘but Madam, this is Greece. What they do in the USA has no relevance to what we do here”.

On arrival at Paris, I had to go to another hotel, as my Comfort Hotel at Le Mesnil was fully-booked. And in an irony that only ever happens in books and never in real life except to me, I had to wait hours for the bus to the “Ibis Budget” to arrive, whereas the bus for the “Comfort Hotel – Le Mesnil” was the first to arrive, and by a country mile as well.

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Sunday 13th October 2013 – AND THEN THERE WERE TWO.

People have been gradually drifting away from our little gathering here. This morning there were still 8 of us left, but they gradually left and now there are just Trixi and Yours Truly.

We started off this morning by having another yoga session as dawn was breaking over the island. And we upset the Transcendental Meditation people by doing it on “their” terrace. They must have noticed us do it too because they came down and purified it afterwards but that’s hardly fair to blame it on me. It wasn’t my fault that I forgot a spare pair of socks.

posidon hellas hellenic seaways aegina greeceI was slightly distracted this morning anyway. There was a considerable amount of shipping in the strait between us here on Anxios and another one of the Sporadic Islands, Angina, over there. It’s Sunday, the day that one of the outlying islands receives its ferry and this week it’s our old friend the Posidon Hellas that sometimes comes here, sailing out from Piraeus to do the necessary.

We went down to the beach this afternoon. Trixi went for a swim and I read a book. However I did take 5 minutes out and go to the supermarket to buy another big bag of grapes. i’m not at all slow when it comes to demolishing a pile of grapes, but she can certainly keep pace with me in that manner. I wish that I had bought a bigger bunch now.

After a singing session we went for our evening meal. I had aubergine salad for a starter followed by pasta with tomato sauce. I’m being really well looked after here, that’s for sure.

posidon hellas hellenic seaways aegina greeceWe were however distracted, and for two reasons too.

Firstly, the Posidon Hellas sailed back the way it had come and so I took another photo. That telephoto zoom lens that I bought 18 months ago is certainly doing the business.

Secondly however, one of the feral cats that comes around here scrounging food wandered underneath our neighbours’ table, not realising that our neighbours had brought their dog with them. Of course, it was no contest. The cat was in the tree long before the dog could have done anything about it, but the dog was big and heavy so there were glasses, wine, plates, food and bread baskets all over everywhere.

You have to admit that I’m certainly living the high life here.

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Saturday 12th October 2013 – TODAY I WENT FOR A LITTLE EXPLORATION

As you know, I’m quite interested in renewable energy and solar water heating is pretty high up on my agenda. It’s described as “New Technology” and nothing can be farther from the truth as putting water into dark-coloured containers and leaving it in the sun has been known for millennia.

solar water heaters agistri greeceHere in Greece almost every house has the modern equivalent of this, such as these gravity-fed tank systems here. Cold water is more dense (and hence heavier) than hot water, so the cold water falls down from the tank into the heat exchanger underneath and as it is heated by the sun, it becomes less dense hence it is lighter and so rises back up into the tank. As it cools, it descends again, and so the cycle repeats itself. Nice and primitive, with no moving parts (except a pump that pumps cold water up to the tank to replace the hot water that is drawn off by the user).

It’s something similar to this that I will be having, except that my tank will be inside the attic of my house, to protect it from the heavy frosts that we have in winter. I have a variety of options as to how to stop the water in the heat exchanger from freezing, but I’m still undecided.

One thing about being on an obscure island is that occasionally you encounter unusual and obsolete motor vehicles that will have long-since been transformed into a pile of baked-bean tins had they been on the mainland, and Agkistri is no exception.

piaggion APE 50 Zundapp scooter motor bike three wheel pick up agistri greeceThe vehicle in the background is quite interesting. It’s a Piaggio APE50 – a 50cc three-wheeled pickup and long-term readers of this rubbish will recall, in one of its reincarnations long-since lost to history, that I found an older version of one of these on wasteland in Belgium back in the 1990s and a friend and I rescued it and took it to the UK, where it resides in Stoke-on-Trent (or did anyway, the last time I heard anything about it).

