I've said for some time I've become a fair weather farmer. I've decided that bright sun, 32 degrees and humid isn't fair weather. I think I've sprung a leak.
Orange suits arrived this morning - different ones and this time just 2 of them. Spent half an hour complaining to me the previous crew hadn't done enough excavating to expose the old main and then asked where were the nearest shops. I told them about 5 miles to the north in Great Missenden or about 3 miles south in Hazelmere. They unhitched the compressor unit from their Transit and away they went. Half an hour later they returned and had breakfast in the van for another half hour. Even then at about 9 am it was bloody hot, but to be fair, by midday the heat was ferocious - health and safety kicked in and they knocked off. They'd found the joint they were looking for but said didn't have the fittings on the van to suit........ Said they'd be back in the morning to lay the new main - this time they would have the fittings.....
It's no wonder everything costs so much. A little lane we drive up to our small holding has quite a few little laybys that people park in. Most weekdays you'll spot contractors or delivery vans parked up. Last year the were some electricity contractors doing some work on a transformer up a pole in the hedgerow. They were bemoaning how much work they had on. After a visit for lunch, a second crew turned up. Didn't do any work, just hung about. After much chatting and little work, off they went. I left about an hour later. Sure enough, they'd driven half a mile down the road and were parked up having a chat.
During a season I catch a decent number of trout. I put most back but do keep some. We don't eat many, so end up giving quite a few to neighbours and friends. We've also given away quite a few boxes of eggs from our hens. Over the years I've had a few 'trades' in return including beers and wine. Anyway, one of our neighbours grow lots of fruit and veg. I grow my own veg so we regularly get lots of fruit or, being the lady is a very good cook, we get jars of relish, jams, etc. Quite often it's bags of frozen fruit. The strawberries and raspberries make a good substitute for ice cubes in a gin. The other day they gave us a pile of red gooseberries (nowhere near as sharp as the green ones, you can just eat them) which Mrs Remote turned into a very nice crumble. We're now pulling red currents off the stalks. Chillies, onions and garlic prepared ready to make redcurrant and red onion relish. While we're at it we're having an afternoon bottle of red. Reminiscing a bit. Having a bottle of stellenbosch. We used to drink it back in the late 80s / early 90s when SA had just starting trading with the wider world after apartheid. It was a lot cheaper back then, when compared to other wines. Nice though.
We've got a few strawberries and 4 cherry tomato plants. Not much but it's a bit of fun. With only about 30m2 there's little room for more!
Oh! And three left of five gooseberry bushes...2 red and 3 green. They are getting mould laden so will not see Autumn.
Wrote this yesterday but forgot to post it - but there is a reason which I'll mention later.............. The orange suits did come back. New gas main laid from the public lane up the private driveway. Turned our gas off at the meter cabinets about 9.00am, then cut off old metal service and switched to the newly laid poly stuff. Supervisor arrived and oversaw pressure testing the new work before reconnecting the two properties - took a couple of hours. Wouldn't turn the gas back on at the meter boxes until their commissioning guy was called in to purge the new main and check all household gas appliances. To be fair he made the call and the engineer turned up within half an hour. Fortunately there's only a combi boiler in the cottage so he wasn't long and we were back up and running by lunchtime. As for my pal from the "big house", I messaged him in Portugal to say with no access his gas would be capped off until he came home and then he'd have to call them to arrange a visit. "Ape ****" doesn't adequately descibe his reaction. Gave me a phone number of a friend of his who had a key and would come over when I gave him the heads up. All's well - he arrived and let the guy in. Unlike this cottage, he's got 2 boilers, a gas range and gawd knows what else in there. All done and I'm off out for the afternoon.
