I can't turn down a nice discount.....

Having said that I would wait a while before ordering a workshop for my garden having had the expense of the recent summerhouse acquisition, I found that I couldn't refuse 33% or £1,300 discount - so I have now ordered my workshop for delivery in a month. I will be putting this one up myself with a little help from some friends.

It's not quite my first choice, but at 3.55m x 4.15m it will fit perfectly onto my 3.6m x 4.2m base. It's got 44mm log walls and it comes double glazed.

Hosepipe ban....

There is no hosepipe ban in North Hampshire at the moment, but it appears that I can't use it anyway as a Robin has made the reel it's home. In fact, two out of the four reels I have around the house, garage & garden have been occupied in this way so far. Needless to say none of the nesting boxes I have put up show any sign of life.

The log cabin arrives....

The long awaited arrival of the log cabin finally happened today, 8 hours of labour by 3 people & it's complete - all bar a bit of tweaking & painting.

UPDATE 25/04/2012 : I think I might give the new arrival a name, I shall call it "The Ark" as I think it might float away after all the rain today! Still, it could be worse, if it had rained like this before or on the day I am sure it would have delayed the installation.

The decorators have been.....

After a few weeks of negotiation and preparation, the team of decorators have finally been in and worked their magic on a few rooms at Rice Towers, feature walls covered in wallpaper are back in apparently, muted colours and floral patterns. I'll take their word for it. It all looks good & the paper is still on the walls a few days after they started, so at least they got the pasting part right.

Hopefully this will continue....

A bit of good fortune, it appears that the hose pipe ban affecting most of the southern UK hasn't been imposed in Hampshire & IoW again. I don't know why this is, maybe the mighty River Test has something to do with it?

I shall continue to conserve water by collecting as much rainfall as possible in my 2,000 litre rainwater storage capacity - I still have 1,200 litres available.

The new East End windows...

Canary Wharf looks so much more complete now, still a way to go, but much better than when I first visited 15 years ago.

I hope the Olympic legacy of infrastructure will continue to operate after everyone has gone home. I watched on today & saw a group of youths destroy 2 Barclays Boris bikes they had stolen from the local docking station - I fear the infrastructure may not be there in future....

Slumming it in Mayfair....

Today I was mostly to be found in Westminster & Mayfair......

The day started in the Palace of Westminster for a tour & a bit of lunch. Then a bit of retail therapy in the land of St James's, dinner at Il Vicolo with host Giacomo Bonavita was fantastic, then onto Dukes Bar at Dukes Hotel where I was greeted by Bar Manager Alessandro Palazzi (who had been tipped off for my arrival by Giacomo) many of his legendary Cocktail's were had.

Longstock Water Gardens

A nice day was had visiting Longstock Park Water Gardens near Stockbridge. The first day they have been open in 2012 showed off the gardens in brilliant sunshine & the early sign's of Spring were apparent across the gardens. Some of the plants look pre-historic now & when they have grown will look even more impressive.

Tea & cake was taken at the Nursery Tea Room, where lovely ladies from the local churches had baked in order to raise funds. A worthwhile £3 investment on my part gave the return of coffee & walnut cake & a nice cup of tea!

The clocks go forward.....

..... and the To Do list grows ever longer.

Hopefully the longer daylight available in the evenings will help me plough through a few of the 28 on the current To Do list for the garden!

I had hoped to get a load of things done in my week off last week, but I just managed to get as many things done as I added in the end.

Log cabin - ordered!

I have finally ordered my log cabin summerhouse, after much deliberating, consideration & searching I went back to the first one I saw! It fits the bill perfectly.

I have negotiated pretty well I think & managed to get a good enough price that included delivery as well as construction, I had been told that the roof can be problematic, so I thought I could do more on the fitting out on the follow days if the workmen just came along & put the thing up in a day.

It should be with me in about a month. Fingers crossed!

Wall & roof repairs....