But the one in the foreground is even more exciting. This is a three-wheeled motor scooter pickup from, probably, the 1950s. I’ve never seen one of these before so I had a good look around at it. It’s powered by a Zundapp engine similar to that fitted to the Zundapp Bella scooters, and has an external primary chain and, would you believe, a shaft drive from the gearbox to a conventional rear axle. Clutch is on the left-hand side of the handlebars, front brake is on the right, rear brake is a footpedal as is the gear lever.

Now, if only I had room in my suitcase, this would be winging its way back to France with me, for I think that it’s magnificent.

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Friday 11th October 2013 – I’VE BEEN ALL AT SEA TODAY.

Something that will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. Most people have been saying that for years.

makaira II speedboat rosy's holiday village agkistri greeceBut actually, what I have been doing is to do with work. Here on the Island of Anxios, in the Sporadic Islands, Rosy (who owns the little hotel complex where we are staying) and her husband Nondas have bought a speedboat thing, and they will be offering it as an attraction for their clients next year.

Consequently they needed a few photos for their next-year’s holiday brochure and so Yours Truly was enrolled to do the honours.

makaira II speedboat rosy's holiday village agkistri greeceConsequently everyone piled into the Makaira II and off it went like a ferret up a trouser leg.

The driver of the little power boat thing in which we were travelling had loads of fun doing some synchronised sailing to get into some really good positions, but we managed in the end to shoot off about 30 photos of which 4 or 5 made the cut.

makaira II speedboat rosy's holiday village south shore of agkistri greeceAnxios is quite similar to parts of Québec and Labrador in the sense that the road to the south side of the island has only been made quite recently. Prior to that, all communication was by water, and you can understand why the locals would want to keep it all to themselves, because it really is something out of a photography album.

I’ve never seen a sea as clear as this round here and even though the water might be several metres deep, you can clearly see the bottom of the sea and the fish that are swimming around in it – something that you could never do in the north of Europe.

roman concrete agkistri greeceThis afternoon I went for a wander around to that bay where I thought that I had recognised some Roman concrete. I managed to find the pathway down and went for a closer look.

The conclusion is that it’s not volcanic, and it’s not sand that is binding the stones together. Whatever it is has certainly set quite solid and doesn’t look as if it was ever intended to move. Of course, I’m no authority on anything but this is so different from anything else in the immediate vicinity and bears no relation whatever to the natural geology, and given its strategic position I could easily imagine this as having been constructed deliberately by a human agency.

momument memorial to 1821 Agkistri greeceON the way back, I passed this monument in the church grounds. I can’t read what is written on it as my Greek isn’t good enough, but there is a date of “1821” clearly engraved.

Back in the early 19th Century Greece was part of the Turkish Empire, but all through that century, parts of “The Sick Man of Europe” were amputated and many historic nations in South-Eastern Europe came back into existence, Greece being one of them. It’s said that in 1821 the movement for Independent Greece used the island of Agkistri as its headquarters and so it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that this is to commemorate those islanders who achieved independence for their country.

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Thursday 10th October 2013 – HERE ON THE ISLAND OF ANXIOS…

… in the archipelago of the Sporadic Islands, which also includes, apart from Angina just across the strait, the islands of Dos, Domestos, Manki, Kranki and Skanki, (the nearby islands of Hanki and Panki are actually part of the Ironic Islands) it is raining.

Filiatra water tanker Agkistri harbourAnd I don’t just mean raining, but belting it down. That’s a good thing too because here on the island of Anxios there is no water, and every morning a water tanker, the Filiatra, steams (or rather, diesels) in from Piraeus and unloads a couple of thousand gallons.

