April
On Tuesday 1, we went to our nearest
Beafeater restaurant for a meal, mainly in celebration of Teresa’s birthday,
but partly to fulfil a promise made to Jay on her birthday – hence the choice
of venue.
The Cross Hands is about 20 minutes away on the outskirts of
Teresa
arriving (with laptop)
Teresa and Jay waiting to order Roger enjoying his sweet
Snow fell
unexpectedly overnight on Sunday 6 April, presenting a picturesque landscape
first thing in the morning. It did give
Teresa a good excuse to sport her new pink wellies – a birthday present from
Jay.
View from the bedroom window
Roger’s indoor bowling season came to an end on Monday 7 with the last
match at
Jay has been working in her stables for much of the holiday, and decided
to spend most of her earnings on a new saddle for Clyde – a synthetic one,
which is much cheaper than leather, but also very light. It was fitted on Tuesday 8. Jay had never been happy with the fit of his
leather saddle, so she was well satisfied with the change.
On Saturday 12, Roger’s turn to mow the Overbury
The following day, Sunday 13, the Bowling Club opened its green. Forty bowlers came to take part in the
roll-up on what turned out to be a sunny, if breezy, afternoon. The bowling was followed by a
‘bring-and-share’ tea; Teresa’s prize-winning
Meanwhile,
Teresa and Juliet, having gone out for a walk, decided to ride on our local
railway – the first such trip since the line was extended to Cheltenham – and
they enjoyed the old steam train and the beautiful scenery.
The engine being prepared
Waiting at the station On the way
After a
clear out in the spare bedroom, and a few breakages to dispose of (microwave,
mixer etc), on Monday 14 we visited the local recycling centre at Stoke Orchard
(formerly known as ‘the tip’, as it says in the council leaflet). As well as recycling all the things that are
not collected at the doorstep, bulkier items for landfill can also be
dumped. Our relief at getting rid of the
pile of rubbish was somewhat tempered the following day when Fizzy had a
blow-out, Teresa arriving home with tyre smoking and a destroyed carcase. Luckily the blow-out happened only a hundred
yards or so down the road, but the puncture which caused it is very likely to
have been made at ‘the tip’, where shards of glass and metal must always be a
hazard.
On
Thursday 17 we returned Jay to
On Monday
21 April we tried to fit a replacement Velux blind – see The
Blind Leading the Blind
On Saturday 26 we took a ride on the GWR Fish and Chip
Special.