A couple of ridge tile repairs have been long overdue at Rice Towers, so when my next door neighbour had their gutters emptied & cleaned I enquired to the roofer whether he could undertake a couple of small jobs for me. He could he said & so I gainfully employed his services, whilst chatting to him it transpires he does chimney repairs & re-pointing & that he did his apprenticeship as a bricklayer - I've been looking for a decent brickie for ages to re-do the top course of bricks on a low wall with black engineering bricks, but couldn't find one that would commit to such a small job or do it for what I think is a reasonable amount. As it turned out Michael was free for a couple of days later in the week & could do it quickly & for a very competitive price. He has now done work for me & both my neighbours over the last couple of days, I would recommend him to anyone.

So if you live in Hampshire & need a good roofer who can turn his hand to a bit of remedial brickwork etc. the MB Roofing Contracts would be an excellent place to go. Michael Blake is a local business, he does what he says he will, he is completely trustworthy, he charges a fair price & the work is of an excellent standard. Visit his website for reviews & contact details - www.mbroofingcontracts.freeindex.co.uk He drinks tea, with milk & 3 1/2 sugars!

Luckily I had seen this before.....

So the first words to come out of my mouth weren't "What the f... is that!?" on seeing it this time.

A truly hideous example of stupidity, excess and bad taste (in my opinion). A normally serene, stately & beautiful car ruined by a colour scheme devised by a colour blind profligate egotist perhaps?

Spring cleaning.....

A later start than anticipated meant that a change of plan was required, I set about car cleaning, so please meet Mr Clean & Mr Cleaner! 4.5 hours in total spent cleaning 2 cars, they hadn't been done properly since before Christmas, so it was looong overdue. Both looking shiny now, so hopefully they will be easier to keep looking better now I've invested a bit of tlc & time on them.

Sadly the late start (although I was awake & ready to go at 08:00, but put head back on pillow until phone rang at 11:00!?) meant that I haven't done anything of any note in the garden, so the list is now 25 items long with nothing crossed off it today. This probably means a few little chorettes will have to be undertaken in the evenings this week to catch up, luckily the daylight is getting longer by the day as we move into summer.





The first cut of forced rhubarb was had tonight, I roasted the stalks with brown sugar & a vanilla pod. The resulting fantastic perfumed syrupy dessert was amazing......

I've had an idea for more raised beds as I think I may have a desire to grow more than my existing beds will allow, so a couple of 2.4 x 1.2 metre oaks beds are being planned with a view to making them dedicated strawberry beds, thus freeing up 1/3rd of each of the existing raised beds for more beans and maybe some asparagus. This also probably means that I will go ahead with the gravel pathways idea between the raised beds.

The first day of Spring?

Lawn raked & mowed, the normally trusty mower tried to die on me on the first day of use! Luckily it was an easy fix that took 5 mins - time to service the thing for the new season me thinks.

Raised bed #1 is now fully planted with berries, soft fruit & rhubarb, the cages have been installed to keep the birds off of the (expected) fruit. The black fibre membrane is a test to see what a gravel path might look like, I'm thinking that the grass will become compacted & worn as I tend the raised bed, so a gravel path might be an answer.... I am not 100% convinced, to do it properly will take a weekend or two, but I think it will be the solution I am looking for.









Raised be #2 has been fitted with cloches, the first 1/3rd has been dedicated to Strawberries as I had so many plants, the 2nd 1/3rd will be for potato's and the last 1/3rd will be for runner beans. That should be plenty to keep me going for the summer of 2012.

More to do tomorrow, the list is 20 long at the moment, if I can tick 5 off the list on Sunday I will be a happy man.

Where your money goes....

A fascinating insight by the Guardian on where the public purse is spent.

Some of the Government Departments seem disproportionately funded vs others - e.g. both Dept. of Education and HMRC getting more than MoD!?

I would have thought that the HMRC could have been at least part self funding, but I assume that all excise goes straight to the Treasury and not to HMRC?

20 minute project

The Mk 1 wheelie bin rhubarb forcer!

A quick zip around the middle of a redundant small wheelie bin with a jigsaw & then place the top half of the bin over the rhubarb crown. So in 6 weeks or so, some lovely pale pink forced rhubarb will be mine!

Another looong day in the garden.....