After my walk down to the baker and the grocery shop, I was rather wet. But not so a family of feral cats that I encountered (the island is overrun with cats) – they had colonised a rubbish bin and had made something of a nest there. They didn’t half have a surprise when I opened it up to put a piece of rubbish in.

rainbow over aegina greeceThe weather brightened up right at the end of the afternoon and we were treated to a gorgeous rainbow over the island of Angina. A full rainbow too that went right out to the Soporific Islands way in the distance.

We were all casting about to see if anyone actually had a spade or two – we could have made our fortunes (and let’s face it, after this last 6 or 7 weeks I could really do with it too).

As the sun went down, we all gathered on the terrace to sing a mantra … "persontra" – ed … to the gathering dusk, and then we went off to our evening meal.

As far as the food goes, I’m being well-looked-after here and can’t complain at all. Proper vegan food – maybe not adventurous cooking but perfectly adequate all the same, and my little room is quite comfortable. I’m quite enjoying myself here right now and I’m glad that I came.

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Wednesday 9th October 2013 – TODAY I TOOK THE PLUNGE …

… and ended up in the sea. Not for long because it isn’t all that warm in October, but I was in the sea all the same. I was out for a walk in the early afternoon and came across Trixi, Glynis and Helen having a swim from the beach.

By the time that I came back with my cozzy they were ready for a coffee and so we tottered off to a café, and when they left to go back up to Rosy’s, I took the plunge.

Apart from being freezing cold and the sea bed being all pebbly, it’s quite a curious sensation being surrounded by an enormous shoal of little fish. I was wondering whether they might be piranhas or something equally devastating. Knowing my luck so far, nothing would surprise me.

roman harbour ruins agkistri saronic gulf greeceYou can see in this photo just how clear and clean the water is, but that’s not why I took this photo.

Looking at the cylindrical wall just in the foreground, and in the rock shelf behind it stretching out into the sea, they have all of the appearance of Roman maritime concrete, if you ask me. And of course, that would not be surprising for during a couple of hundred years the Romans were the masters in this part of the world and building a harbour on the island would not be an unexpected piece of construction.

And apart from that, I’m yoga-ing, singing, and eating and sleeping well. I can’t fault the food that I’m receiving and whilst the room might be small, it’s one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on.

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Tuesday October 8th 2013 – HAPPY SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY.

Yes, it’s my silver wedding anniversary today – 25 years of marriage. And the fact that I haven’t seen my wife since 1994 doesn’t change a thing – it’s still the silver wedding anniversary and so happy anniversary to me, and to you too. And this of course does remind me – not so long ago someone, who really wasn’t au fait with the situation really did ask me if I talked to Nerina while I was making love. My reply was that it all depended upon whether or not I could reach the telephone.

So how did I celebrate it, you may well ask. Not like Alan Shearer who, all those years ago, celebrated winning the Cup Final by going home and creosoting the shed, I woke up at 02:00 exactly after crashing out last night. 02:00 in Greece is exactly the same time as 00:00 in the UK and that must be the purest of pure coincidences.

Being unable to go back to sleep, I did some work on the computer, worked on one of the Rock Music programmes that I do for Radio Anglais, and then emptied all of my bags and suitcases and weeded out the tubbish. And found, to my dismay, that while I had brought back my winter coat as well as my winter fleece, having resolved to leave one of them behind in Montreal, I’ve also somehow managed to leave behind all of my clothes. All I have is what I’m wearing plus the clothes that I was wearing up until I had my shower at Crown Point the other evening. That called for a clothes-washing session under the shower at 05:00, which wouldn’t have been so bad had I remembered to bring back the washing soap.

I’ve also managed to forget to bring back all of the SD cards for the computer, which is annoying to say the least. I can’t even think where they might be because I did sort through the boxes before I put them away in my storage unit, and they didn’t come to light there. So I dunno.

sunrise agkistri Saronic Gulf, upon which Piraeus is situated greeceTrixi had us all outside to watch the sunrise over Aegina and then we started the yoga. Trixi teaches Dru Yoga, not that I know anything about it, but I was surprised that some of the relaxation and de-stressing techniques that I have been using for years are mirrored in Yoga (which is probably why they work) and so I wasn’t actually far behind the rest of the group.

