29th August
June’s chalet is almost there – photo’s later today as I have some minor jobs to finish off before the photo op. The ceiling has been delayed by a week due to the incompetence of XPD couriers who delayed a delivery by two days, claimed the goods had been delivered at 05:01 in the morning and then delivered on the forth day without notification – miraculously without damage! Note to self – check courier before placing an eBay order in the future.
Mum has been with us for a few days to get a change of scenery. We went to Hollol Gymraeg for brunch the other day, a lovely cafe at Nantycaws – off the A48 – overlooking the Black Mountains. We got to christen the chalet with a glass of fizz in the late afternoon sunshine and just chilling and reminiscing of days gone by.
The “bees” nest in last years Nut Hatch’s tree hole has turned out to be a hornets one. From the inter web, they are allegedly less harmful than wasps and will buzz loudly before attacking. That’s great news unless you are audibly deteriorating (going deaf) like what I is. So I will keep away from that tree and not poke sticks in the hole. I trimmed the bank edge next to the lower path and to be safe, I attached myself to a safety line between a couple of trees with the hope that if I slipped (with the petrol brush cutter), I would not fall far. It worked quite well but took June’s help to unclip myself when I finished.
We are off to sort out fine details for the new kitchen tomorrow. We’ve bitten the bullet and put down the deposit for one from Leekes – units only. I decided to install it myself, but will get someone in to fit the worktops. The local electrician has offered the loan of his wall chaser and will come and do the certification of wiring and the chiropractor has offered his services with anything heavy that needs moving. I definitely feel a skip coming on.
Pictures later today on the chalet.
15th August
Well last month I wondered where the last year had gone, but on Friday 13th I wondered where the last 44 years had gone. It was our wedding anniversary and we extended it over two days; the actual anniversary with cards, flowers, little presents and lunch out, followed by a Saturday afternoon tea, with glass of Prosecco, at the Lamphey Court Hotel, near Pembroke. As used to be said by some, “here come the Gardners, joined at the hip”. All these decades on and still best friends and still in love – there’s staying power for you boyo. We came back via Tenby to see the sea and town, unfortunately it was heaving with tourists and gridlocked with cars. We did manage to park-up overlooking South Beach, but previous holidays there were just memories. Knowing I have an “interest” in electronics, June got me a little robot kit – with sounds and a flashing led – and Bluetooth controlled from my iPad or phone. Well that’s me sorted on a wet Sunday afternoon.
I have decided recently that I basically hate plumbing. The simple bit of cold water plumbing for the chalet has tested my knowledge to the limit with weeping compression joints for over a week while trying more drastic solutions. The leaks had to be fixed as the pipes were being buried behind the wall cladding and therefore inaccessible. After trying PTFE tape and jointing compound, I resorted to YouTube for guidance and after replacing the copper tails and new olives, plus PTFE tape, they finally became leak free. Cloakroom plumbing sorted, I just need to dig a trench and cut into sewage manhole – making sure all tools are firmly attached to bits of string.
It looks like the plum trees will be coming down before next season. The Victoria plumb was doing nicely and about a week ago was laden with almost ripe fruit. Four nights ago I went out and picked 3 ripe plumbs by torchlight (when the wasps sleep). June eat them and they were perfect. I went out last night to gather in the harvest and picked 8, I repeat just 8, as that was all that remained. The guilty parties were a magpie, seen running across the lawn with a plumb in its beak, and the squirrels, spotted sitting in the tree chomping on the fruit. The main culprit is currently sitting on the bird feeder two feet from where I am sitting, she’s watching me through the window and snacking on muesli – not a care in the world. The other plumb tree is more of a greengage, currently plastered with unripe fruit, just waiting to be stripped by thieves.
The chalet is now starting to really come together with walls, doors and floors painted, skirting fitted, cloakroom walls and floor done. Will start on ceiling this week with battening and polystyrene insulation, then the cladding. The floor has been painted with Ronseal Diamond Hard Floor Paint (Satin Slate) and so far lives up to its name, plus low odour and easy to apply. I’m starting to get withdrawal symptoms for my garage as there is so much furniture and building materials piled up, I can only access the first 2m. I might have to resort to looking back at old photo’s to remember what it looked like, but on a positive side, it will be exciting finding all those things I’ve forgotten about – Christmas again!
1st August
Well they say that you should never go back. After being released from lockdown, we decided to have a look at Neath – a once quiet town we both knew well from our childhood and had lots of fond memories. In fact, June was born and lived for her first 7 years in the Melyn, on the edge of the town and I spent my early years with BT based in Neath.
I was aware of the bypass from trips many years ago, but checking out the current local roads was a shock to say the least. Ah, just along here is the council office, no, now a Wilco multi story car park and down this road is where, again no, not any more. Too many one way, pedestrian areas and parked cars to get a good look at the town centre from the car. There seemed to be a profusion of estate agents, take outs and coffee shops. Oh look wasn’t that a garage, now an eatery. The town gardens and band stand are still there but the library is now houses. The Cozy Cafe at the end of Windsor Road has gone – I used to have a pie, beans and chip lunch there when I was 13 and had a Saturday job in Llewelyn’s Radio helping out putting batteries in radios for customers, repairing things, putting plugs on TV’s etc etc. The Wimpy is no longer there; I’d call in for a brown derby (doughnut, ice cream and chocolate sauce) after brass band practice. June’s old two up – two down terrace house in Payne Street looked the same but seemed so small for three adults and a child, perhaps it now has an inside toilet. After mentioning our trip to Neath, people have commented about the daytime drug problem and that someone was stabbed recently, then look at us and ask “why visit Neath?”
We then took the scenic route up through Tonna, now missing the school where my mother was secretary and I used to run discos, and past Tonna hospital where June had her tonsils removed. Continuing on up the Neath valley to Clyne to the house where I lived from 12 till leaving home. Shock and despair are words that come to mind as we parked up and just stared at the tip its become. The house was named Glyn Coed or in English, valley of the trees. Now there remains one original solitary elder. The silver birch that dad tapped for the sap and the oak tree that mum picked the leaves for wine, both gone along with dads garage to be replaced by three shagged out lorries. The lawn that I spent many of my youthful hours mowing looks like a field, the fish pond had been filled in and the apple tree I climbed as a child has long gone. A sad sight that we don’t wish to repeat. My sister found some old pictures showing the house as we like to remember it.
As it was lunch time, we thought we would call in the Dulais Rock pub for something to eat. After a few detours with the new road system, we found it; dilapidated and resembling the house from Bates Motel. When we got engaged all those decades ago, we had scampi provincial for lunch there to celebrate. It seems it was due for renovation, but it got stripped by locals. I stopped outside my old secondary school at Cadoxton and it looked basically the same as when I went there. The only noticeable difference was the absence of the weather station that I built in my 4th year had been replaced by two portakabins. We had planned on driving through Skewen and past our first house on Crymlyn Road, but due to a one way system, we missed the turning – perhaps another time – or not. June saw the house for sale a couple of years ago and the bathroom still had the lilac bath that I installed over 40 years ago, complete with its custom end cupboard. Testament to my diy skills or occupiers who CBA.
On a brighter note, June had her first solo drive in over a year and a walk up to the stables on the hill behind us – independence returned. I on the other hand, slipped in the bath and bruised/cracked a rib after falling only 6” back into the water – no tidal wave but obviously too much soap! So coughing, sneezing, painting and plastering cause a few choice words followed by “shouldn’t have done that”.