Another long day in garden, shifting soil, putting bark chippings on the borders, manure on the fruit tree bases, pruning & dividing Rhubarb & Raspberry plants from neighbours garden & replanting into mine.

An afternoon visit to a friend at their new allotment to give them a spare crown of rhubarb & to see their progress at digging over a long neglected & forgotten plot - lot's and lot's of digging still required!

I also saw the most brilliant idea for forcing Rhubarb so I am going to give it a try. Cut the bottom 1/3rd off a small wheelie bin & use the top 2/3rds to cover rhubarb plant, easy access with the lid & total darkness - perfect for forcing an early crop!

All finished off with a nice soak in the bath, a roast chicken dinner with apple pie & custard to finish.

I will sleep well tonight......

Let the planting start!

I have now filled both of my new raised beds with all manner of manure, soil & organic material, so now the planting starts....

Blueberries, Loganberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Rhubarb and Honeyberries (new to me, but I thought I'd give them a go) have all been selected and will be transferred into #1 bed by the end of the weekend. After that a couple of varities of Potato will be put in bed #2 with a couple of frames of french beans.

Carrots & peas are on the list to try & I may experiment with a couple of heads of Asparagus as well.

Oh what a lovely garden....

Sadly, not mine. Not even something I could aspire to in my garden workings, but very pleasant and tranquil nonetheless.

Excellent service deserves recommendation....

A couple of years ago I bought a Topfield 5800 Personal Digital Video Recorder, all was fine until a few weeks ago when it just died, I checked fuses etc., but nothing doing. After a bit of research I found a repair business. I called them & got some great advice & agreed to send my unit to them for repair & upgrade of a common fault that would have affected my unit at some time in the future as well.

Graham Robinson of Goldstar Computers is the business I found, he does SkyHD & Humax repairs & upgrades as well, I cannot fault his service & frankly the £45 he charged me was in my opinion not enough & has saved my going out & buying a replacement PVR for hundreds of pounds.

Website link is here - http://www.free-sat-tv.co.uk/

Wine find of the month....

Casas del Bosque - if you can find this in your local independent off license then buy some, for under £10 it's amazing wine and excellent value.

Locally I found it at Grape Expectations, it's also stocked by the Dorset Wine Company.

I think I was in it momentarily!

Le jardin aujourd'hui

The current status is as follows...

1. Lawn looking better - red thread treatment working. Growing well, needs cutting every other day!

2. Fruit tree's doing very well, lot's of apple's & pear's still hanging.

3. The new extended section of the garden is work in progress.
a. Fencing done.
b. Concrete bases for summer house & workshop completed, potting area base to be done next.
c. Oak sleepers have arrived for raised beds. Bank holiday weekend project!
d. Grass seeded a test area & it's sprouted!

The machines have taken over.....

How the hell did they get up there?

Recent visit to Longstock Water Gardens

Whilst my brother was over from Sydney, a few days out were had. Sunday was one of the nicer days weather wise & so after a pleasant lunch at the (newly extended & highly recommended) Three Cups in Stockbridge, a short wander around Longstock Water Gardens was had. It's not open all year round, so if you want to see these beautiful gardens you need to look here for opening dates. The gardens are part of the John Lewis Partnership & open in aid of various charities throughout the year.

Click on the images for full size versions.

An urban fox in London....

Spiders nursery....

Spring Rhubarb - Roasted with vanilla

If you have lots of rhubarb in the garden - like my neighbours.... (thankyou Phil & Sally!)and you have gone through the Rhubarb Fool, Syllabub, Compote, Flan, Chutney recipes, then try this one, it gives a much better flavour and can be used as is or as a base for better Fool\Syllabub\Compote etc...

Cut into 1" pieces, arrange as a single layer in roasting dish, add 1 split vanilla pod, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons golden granulated sugar, roast for 25 mins at 200'C, stir halfway through.

Anyone seen a small German chicken?

Back to the Future in Andover.....

Freezing rain.....

... it's the start of something cold!

A small part of my mother's legacy to me.....

... is being able to make wonderful things like these! As well as a thousand other recipes. Pearls of wisdom that I will treasure forever.