That took us up to 09:00 and breakfast, and then following a relaxation, we had our singing sessions from 11:30 until 13:00. I don’t care what anyone else says – I still sing like a vache espagnole and I always will, but it’s why I’m here and it’s why I’ve paid for this course so I ought to have my money’s worth.

church agkistri Saronic Gulf, upon which Piraeus is situated greeceWhile everyone else was at lunch I went for a walk around the little town to look at the scenery and the buildings. I found a bakery and bought a small loaf, and also a tomato from over the road in the greengrocer’s. Sitting on the beach and eating the bread and tomato was a good way to enjoy the sun.

Back at our lodgings everyone else was in the water swimming but I’m having to forego that pleasure. The sea bed at the shore shore is full of sea urchins this time of year and with not having any footwear for the water, it would be extremely painful to step on an urchin.

Another Yoga session was from 17:30 until 19:00, followed by dinner. And I’m being looked after really well by the chef (also called Eric). Trixi and I and one or two others sat up until all hours in the evening chatting about old times. After all, I first met Trixi … errrr … 48 years ago when she had this gorgeous long hair way down past her waist and until a chance meeting last November, I hadn’t seen her since 1972.

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Monday 7th October 2013 – IT’S A LITTLE-KNOWN FACT …

… that travelling as a passenger on a Greek bus is a guaranteed cure for constipation. I noticed last night that the driver was … errr … somewhat relaxed in his attitude to the road, other vehicles, road signals (including traffic lights) and the speed limit as we went to the Holiday Inn, but that was absolutely nothing compared to the driver of the X96 that took me to Piraeus this morning.

The day started as it meant to go on, with the alarm bell ringing just as I was about to fall asleep. But another quick shower brought me round and then I ate a hearty breakfast, seeing as I wasn’t sure about when I might next be in front of some food.

Despite the early start, it took until about 09:30 for the shuttle bus to start and that took me back to the airport where I found an X96 already there and waiting.

express bus X96 athens airport piraeus harbour greeceOnce we were all on board and the driver had checked our tickets, off we … errr … hurtled. It seems that €5:00 is the standard fare on the express buses which, for the 75 minutes to Piraeus, is an absolute bargain.

I couldn’t tell you which route that we took though, because I had my eyes closed for most of the way. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. A big articulated single decker, driving flat-out, overtaking almost everything in sight, passing stop signs and red traffic lights as though they weren’t there. Like I said earlier, a guaranteed cure for constipation. Forget your white-knuckle rides on the funfair – pay your €5:00 and come for 75 minutes on this bus.

However, in spite of the driver’s best efforts, I arrived at the docks just in time to see the 11:00 ferry to Agkistri disappearing out of the harbour. Next boat at 12:55. Still, it gave me a good chance to fall into major dispute with the junk sellers who infest Piraeus harbour. One fellow in particular felt the full force of my ire and even if he didn’t understand the language, he cannot have failed to understand the message.

posiedon hellas ferry hellenic seaways piraeus harbour greeceIt also gave me a good opportunity to have a nosey around the harbour. In Europe there’s an age limit of 25 years on ferried plying for hire, but Greece (in view of the incredible number of routes in operation) has negotiated an exception. Consequently there are all kinds of time-expired ferries laid off other routes and which have been bought by Greek operators and I know for a fact that many of the old ferries from the English Channel in the heyday of the routes in the early 1990s are out here. I’ll have to have a look at the names of some of the ferries that were parked up here and trace them back to see where they came from.

