Working outside at The Hayling View on a hot and sunny day after a cloudy start supervising the lawn cutting
Working outside at The Hayling View on a hot and sunny day after a cloudy start supervising the lawn cutting

Working outside at The Hayling View on a hot and sunny day after a cloudy start supervising the lawn cutting and composting and then starting the well pump to water the games lawn before a prawn salad lunch and then setting up the tennis net for Debbie and I to practice later.

The Rolls Royce battery was flat and unusable and so I bought a new one and then took the Range Rover in for repair to solve its smoky exhaust. The news is unrepeatable, being so full of international conflict and terrorism as I prefer to take my new post-council leisure getting away from it all and will certainly not write of it here.

I was to spend most of the day outside at The Hayling View and it was only at the end of the day that I could get into my office to return to my boat-shed planning. I was called late but made up time before breakfast and was out tending to my chores when the gardener arrived. I told him that I wanted the lawns cut again; shorter this time. Whilst he cut the lawns, I used the shredder and tackled the huge pile of foliage and twigs that he wanted to burn but which I wanted to shred and mix with the grass cuttings to make a good compost heap even better. I also started using the tine rake to lift up the tougher grass stems and weeds on the games lawn prior to getting him to cut it short with the rotary to be ready for the cylinder mower for the rest of the season.

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By the end of the morning we had all of the lawns done and the compost heap swollen with all of the remaining debris and cooking nicely. We started up the old pump for extracting spring water from the sump and had the games lawn watered so as not to dry out in the sun which was hot again by now. A prawn salad lunch and then, with Diana out again at keep fit, I tried to fit the Rolls Royce battery and start it. Unfortunately, it was ruined by being discharged and left over winter and, once I realised this, I drove off to get another new one and got the old car started. Now that it is more than 20 years old, the insurance becomes very cheap as a Classic Car which is some compensation for the other expensive costs of ownership. With Diana back, we took this to drop the Range Rover off to Marshalls of Bedford to have this car repaired and serviced.

They said that the black smoke was probably due to the accumulation of sludge which is choking the engine as they presently have another car in with the same problem. We hope so but believe that it has never been the same since we switched to lead-free petrol. Home with the Rolls running well and in time to welcome the girls home from school. The only problem with the Roller is the air conditioning again but I found a pipe loose and reckon that the unit keep losing its charge which we should be able to get fixed. We will now use this to go to Norfolk tomorrow. This evening, I set the lawn up for tennis by assembling the net and Debbie and I had a nice practice. She still has a way to go before becoming proficient but the practice will do her good. A little time for my journal and then to prepare for tomorrow by re-vamping my timber list for the boat-shed. I had two Heronshaw telephone calls today.

First James Dunham called and confirmed that his favourite carpenter will call and see me at Heronshaw at 10.30am tomorrow. Secondly, Wendy Gray from the intervening property called to say that she had spoken to Arthur Edmunds who has a scheme for repairing the road with large granite chippings at a cost of £1,000 for the 130-140 yard road, 9ft wide with another £250 for filling the gullies down the side to widen the driving surface. It seems to be a reasonable scheme to me and is what he has done for Mr Burton opposite. The day was hot and sunny again after a cloudy start and I joined the girls in the pool after the tennis. The news is unrepeatable. So full of international conflict and terrorism that I do not listen to it any more but prefer to take my new post-council leisure getting away from it all and will certainly not write of it here.