the pie man cometh...

Pub garden lunch with Mark and Maureen.

We had a fabulous day on Friday with Mark and Maureen who made the trip down the M62 to see us and have lunch.  We went to the Hope and Anchor at Blacktoft situated on the banks of the Ouse where, as it was high tide, ships were coming past only fifty yards from where we were sat.  We had a great lunch and with lots to talk about the afternoon just flew past.  Being a nice sunny day Mark and I had to retreat into the shade for a while as his legs were burning, of course he couldn't feel that they were but his trousers felt hot so we moved as a precaution.  Not a usual occurrence in the UK but it is nice when it happens. Great to see you both looking in fantastic form and we'll see you again before we return to Greece.

Two lovely pies.

On Monday we had our annual and bi-annual Dentist and Opticians Visits, I was disappointed that my NHS exemption certificate doesn't apply to dentist treatment so I had to pay, it did however pay for my sight test although between us it cost me £285 for glasses.  The optician said that Sandra had to go and see her doctor as soon as she could because of pressure behind her eyes.  She got an appointment for Monday night and found her BP to be seriously sky high like 230/120, she's been back every day this week for tests etc. and with the drugs it's now getting lower but still way above normal.  The last thing we want is her having a stroke too but with luck we have caught it in time.

Yesterday Sandra was vacuuming when there was an invasive smell of burning coming from the Dyson.  Into the workshop for a strip down time.  Getting into the real workings of a Dyson is very fiddly but after removing the motor I found the Brushes were sparking like November the fifth.  Taking out the brushes which still had plenty of life left in them revealed that the brushes had no pressure on them, stuck with a bit of muck.  After cleaning the commutators and brushes and re-assembling the whole machine it worked like new.  That's another £200 I've saved myself, I wonder how many people actually throw these things away when there is really nothing wrong with them that a couple of hours and a good clean up won't cure?

Black currents fruit picked, pruning pending.

This morning Sandra and I picked all the big juicy black currents from our bushes and she has made a couple of cracking deep pies out of them, that's puddings taken care of for a few days and all for the price of a little flour.  I have left all the small fruits on the bushes for the birds and then in a couple of weeks I'll prune them so they'll get enough growth on them for next years crop.  It's no good pruning them in spring because they fruit on one year old wood so pruning in spring would mean no fruit in summer.

Out great friends Allen and Jean arrived back in the UK from their other home in Cyprus this week, we are really looking forward to seeing them soon especially as we have not seen them since our latest health scares.

Oh well time to sit in the sun with the guitar for an hour maybe.