The hydrofoil Flying Dolphin XVII came in eventually and once we were all stowed aboard, off we shot out of the harbour, only to break down with a bang and a clatter (my dreadful luck was doing it again). But that was eventually fixed and off we shot again, smelling of diesel fumes and exhaust gases.

abandoned ships Saronic Gulf, upon which Piraeus is situated greeceOne thing for which the Saronic Gulf, upon which Piraeus is situated is well-known is its collection of ships. It’s where old merchant ships no longer capable of operating under modern maritime regulations are laid up until the various breaking yards in Turkey can take them in.

I’m not pretending that all of these ships in this photo are laid up – in fact you can see quite clearly that one or two have steam up – but the Bay is littered with stacks of ships just like this and in the absence of the possibility of a trip to beaches in India, this is the place to be for any lover of maritime transport such as Yours Truly.

aegina island Saronic Gulf, upon which Piraeus is situated greeceThe ferry made a brief stop at the island of Aegina, which is pretty enough, and then we were back at sea and going on to Agkistri

One thing about the Flying Dolphin that I can’t understand though is that while there’s a small bar on board, it was all closed up. Nowhere to buy a coffee or anything. As I have said on numerous occasions in the past, it’s not simply the question of lack of refreshment, it’s also a total waste of a busines opportunity. A captive audience on a ferry for 55 minutes and no means of enticing them to spend their hard-earned cash.

island agkistri Saronic Gulf, upon which Piraeus is situated greeceI was met at Agkistri by a driver from the place where we are staying. He came in the company car, the oldest Fiat Panda to be still in existence and a worthy successor to the original 2CV of the late 1940s (and built for the same reasons too). Now I’m installed in my little room which, although tiny, has all mod cons as well as a balcony overlooking the sea, and I can’t think of any way that I could be more happy and more comfortable than this.

After all of my exertions of the last few days, I crashed out right after dinner and that was that.

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I’m currently at Sandbach Services …

… which seems to be something of my spiritual home when I’m in the UK.

This isn’t it, of course. This is Newhaven Harbour, where I arrived late on Friday night and home of the famous interchange –
Yours Truly: “is that passport OK then?”
Immigration Official: “yes, it’s fine”
Yours Truly: “good – I’ll print out some more of them then when I return home”
 – and everything else that followed as sure as night follows day because Government Officials have totally  lost any sense of humour they might once have had, which is another sad sign of the times.

A stop at Coulsdon Services, brand-new on the M25, to have a wash and brush-up (yes, I’m funny like that) and then through the fog and mist to Hemel Hempstead and a handy lay-by on the A414.

Saturday morning saw me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed round at Trixi’s. I haven’t seen her since 1972 and doesn’t Facebook have a lot to answer for? Back in those days she had gorgeous long hair right down to her waist but of course that was 40 years ago. Anyway, we caught up with old times, sang a few songs together and went for lunch at a neighbouring cafe. Ahhh – nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

In the evening I went to Hatfield to see how Katherine, Liz’s daughter, was doing. I promised Liz that I would keep an eye on Kit and make sure that she was okay. Of course, it’s not easy to do that with living in a different country but I do what I can. We ended up going for a meal and she filled me in on all of her latest doings.

Strawberry Moose was of course pleased to see his big sister, and they had a very long chat about their time in Canada together because, of course, he stayed on in 2010 after I came home.

From here I drove up the M1 in the driving wind and rain to another little hidey-hole I know off the A43 near Northampton – somewhere that has featured regularly on these pages. And not a wink of sleep did I have as the howling gale and torrential rain crashing down on the roof of Caliburn kept me awake all night.

I spent much of the day catching up on things that I needed to order on the internet. Yes, Roadchef Services really do come up trumps in this respect, and then up here to dig myself in while things sort themselves out. But it wasn’t that easy. I hit something on the M6 and blew a tyre out. And when you have two fair tyres, one borderline, and one that needs replacing, you can bet your life that it was one of the good ones that went.

So tomorrow, add to my list of tasks the one about going to McGuiness’s to see if they have a wheel and tyre, and if not, who might have some.

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