All Sorts

It's been quite a mixed bag of stuff going on over the last week or so. Things at work are starting to get back to normal, although I have yet to hear if my tender for the existing property that I mentioned about earlier has been accepted. The wheels on this appear to be turning very slowly indeed, and the old nerve strings are getting frayed, as it's a serious contributor financially.

As a result of work easing a bit, some work at home has finally started. The garden has been completely neglected this year, ad not once have we had the chance to sit in, and enjoy it. It's overgrown to say the least, but the two main problems that needed addressing were a couple of very large Acacias, both on our boundary. The one in the picture had got so large, that it's lower branches were preventing our neighbours from getting into their own back garden, particularly when it rained, as everything sagged much lower. I have already removed about two thirds of the tree, and am passing stuff to Amanda, who is piling it up just out of picture behind her. It took the best part of a day to just do this one tree, the other has yet to be pruned, and is at the other end of the garden, blocking a public footpath.

Hobie loved his new climbing frame!

Another member of the Fabaceae family, although a little smaller, but equally in need of some serious pruning, was our Mimosa pudica. It had grown so large that it filled the kitchen window and was so top heavy that the pot was tipping over, and so some radical cutting back has reduced it to this. It just needs a re-pot, and things should hopefully recover a little...i hope!

Now that the nitrate levels on the lawns have been raised everywhere, the red thread problem appears to be disappearing. Although the damaged grass to still evident, the fungus, with it's pink and woolly fruiting bodies has gone now thank goodness. It's tempting to apply another higher nitrogen feed if necessary towards the end of the month, but it's a little late in the year now, and an autumn feed will have to suffice.

At the weekend there were two main events going on, the Bournemouth Air Show, and the Great Dorset Steam Fair. During Saturday morning, I had to spend a couple of hours pruning a cherry tree and some conifers at work, but on my return we headed to the air show. When this is on, Bournemouth is heaving with thousands of people, and whole areas are closed to traffic, with several large 'Park & Ride' schemes in operation to get people in. We opted to park the car a mile and a half out of town, at the start of the gardens walk that takes you all the way to the pier itself. There were all types of aircraft performing, and we arrived in time to see a dogfight between a Spitfire, Mustang, and the aircraft that my father flew during the war, a Messerschmidt 109. It was a strangely emotional time, one that caught me by surprise and had the tears welling, as I picture him at the controls of such a fast and ferocious machine.

There were combat displays by a couple of RAF Tornedos, bi-plane wing walkers, amazing acrobatics with a Lynx helicopter, of course the Red Arrows, and all types of other stuff. The plane that I was waiting for, along with everyone else though, was the Vulcan. It's an impressive bomber, almost silent when in 'quiet' mode flying past, but when the four Olympus engines kick in propery, the roar is awesome. At the event, it was spoken of with affection, and there was mentioning of people affinity and love for it. I found this a little confusing, because spectacular, tremendous and awsome were thought that crossed my mind, not affection. What I saw was an impressive machine that was basically built to drop the atomic bomb, really quite sobering. It never did though, thank goodness, but was instead sent to carry and drop 21, one thousand pound bombs on the airfields during the Falklands War. As you can see, we had quite a good vantage point from the cliff top.

I mentioned the walk through the gardens to Bournemouth earlier, and so let me take you for a while, on a quiet walk with us.

And finally the end near the pier.

It had been a wonderful day, what with the long and gentle walk through the gardens and an air show thrown in as well. Sunday promised to be very exciting, as it was the last day of the Steam Fair. Unfortunately however, the weather men got the forecast totally wrong. It was supposed to have been overcast and dry, but by the time we approached the main entrance the heavens had opened up, and several hours of torrential rain ensued. It had taken us about an hour to drive there, and so rather than just return home (a steam rally is NOT the place to brave the rain!), we decided to just drive and explore the tiny lanes and villages of the area. We even got a little lost....how wonderful it was! The farmers have finally been able to harvest, thanks to the dry weather, but not today though.

Thanks for dropping by!