Phew, well, it has been some time - the last blog was November 2009!So,.... let me think.... anything new? Well, as Fereday has already posted (blogs passim), we're now down within spitting distance of London at Coulsdon.... or, more accurately, in the part of Coulsdon known as 'Stoat's Nest Village' - charming, yah! - no sign of any stoats, however.....The drive down from West Yorkshire was unmitigated hell. The movers came the evening before - Pat, from Helpful Hogan, if anyone is looking for a good chap in the North of England to help with a move - he comes complete with an excellent comedy duo, his son and his nephew - and I mean 'comedy duo' in a nice way, lovely young lads who work very hard while engaging in wacky banter. I think Fereday and I were good clients as we'd boxed up everything ourselves and Fereday 'helped' (hindered?) with loading the truck. As a result of all the packing, we're both heartily sick of bubble wrap.... neverending rolls of it.... where does it come from.... who blows up all the little bubbles.... can you craft a sofa out of it??? So, we waved 'bye, bye' to all our belongings on Wednesday night and retired to an uncomfortable night on the floor of our lounge - completely empty except for us and the three rabbits.... I slept not a jot.... Fereday, obviously immune to discomfort thanks to experience of camping out, snored on.... the rabbits snored.... I lay there, freezing, and listened to great Parliamentary speeches 1978 - 1994 (yes, years when politicians - save the Beast of Bolsover - had sonerous voices... no Harpy Harman).... all four sides.... twice..... and still didn't so much as doze....Up and out for 4:30am - after moving old rabbit hutch into the front garden to be picked up by colleague from office so her bunny can upgrade from bungalow to two storey dwelling - believe me, moving hefty bunny hutch round corners and downstairs is not a good bonding exercise for a couple at 4:00am on a January morning....The back of the old Volvo was loaded nearly roof high, with rabbits perched on top so they could have a good view of us for reassurance - youngest bunny is still emotionally scarred from being very unreassured by the vision of me with my eyes on stalks as we drove down barely lit motorways with defective / non-existent cats-eyes in Yorkshire... noticeable difference that as you get closer to London [read: further away from the North] the motorways are lit... is there seriously some perception that we're so much closer to the North Pole up in Yorkshire that we have owl-like night vision????We stopped twice at services. Each time Fereday had one of those mini, concentrated Red Bull drinks and some chocolate.... so, of course, I was worried about when I'd be needing to pull him down off the ceiling later in the day.... fair dues to him that his driving didn't become aggressive... my passengering became aggressive, but not his driving.... I'm probably just naturally aggressive.... it's probably a genetic thing....Arrived at the new pied-a-terre circa 10am..... movers arrived about 15 minutes later..... comedy duo commenced, and we'd unloaded by about half 11..... rabbits were re-hutched.... some unpacking was done.... some supermarketing was done (WAITROSE IS OUR LOCAL!!!! RESULT!!!!).... some wine was drunk.... Cat was drunk.... and bed at 6:30pm.... Fereday stayed up playing invade Poland or some such on the computer.... Red Bull to blame for that, I think....Since the night of terror (that's what I'm calling the drive from Yorkshire), we're fairly settled in. Everything is unpacked and stuff that needed to be 'stored' is in a sensible place somewhere in the flat.... the washing machine is in the kitchen as opposed to being in the basement, so I had some great fun the first week we were here loading it up with dirty clothes, putting some magic powder in a little drawer and watching the little show through the porthole, waiting for the beep, taking stuff out and hanging it up to dry..... well, I was off work, we've given up television, and there was no internet until last week and truthfully, it was a real novelty - I hadn't done a load of laundry in about five years.... Anyway, I'm back at work now, so Fereday has his toy back.I'm a proper working grunt now.... up at 5:45 each morning, train from Reedham at 6:53am.... London Bridge by half 7, walk over London Bridge borne along by the tide of fellow grunts heading in the same direction..... But, I've retained my tourist perspective - each morning on the way in and each evening on the way back over the bridge, I 'spin' off from the flow and take a good eyeful of HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge... sunrise is getting earlier, but I've caught Tower Bridge against orange sky a few times.... I've also seen it in snow, rain, sleet, etc. I'll just never get tired of that view - and if I ever do, it'll be time to spin off and jump off!
Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

Comments

  • Great to see you back, can't you get a blackberry and blog en route?.
  • Good to hear from you again Cat and nice one Kerrie ;)
  • Welcome back Cat, hope all goes well for you both down South. Great picture Kerrie........Have you distributed it across the net?
  • Simon, I have now!
  • I am sure it will raise your profile Kerrie!! :-)
  • Wow - thanks everyone! Pip - I managed to 'wipe' my BlackBerry on Friday - I've been down with lurgy and - it appears - incoherence!!!! It gave me ten goes to get the password right, and each time I spelled the name of the village we live in wrong - Doh!
This reply was deleted.

