Allotment Heaven

Only fleeting visits to the allotment over the last few days, what with working Tuesday and Wednesday and a hospital visit on Wednesday. Although I've managed to do a bit of strimming here and there to tidy things up, the luxury of almost 90 minutes meant I could fit in taking some geranium cuttings from home & potting up to get them started before it starts getting cold and dark. Unfortunately it's turning that way all too quickly.

Also managed to hack back the growth threatening to engulf the rhubarb planted a few weeks ago. Cue much interest from the chickens. They've not been able to scratch around in my raised beds since the barrier was constructed, and although they've got the whole of the extra plot plus compost bins to find food they insisted on attacking around the rhubarb when first planted. Had to keep pushing them away until they got the message.

The Pashley bike is back in Halfords. Is it me, or am I just unlucky with bikes? This time it's back to have the gear selector fixed. Cycling up to the allotment on Monday evening I had difficulty changing gear, & then the top of the gear selector came loose. Stuck in fifth gear, the remaining trip was a combination of walking & red faced cycling.

Back in the garage I took it apart in advance of adjusting the gears (not too hard... it gives guidance in the manual). Appeared that I'd lost a spring. Started to reassemble, now in a miserable mood. As I stretched for a screwdriver the mechanism pinged upwards under pressure from the cable. Having executed a perfect arc through the air, I found the main part a few feet away on the garage floor. As for the two small washers originally on top of that... they had executed an even more impressive arc through the air and were somewhere in amongst all the toys and other stuff stored in the garage. Cue much cursing and moaning as well as fruitless searching. So having taken the bike in today I'm waiting for Halfords to realise they need to order the parts, order them, fit them and then tell me they've finished... I'll be lucky to have the bike back in less than a month.

Of course I have a spare bike don't I? Wrong... had a spare bike. Son John, in the process of moving out on Monday, asked if anyone in the extended family had a bike they don't use. I'm sure he knew I had one when he asked. End result is he carted it off to enable him to cycle to work and the gym and save money on petrol... the importance of which he's realising after doing his first shop. Oh, and of course the bike is now referred to as 'his'.

Huge success on the squash front on Tuesday. I won 3-0 despite a creaky back! As usual son David's version was he'd lost the game to me because he wasn't playing well (I never seem to actually win). That now makes the score:

First half year - 1-0 to David
Last half year - 1-1 in months, Sep score 2-1 to David, Sep games 6-6

Since I also currently hold the tennis title against Barry, sports-wise I'm definitely in the ascendancy, After the debacle over the Pashley I need to be on the up for something!