Thursday 3rd August to Monday 9th October 2023

If you prefer, you can listen to this post on Spotify.

Another several weeks, and a lot seems to have been happening.

On the health front, I had a quick chat with the Doctor on the 26th September, he told me he was very pleased with me, that he would continue with the same prescription, and that was that, apart from a brief discussion about our forthcoming trip to Japan, for which he offered to supply a letter covering my drugs. Then we had the usual saga with the hospital pharmacy and Boots, leading to me collecting my prescription the evening before the cycle was due to start, with pharmacy still having failed to supply the covering form required to authorise the Lenalidomide. I’m getting very disillusioned with that department.

In the meantime, I’ve had Covid-19 and flu booster jabs, so a few days with a sore arm and a lethargic sick feeling.

At the beginning of August I finally got round to filling in the application form to become a volunteer at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway (our local preserved steam line), and since then I’ve been attending every Wednesday and Saturday (other commitments permitting), to carry out my jobs as a member of the Building and Works team. This team does site maintenance, new buildings and general handiwork around the railway. So I’ve done a bit of carpentry, plumbing, tiling (a new shower enclosure), brick (well block) laying, truck driving, and a few other things. The major task at present is the construction of a new ticket office / shop, which is going to take several months, and is currently about knee high. However now we’re off the ground, progress is faster. How quickly we can move will be determined by the weather in the weeks to come. Hopefully we’ll have some dry days.

Railway bits and pieces – memorial garden arbour, new crossing keeper’s hut, and the ticket office build.

In parallel with this, we’ve pressed this year’s red wine fruit and set it off fermenting, we’ve had a day out at the South Gloucestershire show (a smallish agricultural show), and I’ve been out driving a few times, including a great weekend based in Teesdale with my buddy Grant and a couple of others. I also had a great day out at the Goodwood Revival thanks to Geoff, getting alternately fried and soaked by the British summer weather. The Mazda had some new rear suspension bushes (a common failing, apparently) which had to be sourced from a one-man independent provider, as Mazda don’t supply spares – idiots!

A few bits from the Goodwood Revival, the BRM V16, and Jackie Stewart telling some guests about his Championship winning Tyrell.

Then in the middle of September we made our usual holiday pilgrimage to the Northwest of Scotland for a week of walking, beach visits (some of them requiring many layers of clothing), and generally running round amusing a dog. A great time was had by all, although the Mercedes became a casualty on the way home when one of the rear shock absorber mounts broke and the shock absorber then spent the rest of the journey rattling about in the wheel arch banging against the body. We only came to the right diagnosis half way through the journey, as up to that point we’d been focusing on the luggage as the source of the noise, so having travelled 300 miles with little ill-effect, we took the plunge and finished the journey. Apart from a little bit of paint, very little damage was done, and 3 days later two new shock absorbers and one new mount were fitted and the car is back to its quiet self.

Scottish holiday stuff and a broken shock absorber mount.

I’ve been servicing a clock belonging to Linda’s friend, and due to my ham-fistedness, one of the escape wheel pivots (little pointy bit on the end of a shaft) got broken (don’t ask!). Aaaaaaaarrrghhh!!! Soooooo…. I had to fix it. This meant getting out the watchmaker’s lathe I had bought some years ago and never got round to using – my confidence in my skills was low, and no real opportunities had come my way yet. So, very slowly, I set about getting the lathe set up on a board with its motor, gathering the tools and materials for the job (the motor needed a new belt, for one), and then I took my courage in both hands and got on with the job – it took about half an hour! I was quite pleased with the result, and now perhaps I’ll be less scared about using the lathe for future jobs.

Closeups of the lathe showing the arbor drilled (0.4mm diameter hole) and the pivot fitted. It’s very hard to get the camera to focus on tiny things, sorry!

Yesterday I went for a look at the Bicester Scramble – a car enthusiast event at Bicester Heritage, and mooched around with Mr. F. looking at cars old and new, and comparing notes about ones we’d owned or family members had. The weather was hot and sunny, and I took loads of pictures.

A few snaps from Bicester Scramble – the March was also a Jackie Stewart car.

My loft railway has made very little progress the last few weeks but now the weather is cooler, I expect I will be spending more time on it. I have one circuit provisionally built, so need to complete another loop, and various sidings / storage roads, then we can start on scenery. Lots of fun in store.

That’s it for now. In less than 2 weeks, we’ll be off to Japan. Next time…