Snow Hill

Perhaps rise is due to inflation, soft drink prices in U.K. have risen by 7 to 10% in last 12 months.

It was raining when we went to bed last night, still raining this morning and according to Yellow Warning will be raining until 6 am tomorrow. So no gardening today, will sort a couple of overnight stays for our Brittany Trip and the Le Shuttle booking, plus some remote volunteering work on my laptop.

Seems a sensible approach, if only to protect the passengers liver

The Euro2024 Games will be shared between BBC and ITV, as they are a protected event to be shown on Terrestrial Channels. So if the ship can receive those channels then they would be shown I guess

Until those charges are investigating and proven or disproven then there will be a question mark hanging over their achievements, the punishments for breach could well be severe including relegation and stripping of titles as well as significant fines. To many supporters we see the PL favouring the bigger clubs of the smaller ones, hence the rapid investigations of Forest and Everton. With City and Chelsea under investigation and still no outcome of those investigations it’s no wonder supporters of smaller clubs think the PL have their favourites.

Let’s not forget the 115 charges they face from the Premier League if they ever get round to hearing them, the PL had more important matters with Everton & Forest.

Well that’s it booked 2 weeks in Brittany, cottage with heated pool, no hire car issues as will have our own car. Will use Tesco vouchers to pay for Eurotunnel crossing and plan to stay in or around Honfleur for one night on the way down. We have been to the Morbihan area previously and weirdly the cottage is own by the same couple were hired from in 2016, they remembered us from then. We will also be able to visit our friends who live around 40 miles away from where we are staying, they are now officially French Nationals, a change from when we last saw them.

A warm day blue skies with a temperature of 22C, warmer than that on out south facing patio, which my OH has just finished sweeping and washing down. Finished putting up the trellis this morning, and tied in the clematis as its rapidly begun to grow in the last 10 days. Next job to remove the insulation from the greenhouse and put the automatic window openers back on and then put up the shading. I wonder if my team may spoil the leaving party at Anfield, probably not given our current form, I hope the Hammers at least get a draw, and let Arsenal win the title, assuming they beat Everton.

I have been to Pafos twice, did a lot of touring around in our hire car, didn’t enjoy as much second time as temperatures were in the high 30s and for a week in the 40s, we found it too hot and one day we spent time sitting on the plastic patio chairs submerged in the villas pool! The poolside temperature was 46C and the pool temperature 28C.

They would also consider an option of a per cabin drinks package, as it stands we would never purchase a drinks package on any cruise line, although we note that Virgin Voyages don’t offer a drinks package, but their Bar Tab can be shared.

My sister used to work at a Severn Trent sewage works, she said the same. The sludge is still used as fertiliser on farmlands and also for creating biogas

It is an option we are also considering and will be looking at today. As for Menorca I have never been there, my OH has before we met, I have been to the other 3 islands in the Balearics, Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera. However we are leaning towards going to France, we have found a few potential villas/cottages with pools and near places we would like to visit, plus I can drive my own car, so no rental costs.

Well the visit to local TA was a short one, the vast majority of travel companies have 70 as an upper age limit, will often push it to 71 if you reach that age after you have booked, but as will be 72 when we would be going, the answer is no. Apparently it’s the cost of insurance that is the reason for this age discrimination, likewise at other end it’s usually 25 before you can hire a car and 30 for some models. So we have a few choices 1. seek out a suitable AI hotel and use bus if we want to go anywhere 2. Self drive to France, no issues with age or insurance 3. Find a villa in Northern Spain and catch the ferry to Santander, downside to this is the BoB 🤮 4. A fly cruise in Europe a possible option, but none of the itineraries seen so far are that attractive, revisiting places we have already been to a few times. Have already looked at villas in France for late August early September and there quite a few I like but needs to be a joint decision.

The chicken manure pellets are one of the recommended accelerants, don’t use the powder ones, they don’t work in hotbin composters. Another accelerant is fresh grass, but in small amounts and mixed with top layer. You need to get the temperature up into the red zone on the thermometer and ensure any liquid is drained off. I use mine as a liquid fertiliser mixed with water.When I get a few dry days I will be emptying mine, using the composted element on the garden and the partially composted back in the bin once cleaned out.

It made a change from the usual dead cats, badgers and the occasional muntjac deer that are usually posted.

Truely bizarre, someone has found a dead octopus on a large grass verge according to a post on community FB page. We are at least 80 miles from the sea at the nearest point.

Tried to book a Villa holiday in Menorca today, it comes with car hire, seeking some clarification around the size of car included I tried the chat, after a few minutes of annoying the chstbot go connected to an agent, who went through what type of car we could expect, and we could upgrade should we wish for an additional sum. I asked was there an upper age limit, was told they impose an upper limit of 70 years of age as this is what rental companies impose. So I couldn’t book as I would be 72 and my OH 71 when the holiday would be taken. I noted who they booked car rentals with and contacted one of the who said after checking they don’t impose an upper age limit in Spain. So why are the red smiley tour operator imposing at 70 limit. Tomorrow I will drop into local travel agent and discuss holiday options with them, if unsuccessful we will go back to original plan of booking a cottage in France and driving there ourselves.

I have a hot composter as well as a standard dalek composter, grass cuttings I have found need to go in the composter in small amounts I have found, so about a quarter goes in the composter, to which I add the partially compost bark, shredded paper & cardboard (brown material) give the newly added a layer to mix, I occasionally add a handful of pelleted chicken manure. I don’t add food waste, other than green food waste, chopped up into small pieces as recommended. You need to “feed” the composter a few times a week to keep it going. My 25 year old dalek bin is about to be exterminated as the side has cracked, extermination will mean being thrown in skip I am due to get in a couple of weeks, the contents will be transferred to the dalek replacement, which is square.

Meet with your local councillors to call in the application that will ensure it’s not decided my a planning, best do it as a group of residents. Make sure your objections are on planning grounds, when I was a councillor I saw many objections such as “it will devalue my house”, or “loss of the view”, these won’t be considered by planning officials or a committee.

If he is an ex-mayor, then how is it a conflict of interests if he is no longer in office?

I don’t see ads whilst away from home, as my vpn switches on automatically and blocks them.

A lot cooler than yesterday’s mid 20s C, currently 15C cloudy with a strong SE breeze, rain due late this afternoon and overnight. Committee meeting this afternoon for a couple of hours, then back to looking for a holiday or two for this year, probably land based, but will see if there are decent cruise offers available. Last night we binged watch Shardlake on Disney’s Star Channel all 4 episodes in one evening, just under 4 hours of viewing. We enjoyed it, and the performance from disabled actor Arthur Hughes in the role of lawyer Matthew Shardlake was excellent. Shardlake is based in the books written by the late C J Samson based in the Tudor period.

Summer hasn’t arrived yet still spring, hopefully will appear on schedule in June.😉

Last time I recall watching in full was 1981 when Bucks Fizz won.

Have been watching the spectacular Northern Lights, they were viewable from my patio even though we had hazy skies. Went all the way to Northern Norway in 2019, never saw them.