Peek a Bo with a Kestrel




Roof top entrance

 



Must be great having ones own window. Didn't get the focus quite right but you can still see that it's a Kestrel.


I cant believe how quick time goes. It only seems like yesterday when we landed back in the UK. Arriving last Monday very late, and then having to take a taxi from Stanstead airport (cost £95 ) to Milton Keynes meant we didn't get to bed much before 2 am. We managed 5 hours sleep before we were up again trying to sort out a hire car to take us to Nottingham Queens Hospital for Ian to see the consultant. Why hire a car? Because our clutch went a day before flying out to Poland and we had no time to have it repaired. Anyway it was a complete waste of time at the hospital. The appointment was with a Neurosurgeon and both Ian and I had wondered what on earth his brain or spine had to do with his tumour on his back! The consultant also said the exact same thing and had no idea why Ian was sent to him. We spent £36 to hire the car plus petrol and all for nothing! So we now have another appointment for next Wednesday but this time at Nottingham City Hospital and it is to see the general surgeon. Hopefully this time we'll know a little more as to what the outcome will be!

Yesterday Ian managed to get the car fixed and there goes another £250 down the drain. I can see this year turning out to be very expensive for us. I need a new laptop, mine having wibbly wobbly keys, and my touch pad gave up the ghost ages ago. I hate using a mouse. If it was wireless all well and good but for some reason my USB port wont except the dongle. Colin is trying to persuade me to go for an I Pad but I really don't think it will be any use to me because I wont be able to load any photos. Colin has promised to take me to PC World on Sunday just to see whats out there. I certainly don't want to spend a fortune especially as all I do is e mail's, blog, facebook and the occasional net surfing. We also left our mooring to head up to Pear Tree Marina and water up. After several wash loads and a shower each, we knew the water tanks would be pretty low. Didnt realise how low until I ran the tap to fill the kettle and all I got was a drip! The pump wouldn't stop running so Ian closed the switch in the hopes that we hadn't b....rd it up running it dry. The tap at Pear Tree was painfully slow! A good hour later we finally had the tanks overflowing. First thing I did was to switch the pump back on and keep fingers crossed. All was good as it worked fine but, when I ran the water through the tap, it was brown!!! How can that be when the tank is aluminium so no rust and we always run water through the hose to flush out anything nasty. We also treat the tank twice a year so both of us is at a lose as to why we had brown water. Any idea's?

Today I have been fishing. Only the second time this year. Normally I'm out with my rod every moment I can so It was great buying bait and feeling the maggots wriggling in between my fingers once more. I caught loads, mainly tiddlers, exception being this Bream.

Ian went off to Colin's again to finish all the electrics on the garden lights, and for me it meant a day of pleasing myself. I took a few more photos on my walk with Jade and on one of them I noticed that Gary had turned up with his coal/diesel boat Ascot and Beverley and he's moored not far from us.

I initially took this photo to show you the dreaded yellow sign. When Colin first moved into his house at Shenley Chrch End there was a lovely walk to Shenley Woods with open views across the countryside. Then the 'dreaded yellow signs' appeared and within 2 years houses and shops had been built on the land. As these signs have now appeared all around Campbell park I have a horrible feeling that the same thing might happen here.


 

Green Woodpecker





I hate Daddy long legs. It's something to do with the way they seem to make a bee line for me and fly right into my face. Seems a bit early for them as they normally appear around August /September.

Tomorrow were off to Bletchley to see about booking a cruise to the Baltic next year. I would love to see and experience the Northern Lights so we are hoping a travel agent will be able to tell us the best time to go next year.