Failure is the Key to Success

Since we’ve had our bikes, we have been out on them most weekends and have been up to Marston Vale several times. We have also been back to the RSPB at Sandy on a cooler day as well. What we have noticed at Marston Vale is the changes week on week of the plants in flower. This week it was the dog roses, a couple of weeks ago the hawthorn was in flower. I have uploaded photos into 2 more galleries RSPB Sandy 31st May 2008 and Marston Vale 8th June 2008. This year I have seen much so far including dragonflies, damselflies, blue tits, great tits, black capped warbler and a yellowhammer.

I find it amazing how the same place can be so different each visit.

Tags:marston vale,yellowhammer

Walkers Crisps are running a promotion called BritTrips. This is to promote the fact that there are many things to do in the UK without having to go to the airport for a holiday. There are codes in bags of crisps that you register online to get points. You can exchange the points for partial or full payment of a selection of days out, meals, holiday accommodation etc.
Anyway, last Saturday afternoon we took the bikes out to Marston Vale again and cycled round the other bit of the cycle path. I was really good, as my son can now ride without stabilisers and this was the first time out since he had first managed.
On Sunday afternoon we converted 5 of our BritTrip points into a voucher for entry/parking at the RSPB headquarters in Sandy, which is about 45-50 minutes away from us. It was a really hot day, which was a shame in a way, as the birds were staying out of the way, at least they were on the heath trail that we walked. Part of the way round the heath trail is a pond that has been established for Natterjack toads and there were loads of damselflies and a couple of dragonflies flying around. I managed to get a photo of one of the damselflies, a male Large Red damselfly as I found out when I got home, and several photos of a female Broad Bodied Chaser dragonfly, also found out when I got home. There was a cuckoo in the woods further over, I can’t remember if I have ever heard one before, if I have it was a long time ago. We called it a day after about 1.5 hours as everyone was getting tired.

Tags:broad bodied chaser,dragonfly,rspb

A couple of weeks ago Jo and I decided we needed to get bikes so that we could keep up with the kids when they are on their bikes. I got a couple more Thule bike carriers to go on our roof bars, so it was just time to get bikes.

I looked about the local area for bike shops and last Saturday we all went over to Hitchin to Cycledealia to see what they had. Their suggestion for our requirement was a Giant Rock, but they didn’t have the size frames either of us would need. It was suggested that for a Giant bike I would need a 21″ frame and Jo would need a 17″. They were going to order in some bikes that week for this weekend, so to ring on Friday to confirm and then we could go back on Saturday. We finished the day watching the ducks and eating ice cream.

Jo rang them on Friday to be told that they didn’t have them, nor would they have. They would only have got the sizes in to order and didn’t know why we were told otherwise. Not impressed.

Continue reading » On your bikes

Tags:marston vale,ridgeback mx2

This afternoon driving home, I got to see something that brought a smile to my face. You know that feeling when you see a bad driver and you fleetingly wish that they didn’t get away with their bad driving.

At the first set of traffic lights coming into Dunstable, a shiny black, new looking, Range Rover Vogue shot down the turning right lane past the traffic queuing to go straight on and then forced its way back in on the junction.

It was obviously in a busting hurry on the next set of lights as well, as the fire engine approaching from the right with lights and sirens on had no impact on his attempts to get over the junction ahead of it. The problem was, traffic was heavy and he didn’t have room to finish what he started, so the fire engine did ultimately have a bigger impact on his journey time.

I didn’t see the actual impact myself as I was behind a large truck, but could see that he must have been pushed sideways quite a bit as I watched him manoeuvre out from in front of the fire engine while it was sat in the middle of the junction with lights and sirens going. They had to leave someone behind to deal with this idiot while the rest of them continued to the emergency they had been called to.

The truck driver in front of me stopped at the fire station (50 yards from the junction) to be a witness to what happened.

I don’t know what it is about drivers these days. There seems to be a much higher proportion that treat lane markings and red lights as an inconvenience to be ignored and don’t have any respect for other drivers or users on the road.

Tags:hit by a fire engine

A couple of days late, but I thought I’d update on the replacement oven situation.

On Monday we had a call to say that they would be coming to replace the oven and hob between 8 and 12 on Tuesday. I had Tuesday off work just in case anything unexpected happened, but expected to just do a bit of ‘overseeing’ and generally be nosey.

We had a call on Tuesday from the fitter at about quarter to ten to say that he would be with us in about 15 minutes, so it started well. However, when he arrived and looked at our existing hob and started to um and ah and then get his tape measure out, that quickly changed. It turns out that the old hob we had, fitted into a larger hole than modern hobs, and after measuring, it was confirmed that the new hob would actually drop straight through the hole in the worktop where the old hob was. Luckily, I’m a magpie and had kept the offcuts of worktop from when the kitchen was fitted 14 years ago and now they actually came in useful. I cut out two battens of worktop to pad out the hole by 30mm on back and side, while the fitters got on with disconnecting the existing appliances.

Continue reading » New Oven and Hob

Tags:gas oven

We have known for a while that we were going to need to replace the gas oven. The door on it hasn’t sealed properly for some time and every so often I would have to take the door apart to tighten the handle. The plan was that we would look at replacing it over Easter, but needless to say, it wasn’t going to play our game.

On Friday the fan started making unhealthy noises, so yesterday we went out looking for a new oven. The hub also needed replacing as the seal between the glass top and the metal surround had failed and caused the paint on the metal surround to peal in a couple of places. The existing oven was fitted nearly 14 years ago when we bought our house. It is a single oven as that was the space we had available.

We were looking to get a oven with a separate grill/double oven this time and this proved more difficult than we expected. In the end we found one in stainless steel finish that was available to be fitted next week So on Tuesday, the old oven and hob will be removed and the new ones delivered and fitted. Once the old oven has been removed, I will have to remove the oven housing to take out the shelf because it is too high for the new larger oven.

Tags:gas oven