Let it snow.....

You take photo of me, I take photo of you.....

I presume a student of some description was taking digital video in a car park in Winchester when I went back to my car, so I put my camera out of the window & returned the compliment.

The erections continue

Latest photo of the development next to my house. Things appear a lot closer than when viewed on a piece of paper!

Autumn has arrived...

... with a splash of colour in both vegetation & in the sky. An amazing rainbow tonight over my house & fantastic dark skies with changing light, sadly all over too quickly.

The first of many erections......

.... that will be appearing in the garden of my next door neighbour over the next 8 months.

Yesterday the builders developing the 1.5 acre site into 8 "desirable" (not in my world) homes, installed this fucking huge orange & blue monstrosity on site, so large it can actually overhang other gardens outside the site, particularly when the boom is extended to it's 30 metre maximum!

They have promised that it is at least nearly silent in operation & doesn't have a cab with operator at the top looking over all he could survey from it's 27 metre high point!

Mr Evans & his amazing Ferrari collection....

I popped over to Thruxton airfield today to see the Chris Evans Charity Ferrari run arrive & for the lucky (and wealthy) participants to be driven around in Mr Evans lovely red Ferrari Enzo by none other than The Stig!

Over the past couple of years Chris Evans has built up quite a collection of Ferrari cars, the most recent that was known publically was the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO that he bought in May 2010 for a reported £12m. Today he had a bit of a surprise sprung on him at the circuit when he took delivery of the first UK Ferrari F458. With the registration 1 FAB applied, it really does look fabulous. He has FAB 1 on his Rolls Royce Phantom.

The Stig was thrashing the Enzo around the circuit when I was there, it looked very quick and sounded absolutely fantastic. Later on Evans drove the airfield owner Henry Pelham around in the £5m James Coburn Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder - FER 1.

UPDATE 23/07 - photo of actual F458 now finally uploaded.

The sign at my front door....

This has been up at my door for a couple of years, but it has of late caused great hilarity amongst visitors to my house, including delivery drivers and other bona fide callers. Even to the point where some have made a note of the text, so that they can get their own made up.

It works for the most part, apart from mute Polish artists selling their crappy artwork door to door. It certainly keeps the Jehovah's away!!

Self inflicted drinking challenge!

I've had an idea..... I'm going to consume alcoholic beverages from one of the countries playing in the FIFA 2010 World Cup on the days they are playing - hopefully whilst watching the game - the time difference & schedule is kind for a change.

I plan to Google the national beverage\drink of each country, so for Uruguay it will be Grappmiel - a mixture of Honey & Grappa - I feel a trip to a London Department store coming on!? For Mexico it will clearly be either Sol beer or Tequila - probably in a Lime Margarita, for Brazil it will have to be a Caipirinha made with Cachaca, Germany is a Becks beer or 3, South Africa has to be a Windhoek beer, which although brewed in Namibia appears to be very well adopted - but a drop of nice red wine wouldn't go amis either. Japan is easy with Sake or Sapporo, both very easily sourced. The national beer of Argentina appears to be Cerveza Quilmes, they even sponsor the Argentine National Football team!

The only conundrum is what to have for the first match England are playing vs USA, I hate bitter, so the idea of an English beer is currently losing out to a Budweiser or 6?

Suggestions welcome.

Work have made me an offer......

No, not that kind of offer (yet). The opportunity to purchase an iPhone 3GS for work, I purchase the handset (at a slightly reduced cost) and they continue to pay for my line rental & business calls, with the promise that they will pick up the data costs from Q3 of this year when they roll out work email on Smartphones for all & a load of internal apps.

So a couple of months to get up to speed with the interface & download some apps for me to play with, then hopefully a very powerful & useful business tool with email & instant messaging all built in to a small, handy personal device.

Having had a Blackberry Curve for quite a while now, I would have preferred one of those, but this way I have both Apple & Blackberry devices, I wonder if the next market leader will be the Custard!?

Continuing a theme....

Do I smell Birthday cake....

The demolition has started....

The demolition of my neighbours house for redevelopment has started.