Micro self-sufficiency update, roofing & the news

I've been a busy bunny today. It's funny how you wake up wondering what you're going to get up to and resign yourself to doing little or absolutely nothing. The Sunday blues as I knew them...
Well I've actually done rather a lot on my vegetable plot and it's nearly ready for planting my first crop.

I needed to move an enormous pampas grass from the plot which had taken root. It used to be home to a particularly lively swarm of bees but other than that has served no practical use whatsoever.

I managed to uproot it after some considerable effort and I've simply rolled it out of the way until I can decide what to do with it.
My seedlings are also doing very well indeed. The rocket is shooting up and my other herbs are also beginning to sprout small shoots.

I was very surprised to see three shoots in my honeydew melon propagator appear this morning. They look strong and healthy so I'm hoping I will producing my own melons in a few months time. I will have to give serious thought to a frame for supporting the plants and fruit though I will continue to grow them in the conservatory as the temperature is ideal.

In separate news, we've had the roof to the model railway cabin re-done, and very nice it is too. You'll recall from previous posts that it was prone to leaking. Thankfully this has now been fixed and it is fully water-tight.

Finally, in the last week, we have seen what can only be described as 'news overload'. There have been local and international events which have angered us, amazed us, shocked us and saddened us. I do hope we can return to some level of normality, whatever that is. But it will certainly be a week remembered for all sorts of different reasons.

Another step forward

Today I received a letter from the bus company I'm soon hoping to be working for. It asked for me to sign a copy and return which I did straight away. It also said that they would be in touch to let me know the date and time of my medical. Provided I pass this, then they look forward to welcoming me to a 'rewarding and enjoyable' career. Little do they know that this has been my career of choice since I was old enough to speak. So I'll wait now for the appointment details for my medical. As I mentioned previously, I am on a strict diet in the hope that I can get my weight down. I'm not starving myself but I am cutting out all the snacks I used to eat during the day and the evening. I've actually managed to supplement them with carrots, which I do enjoy and also find quite filling.

In other news, my parents today received a letter from their bank telling them they had credited their account with the money paid to those crooks at First Class Trucking Ltd, who recently went into administration whilst owing tens of thousands of pounds to many unfortunate people. What I do find ridiculous though is the fact that having credited the money they also threaten to take the money back if it's found that the course was made available. I would have thought common sense would dictate that the money should be credited once the investigation was complete and the bank had no doubts whatsoever that the vendor was at fault...
Call me Mr Picky but surely that's normal practice?
So I'll be writing a further letter to them pointing out the error of their ways.
Some good news then and certainly a significant step forward in my grand plan but an erroneous outcome with the bank...

On the vegetable garden, birds have been eating my seedlings so I have deployed garden netting in the hope that I can prevent them from getting close to my plants.

Having blamed the birds, I have just caught a slug on its way to munch through another of my seedlings. Luckily I was able to stop the bugger and deploy him swiftly to next door's garden...

Thoughts for a Tuesday

Things are pretty OK at the moment. I have that comfortable feeling that tells me everything's all right - not perfect - just all right.

I applied for a position at a bus company in Peterborough today. They are looking for people who want to complete their training for their full PCV license. It'll be nice if they invite me for an interview but I will write to them if they turn me down as I'd like to know why.

Financially it's a struggle as usual. We're forever having to budget and economise wherever we can. I imagine many households are the same at the moment and I expect there are people in a worst state to us. At least we currently have our home and should be OK for the next few months, insurance company permitting of course.

I planted a load more seeds this afternoon. I was encouraged by the fact that most of my seeds have started to grow. This time I planted five trays of large King Carrots. They should grow during the next few months. I'm going to cordon-off my vegetable patch as soon as I have the materials. It'll keep the dog away plus segregate it from the rest of the garden. I'll do a v-log nearer completion.

Sunday was a great day. We visited Sacrewell Farm for the second year running for the Peterborough Bus Rally. The weather was very good - we had no rain while all around us it seems there were storms. It wasn't until we left and headed for Wisbech did we then drive through what I can only describe as a monsoon.
There was a fantastic selection of vintage buses and we took full advantage of the free rides to Wansford and the Nene Valley Railway. I'll be uploading a short video compilation to YouTube in the next few days.

It's a nice feeling when, even though your son is at school, you can hear him from the garden. This is the case with my son and as I work in the garden, I can hear him shouting a few hundred yards away. It's comforting to know that he's not far away and I'm lucky to be able to hear him having fun with the other children instead of worrying that he's OK.

Good luck to everyone planning to have a shot at the Euromillions lottery tonight. Frankly whoever wins the jackpot could probably buy Greece or at least one of it's islands.

Preparing the vegetable patch

I'm exhausted, really exhausted. I started work on my vegetable patch this afternoon so it's ready for my seedlings when they've matured a little. I made a good start - until my aged ground fork decided to snap... Luckily my father had one or two spare so I popped over to collect it and I was up and running again.
I've made quite good progress. The soil was far better than I expected. We had covered the ground with gravel so I removed as many as I could before digging. I was pleased to see the soil was actually very healthy - not clay-like at all, full of worms and nicely aerated.

I need to turn over the remainder of the patch but I'm seriously considering using a small rotavator as I really want the soil turned well and fully broken down ready for planting. I'll have a look around to see if I can hire one locally for a day or two.
The weather for the next few days is changeable with lower temperatures and rain, some of it prolonged and heavy. My seedlings should benefit well. The pampas grass will be a challenge to move. We've tried burning it and poisoning it but it just won't die. We've even had a colony of bees set up home in it. It has to go I'm afraid as it's now sitting on my vegetable patch.