Making use of ourselves in Solihull

Steph gets stuck in

It's probably time we did something for someone else and who better than for my niece Steph and husband Sam in their new (to them) house in Dickens Heath. With the team of Denise and Paul (grandma and grandad), Steph and Sam and with three month old Rory and Twinks the cat as audience we set to work. 

Fence repairs

Much preparation had already been done by them all (and was still to be done after we had left), so our help was useful (and extremely tiring - we're just not used to it, how do they do it?), but a mere blip on the mountain of work done and to be done. Working in a team is always fun, singing along to old songs that S&S had never heard of, tuneless whistling, oh the neighbours must have loved it! 

They seemed impressed with my fence repairs that did go very well and presented few problems, but didn't deserve the lavish praise, just wait till Steph sees the plant trampled under my foot, well, it did look like a weed to me! Walls bashed and electrical sockets fitted and then up to the loft with Sam to fit a loft ladder, some electric lights up there and floor board half of it for storage. Always good to spend time with people and particularly Sam who I didn't know that we'll, you find out such interesting things. Found out he even applied to join MI5 (am I allowed to write that?) but turned it down in his own mind (before they turned him down by letter) due to the poor Civil Service salary pay. 

Hard working Paul

'Did you want be a spy?' I asked and would the package have additional perks like an expense account that paid for vodka martinis (shaken not stirred), chips for the casino and use of a company Aston Martin as per James Bond. Apparently not. Amazing what you find out while sitting amongst wood shavings and loft insulation while bashing you head on unnoticed beams of wood (why do they put so much of it in odd placed up there?). Meanwhile downstairs there's Rory to be fed, walls and ceilings to be painted, step ladders to be climbed up and down innumerable times, gloss paint to be applied, songs to be murdered and, oh, is that Twinks' little paw prints across that newly painted window shelf. 

Sam in the newly boarded loft with his vacuum cleaner!

All in all, great fun, good to catch up with everyone and three days of hard work. With muscles aching (two days after we finished) we're getting ready to drive to Luton airport to pick up Jackies dad and Elizabeth, here for a weekend party, we'll see them for one night out before, before going on to Dartmoor for a drunken weekend of walking and laughter with our friends. And my head is still feeling a bit dull from our night out at the pub last night with Jackies mum Pauline in our home village of Alvechurch. Such a busy life!

Head massage for Rory from Jackie

 

Tea break and Rory feeding time

 

Evening glass of wine to celebrate

Sooty the Sweetie Cat

Again, not much to report, running has taken a back seat as after doing three consecutive days while at Helen and Phils Brian has had a painful knee on and off, plus we found our gym cards that we got after our first trip and return home. This allows us free attendance to various council gyms at various specific times so we've been making full use of the local gym!

A narrowboat negotiating the locks at Tardebigge

We had a visit to Gill to meet up with Sam the dog and Keith the cat who we sat for last year and were one of the reasons for coming back this year. Our fortnight with them had already shrunk which opened the door for a weekend away with a fab group of people next weekend and for five days back near Ledbury with not just the five cats but the four dogs too! We are looking forward to this but are slightly nervous (any help or advice you can give us Robyn, gratefully received!) 

The reservoir built to fill the 'water thirsty' 36 canal lock flight

Keith the cat had a bit of an adventure the other week when he fell from an upstairs window and damaged his pelvis, this was not putting us off, but that in conjunction with putting out her back (not ideal when going away sailing) and water appearing through the kitchen ceiling means Gill has decided not to go away. We were more than welcome to stay anyway, and there was a Housesit near Telford for the weekend, but Abi where we are at the moment has said "just stay" she is coming back today as she has an appointment but will go back to Malvern again tomorrow. What a very nice lady. We are also back here after Ledbury so if we want to leave anything here.....

A little robin watches us walk by

Apart from Gill we also visited Fiona, James and Brian's three grand daughters and had the rundown on their cat and two rabbits, the TV and the hot tub for when we sit for them in July. I also had another lovely afternoon with Alex drinking coffee and chatting!

A lock, the lock drainage mechanism and the old white lock keepers cottage

Mr. & Mrs. Duck

Yesterday we took advantage of the weather and went for a walk. We started at Tardebigge and walked up twenty of the thirty six locks that comprise one of the longest flights of locks on the canal in the UK, meeting many narrowboats with tired looking people, lots of whom were foreign, just here on their holidays.We then headed off cross country on a very pretty walk before returning to the canal, feeling a bit like a pair of crocks, Brian with his dodgy knee and arthritic toe and me with a painful Achilles' tendon. The excitement on the walk was a field of young cows, very friendly and interested, but big, bouncy and a little scary as they followed closely behind us through their field, kicking up their heels and galloping about! Perhaps we were over sensitive, but a friend from the mountaineering club was air lifted to hospital last month with 12 broken ribs after he and his dog upset some cows on their walk!

Mr. Swan came quite close but not close enough to break my arm!

So another gentle week, but enjoyable nonetheless, looking forward to an evening with Abi tonight, but who will Sooty spend the night with? Us in the main bedroom or Abi in the spare room!

 

Tardebigge tunnel. 530m long with no towpath. Passage before powered craft was by lying on top of the narrowboat and 'walking' along the top of the tunnel. The canal was completed and opened in 1815, 200 years ago at the time Wellington was fighting Nelson at the Battle of Waterloo!

 

St Bartholomews church. Built in 1775 and restored in 1879. It replaced an earlier church dating from the 11th century that collapsed in 1775

 

The Victoria restored interior of St Bartholomews

 

Environmentally conscious farmers

 

The scary cows. We walked through their field surrounded by them running and jumping around us. As we climbed over the stile in the centre they were all around us, Jackie went first while Brian waited in amongst them for his turn trying not to show fear!