Another weekend gone in the blink of an eye and motorhome considerations

 

The washing and ironing got done.   Obviously the bedding got changed.  If we won the Euromillions I would be looking at having clean bedding on a daily basis.  I’m not looking at being wholly unreasonable here, they can be done on the eco wash and it’s just the pillow cases I require to be ironed. 

The bathroom and shower room got a wipe over and the kitchen (excepting the floor which I would not suggest anyone eats their dinner off) is pretty good.  We are, however, reaching a stage where the bathroom needs rather more than a wipe over and the rest of the house some actual attention.  I’m a big proponent of dimmer switches when it comes to to odd lapse in housekeeping standards but even I appreciate I am pushing things a bit too far right now.  This weekend was not, however, the time  to deviate from my usual, shall we say, relaxed standards for anything that might be construed as approaching house proud.

Quite a lot of watering and a very little bit of weeding has been done.  Some pots have been moved around ie those herb pots near the back door that are not doing well have been swapped for those near the greenhouse that are doing better.  The slightly sad looking lemon verbena has been potted into a bigger pot with friends and fresh compost/John Innes which will hopefully give it a bit of a boost.  If I am going to use it for tisanes and I hope I am it definitely needs a boost.  We have picked and eaten a few veg and salad crops which makes me happy.  We are seldom short of fruit in this garden and comparatively, at least, that does not require that much effort, veg, salad and some herbs tend to be a little harder to get right.  I regard the more we can actually get from our garden to our plates as being a good thing.  Despite hearing others’s views that growing your own is a cost effective, frugal option, I am not convinced .  Plus mine can be an interesting shape and need more bits trimming off that supermarket veg but it tastes better.  That is I am pretty sure it tastes a lot better though I am not ruling out this is my imagination playing tricks on me use to the effort and time it takes.  Though my back up option of the local farm gate stall also tastes better.  

I have sown some succession odd and ends and Kale, which is for some unfathomable reason not doing well directly into the beds this year so this sowing is in the greenhouse being cosseted.  Three and a half trays of strawberry slices have been/are being dehydrated, one tray of oregano and one tray of summer savory.  This is not a lot but the cumulative over the season should be pleasing.   It is my first year for summer savory and it seems to have recovered from some of it bolting in the heat wave a couple of weeks ago.  I like to try one or two new things each year.  Given I have already dried some thyme and rosemary this year, generally have plenty oregano and have some marjoram coming along nicely this should give me a good base for a Herbes de Provence mix.  I have a few others that might be worth adding - parsley, basil, sage, chervil and bay so I may have a bit of an experiment.  Some recipes suggest mint but I remain unconvinced by that and I have a lot of other uses for mint.  We shall see!

S has been rather more productive.  He has tinkered and checked various things on various members of the fleet.  Has mowed our lawn and his mother’s lawns, has changed a belt on one of her lawn mowers and welded something on her wheelbarrow.

The main feature of the weekend has, however, been motorhomes.  We went to view a motorhome on Saturday and went to the East Mids Motorhome Exhibition on Sunday.  Neither exactly on the doorstep, one a road trip into the Lincolnshire Wolds, the other to Newark.  We do not get up into the Lincolnshire Wolds often.  It is very pretty with some charming towns.  More pertinently for us is that they have hills which is a bit of a deviation for us.  Don’t get hills in the fens, the nearest you get is a railway bridge!

On route and passing RAF Coningsby we spotted a red plane coming in.  I wondered if this was from the flypast for Trooping the Colour though it is not the obvious returning air base for the red Arrows and I only saw one.  Plus as a plane spotter I have no stripes whatsoever.  That said I noted The Sunday Times had a Newman cartoon on the front page having a pop at defence spending with a couple of Guardsmen, complete with bear skin headgear, looking up with the caption “There goes the Red Arrow”, so who knows!  I have to say the Wolds roads were a lot better than ours, far fewer pot holes and cracks.  I am guessing (a) not built on shrinking peat; and (b) not quite such heavy HGV traffic though I don’t rule out it is more picturesque up there, so they get tourists and spend more on the infrastructure.

The trip to the Motorhome Show at Newark really just reinforced exactly what we are looking for.  It was, however, helpful as to a few accessories and gave a view as to modifications within current models.  A new model will not be joining our fleet but it good to know what is potentially out there.  

What has come very much to the forefront over the course of the weekend, is that whilst a motorhome is and has long been on our retirement list, if we get it ahead of time it will be, if not lifestyle changing, certainly holiday style changing.  We are wrestling with that one right now.