Objective Achieved

We moved here one year ago today, and this is the first house we have had where I could not get a car in the garage from day one. Well I like to set myself objectives, so getting a car in the garage was an objective for year one.

Today, on the last day, I finally achieved this, the Suzuki now fits in the garage. If I want my Ford Focus to fit I have to make at least another yard of space, so I don't think that will ever be achievable except by lengthening the garage.

Emily has ordered a car which we hope to collect later this week so I will still have two cars on the drive but it will keep the roadway clear most of the time, except when we have visitors.

Now what do I do with all the junk displaced from the garage?

The size of Parking Spaces

I had a brilliant idea today. Why don't I borrow a baby or toddler, then when I go shopping I can park in the parent and child parking spaces that have room each side for a pushchair. In fact I could take the mum as well then she could have the toddler back once we get there and I wouldn't have the worry of taking it round the supermarket.

Normal parking spaces are so narrow these days that I can hardly get out of the car if there is a car on each side and I am always worried that the adjacent car owner will accidentally hit my car with his door as he/she gets in, or clip the car as he/she reverses out of the space. I would shop at the supermarket with the widest parking spaces if there was one, but they all seen to work to the same dimensions, despite the fact that modern cars are getting wider each year.

As I can't find a toddler to borrow, I will continue with the current plan which is to park between two newer cars in the hope the owner will be more careful than the owner of an old car might be.

Travelling

It was nice to go back to Northampton to see all our friends at the weekend, but I'll be so pleased when they invent a machine that can 'beam us up' as driving up and down Motorways and through roadworks is no fun at all.

Alternatively, I'd like a 'special car' for these trips that can be programmed and then left to get there without my intervention, so I could do something other than sit in the same position for hours staring at the road in front. The 'beam me up' machine is my first choice as that could be instantaneous whereas the 'special car' solution still involves me being sat in a metal box on wheels for hours on end.

Parkinson's Law

Apparently this chap called Parkinson came up with the theory that work expands to fill the time available. This may well be true, I was always busy when I was at work. Most of my colleagues were also always busy, even if I thought they sometimes some of them were inventing things to do in order to look busy. ( I never did that of course!)

(Parkinson also observed that bureaucracy always expands, and predicted in about 1958 that one day there would be more Admirals than Ships in the Navy, and apparently that is now the case, with 41 Admirals and only 40 ships.)

Now I've retired I am quite happy to set myself just one task a day, and if it doesn't take all day to do then I can then relax, content in the knowledge I have done what I had planned for the day. I would like it to get warmer though as I have one or two outdoor jobs I want to do, such as repairing the leak in the garden pond so it will fill up and stay full (except when the seagull starts splashing about in it) Why can't he use the sea?

Morgan the Hunter

Who would have thought that this innocent looking cat would become a successful hunter. I suppose we trained him with that fimble on his left, as he used to carry it around the house. For years now he has caught mice and occasionally birds, frequently letting them go unharmed in the house so we have to catch them and return them to the wild. On other occasions he brings then in dead just to show us how clever he is.



Since we moved to Devon he has located the field across the road and we have been receiving frequent presents of Mice and Shrews.

This week he suddenly changed his prey and brought in a rabbit which he let go in the garage, unharmed but somewhat worried. We returned it to the field and it ran off into the gorse bushes.

Today he started by bringing in a dead rat which he left in the living room, (I hope he doesn't bring in any live ones) and when that was taken off him he went out and returned with a dead rabbit. We caught him trying to take it upstairs so he turned round and took it into the kitchen where he put it down by his food bowl.

As the field across the road can be very muddy he also comes back covered in red mud, as if he has been digging it up. Who knows what we will get next?

Extended Warranties

This month, being nearly twelve months since we moved to Devon, is the month the warranty runs out on stuff we bought when we arrived here, like the dishwasher, the fridge freezer and the Sky + box.

All of the companies concerned have written to me, pointing out that the warranty is about to expire and offering an extended warranty, for so many £’s per month of course. I can’t say I am impressed by any of the prices on offer, it either indicates that the equipment is incredibly unreliable and is going to break down every couple of years or the companies offering the warranties are making a fortune.

Anyway I have decided that providing only one item breaks down each year it is cheaper to replace it when it fails than to take up the three warranties. Only time will tell if this is a good decision.