You need to be a member of Landscape Juice Network to add comments!

Join Landscape Juice Network

Open forum activity

Peter sellers replied to David Benson's discussion liquid moss killer
"Pro kleen liquid iron sulphate direct from Pro kleen around £21 for 2x5lts delivered. We put 2.5lts in a 12lt knapsack, thoroughly wet area, avoid hot windy days.
Have used it for years highly recommend."
yesterday
Martin Ashdown posted a discussion
We chat over knowing your numbers, eating frogs and RASI forms. Please like and share to help us grow this channel.https://open.spotify.com/episode/0PwhpTOoJrhqiyRRK32qM7?si=252f7534...
yesterday
Dave Colton replied to David Benson's discussion liquid moss killer
"I haven't use liquid iron but do use soluble iron sulphate, takes a wee bit more mixing as it's a powder but I find it goes further and is cheaper than the liquid, I get mine from agrigem."
yesterday
David Benson posted a discussion
i have to treat some small areas of lawn with a lot of paving round them and one area there is a swiming pool. my usual way is lawn sand and a broardcast spredder but this is not ideal for this job, what liquid killer do you recomend for a knapsack…
yesterday
James Brett liked Martin Ashdown's discussion Two Ordinary Blokes in Business Podcast
Sunday
James Brett updated their profile
Sunday
Bryn Edmondson updated their profile
Sunday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"Horrible in the wet just shows we are all different. I wouldn't even consider hayter for the terrible collection reason"
Sunday
Groundleader replied to Peter sellers's discussion Retirement advice
"This is definitely NOT my field of expertise, but I'd guess what most buyers might be interested in, could include:
1)  What's the realistic market value of your "hard" assets (vehicles, machinery, tools, materials etc).
2)  For the "goodwill" part…"
Saturday
Greenlawns replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"I've used Hayter harrier 56 pro mowers for 30 years . They're the best for maintenance,  admittedly not great in the wet , but I wouldn't change . "
Saturday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"Interesting with the weibang I've had 1 for 5yrs bought new and it's been fine nothing to report as of yet which compared to the honda new needing a new back end after 18 months."
Saturday
Sam Bainbridge replied to Dougie's discussion Looking for a new roller machine
"Buy an old Honda roller mower, the new ones break in 18 months and cost you £500 that is then repeated every 12 months.
Either a honda or others the same which actually came out of the same factory with different names, sharp, lawnflite, kaaz, all…"
Saturday
Max alam posted a discussion
Im looking for my first 100 founding members to join and use canopy and i have approx 65 spaces left.. if your in the UK running a garden maintenance / landscaping company and could be intrested , feel free to enter the waiting list.Thecanopyapp.com
Thursday
Tim Bucknall replied to Daniel Gillings @ DC inc's discussion Rumble strips in lawn!
"Can you change the direction of mowing? Always using a roller mower in the same pattern can cause this.
 "
Apr 30
Max alam posted a discussion
does anyone find themselves spending money on an invoicing and qouting app? do some of you use tradify to manage bookings and schedule?whats the best way to manage workflow when you get busy in the season ?
Apr 27
Paul Errington replied to Daniel Gillings @ DC inc's discussion Rumble strips in lawn!
"Try using a Turf Teq Power Rake to smooth it out. It will mill off the high spots and work the spoil into the low bits."
Apr 27
More…

how good does this look?

Im looking for my first 100 founding members to join and use canopy and i have approx 65 spaces left.. if your in the UK running a garden maintenance / landscaping company and could be intrested , feel free to enter the waiting list.Thecanopyapp.com

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 39

Invoicing / Quoting

does anyone find themselves spending money on an invoicing and qouting app? do some of you use tradify to manage bookings and schedule?whats the best way to manage workflow when you get busy in the season ?

Read more…
0 Replies
Views: 49