Good morning Saturday. You have fed me well and your Marcus Wareing inspired rosti potatoes were the best yet. Your cup of tea is being enjoyed and I will shortly be indulging in a hot shower before setting off for the day proper. This will involve a journey to the end of the world as I know it, or as described by some, the shed at the bottom of the garden. There is nothing beyond the tall garden fence. An unknown wilderness where voices are occasionally to be heard but never seen.
I foresee a mixed day ahead with a jobs list combining with rugby watching and poultry preparation. Tonight’s repast will be based around a peri peri chicken. It is a little known fact that farmers, when scattering the daily seedcorn in the farmyard will examine the pecking hens and quietly register which ones will be destined for a sunday roast with all the trimmings, which for chicken curry, flavour of your choosing, and which will be either barbecued or periperi’d. Believe it. A chicken, of all the creatures roaming this wonderful planet, is most likely to have its destiny preordained by the great god Giles who provides all poultry sustenance.
My jobs list today takes me to all corners of the known world. In the TV room I shall be erecting a framework for family photos and in Trefsgreenhouse.com you will be able to watch live action of me touching up the sealant around the garden coffee table. Erecting a framework is a fairly dramatic way of describing putting up a baton that will be used to attach photo frames with velcro.
In the meantime the cricket from Chennai is giving no cause for concern. Just like the British weather this can change at a moment’s notice but for now all is well. The weather at home is indeed changing. Not as I speak nor so quickly that we are constantly refreshing the weather forecast app to observe the change. Not in the same way that we would check for US Election updates. It is enough for the moment to look out of the window, perhaps glancing to the horizon in search of lighter skies, or dark clouds approaching.
As I now publish this the news from the subcontinent is that we are 555 for 8 at the close with Root having knocked 218. A satisfactory ending to the day.
Just had a very pleasant chat with one of our van hirers discussing options on where to go in May. This is something I really like to do. Our customers are pretty much always nice people. I think the nature of the game is such that the people who want to hire a vintage VW campervan are a happy go lucky friendly bunch who take life as it comes and have a positive attitude.
This particular customer was based in Hull and trying to figure out the best place to go for his week. I think we concluded that moving around every night did not make for the most relaxing holiday if you were going to spend half of it driving. We quite often stay in one spot for 2 or 3 nights and spend our time exploring the area (and pubs).
I am now feeling quite good about things. This year with the government telling people not to bother with overseas holidays and to focus on staying in the UK we have seen a big rise in preseason bookings and interest. It helped getting some serious coverage on various BBC outlets. It began with an article on staycation on the BBC News website and was quickly followed by great coverage on BBC Look North prime time news and the BBC Radio Lincolnshire breakfast show on the same subject.
This year we have upped our game with the booking system and now use one that lets people choose their dates and book without having to call us. This makes life a lot easier for everyone and to be quite frank about it it is great seeing bookings pop into our email inbox without us having to do anything 🙂
Still happy to take calls and emails though if folk have questions. We are still a couple of months away from the start of the season which this year we are hoping will also coincide with the end of lockdown and the opening up of the countryside. In the meantime snow is forecast for Lincoln. Stay safe everyone.
Now watching Italy v France. It’s on ITV. Never been a big fan of the ITV commentary. This game is followed by England v the Auld Enemy, also on ITV. Fortunately the main event which is Wales v Oireland is on the Beeb tomorrow. The Beeb has never been able to recreate the heady heights of Bill McLaren but they aren’t bad, especially if Jonathan Davies is on.
Drilled a few holes in plant pots. The ones that had started to look like firebuckets. The drilling had the desired effect. The plants will be happier for it. As I finished I heard some loud revving from the allotments behind and popped out through the back gate to satisfy my curiosity. I got there just as the big red long wheelbase transit escaped from a mud bath leaving deep ruts behind. I’m talking maybe a foot deep. Some other chap was stood there with spade in hand having obviously just been to the rescue. Rather him than me. I’d have got dirty. The chap with the spade was geared for the weather and the allotment mud. Good job they have spades on allotments innit.
It is now chucking it down again and I am totally stranded in the shed. I could be here for weeks were it not for the fact that I have a coat and the house is only 25 m away. And an umbrella fwiw. 2 brollies actually. It’s a High Availability umbrella strategy. The other thing about not being here weeks is that I don’t have enough supplies to last that long. Plus we are having piri piri chichen later, as you know. The supplies I refer to are liquid. There is only so much diet coke you can drink.