Here's the reason........................ Then the crunch - went down to the park at Hughenden Manor after lunch to give the dogs a run. On route, the lady on the sat nav made a couple of garbled squawks as if she was being assaulted, and then gave up the ghost. I was close to Wycombe at the time and the sat nav screen was telling me I'm in Chepstow. I wouldn't mind so much if I was at home, but being in the middle of nowhere makes it more of an issue. The funny thing is although the sat nav display is showing the car in Chepstow and not moving, the heads up display on the windscreen responds to all speed limit changes as you pass through 30/40/50 mph zones so it knows exactly where I really am. It would appear either the I-Drive system needs a re-boot (simpler and least expensive option) or the car's antenna/transponders have failed and need to be replaced ..... Got another two and a half weeks up here so I'll try to talk to a BMW dealer - they seem to be all Sytner dealerships - the nearest are in Wycombe or Tring. Past experience of Sytner not wonderful - they tend to fanny you around on the telephone, but I'll give it a go.
Last week we were singing "Lost in France", frequently and with good reason. Possibly more interesting than "Lost in Bucks"?
Maybe the speed limit thingie works off your cameras and not satnav. Mine picks up temporary limits as well that can't be in a GPS.
You'd have thought they'd have discussed access with the owner BEFORE thinking about cutting the service over. A different 'utility', TV licencing. Earlier this year, we formally applied for an address for our small holding. We'd always just used the postcode for the barn conversions next to us. With daughter and partner more formally running their business from the smallholding, more of the businesses they deal with were struggling with the fact that when they typed in the post code to their systems, they couldn't find our address. A bit of tooing and froing and a few months back Briarlea Farm officially became a thing. A whole different story. Now, there isn't a house there, just fields and outbuildings. We do have a post box but it's mainly for delivery receipts. Official stuff tends to come to our house or our daughters. When I checked the post box a few days ago, the usual junk mail and a letter to 'The Legal Occupier'. Turns out TV Licensing are going to pay us a visit on 10th July to see why we don't have a TV licence. Mrs Remote tried to contact them to explain why we didnt need one. Went on line. Structured form with no place for a free format comment. Certain fields had to be completed including future date of occupancy. Never isn't an option. Tried to call. Automated questions the same as the website. Wouldn't accept a date for occupancy further in the future than 1 year. Mrs Remote is pretty laid back but was getting a bit p!$$y by this time. Eventually she left it, saying 'if they're going to waste my time, they can waste their own' . A letter of complaint being sent, asking for a written response. And they can turn up on the 10th and interrogate the cows, dogs, sheep, chickens and goats. More wasted resource, inefficiency and added cost to the bills.
BfB! Woke up in the middle of the night and realised my brain fart. Sweetcorn (and not sunflower) is grown for cattle feed! My bad!
It would be a kind gesture to the TV Licensing representative, if Mrs Remote were to let him, or her, know that they need to bring a good pair of wellington boots, just in case it rains when they are inspecting the animal sheds and the fields.
Spot on Furter - the road speed limits on the heads-up display on the windscreen are indeed generated by two forward facing cameras in the car that read the traffic signs as you approach them. Spoke on the phone to BMW connected-drive yesterday who did a "hard reset" of the cars' software. Sat in the car talking to the guy and downloaded the update direct to the i-drive. It only took a couple of minutes but he told me to turn the car off an leave it for half an hour before re-starting. Went back in the house for a coffee and then returned to the car expecting to find it all sorted - it wasn't, apparently, I'm still in Chepstow. Rang him back and that was all he could do remotely so he sent me to Sytners in Wycombe for a hands on approach. They were very good to be honest - had a go at resetting everything but no cigar. Software was OK - it was probably the antennas/transponders under the "shark fin" that were not picking up the necessary number of satellites to geo-position the vehicle. Needed to be booked in as they couldn't do anything on the spot. Even then they'd have to investigate first before ordering any parts so it could be a couple/few days off the road. No courtesy cars available (I'm sure they'd have found one if I was a regular local customer) so decided to pull the plug on proceedings, keep my car which is perfect in every other respect, and revert to reading a map again. That's not a problem for me - it's the likely cost on the new antenna installation that's hurting...
