Following on from the weekend’s escapades, I have to say both of us totally underestimated how tired we’d be. Thankfully we are returning to normal today, but for a couple of days we’ve been walking like John Wayne!
And the bruises! All up my shins, down my carves and I won’t go into too much detail, but I have one the size of a saucer on my arse!!!
Pretty colour though : )
Inspired to do something”together” and something we’ve both fancied trying for a while, the OH and I set off for the local sailing club at the weekend.
Informed we should take waterproofs, clothes we don’t mind getting wet and a complete change of clothes, it was with no little trepidation we took to the water for our “learning to sail” weekend.
The Saturday, for me was great – good instructor, not too strong a wind (but a bit blustery) and lots of new terms to learn. The OH didn’t have such a great time, in part due to an instructor prone to stress, a club that appears to be totally race driven (as in yachting races) and his desire to learn to sail so we can take a dinghy to the middle of a loch/lake, chuck out an anchor and break open a bottle of Pimms to further our never-ending search for a “little more peace, quiet and solitude (let’s sink the hullabaloos-style)”.
I persuaded him to return on the Sunday and explain (at least in part) his situation. This resulted in a grand day for him, and me getting his instructor (and previous sailing partner). The day started ominously for me – a jibe instead of a tack saw us take on water at the first turn. Unbeknown to me, the OH’s new instructor was trying to calm his nerves with the old “this class of boat is seriously difficult to capsize. You know, you really have to try hard. You’ll see later when we do the controlled capsize drill, the guys virtually have to drag the boat over”. At that precise moment, there was waving from the shore, pointing up the lake… nothing was visible of the other boat in that class apart from a hull and centreboard. The occupants
of the boat? Me, my crew and instructor, bobbing about demonstrating the efficiency of a buoyancy aid!
In my defense, there was a sudden gust of wind which, as a novice, I had no idea how to deal with. The instructor probably didn’t have time to react, but the crew should have lifted the centreboard for the manoeuvre we were supposed to be doing. As the gust hit the sail, which were full out for a run up the loch, the centreboard bit hard and sent us for an early, quite chilly bath.
The moral of this story? Always make sure your buoyancy aid is done up REALLY tight, so when someone grabs you by the collar to haul you into the safety boat you’re at least confident you’ll still be in it when it lands on the safety boat deck. Just for the record, I was.
I’ve been thinking about keeping bees for a while now. I’ve read up on the subject, but decided it would be a good idea to get some practical experience before getting my first hive.
With that in mind I decided to join the local association. Through them I met a guy locally who’s willing to show me the beekeeping seasons, all the jobs that need doing, what could go wrong, how to prevent it, how to put it right if it does etc. So every now and then I pop along when he’s out with his bees to see what’s what.
Today, there was something in the air. Can’t say what it was, just a hunch I guess, but I knew as soon as I got there that today was the day. Sure enough, when we’d finished and I’d taken off my suit, I got stung. I’ve been stung before (though not by a honey bee) so I wasn’t worried, but it did hurt more than I was expecting – possibly because it was on my face.
Can’t be a beekeeper and not get stung though – I feel proper now (but I’m sure the novelty will wear off – along with the burning sensation in my cheek!).
When the post slow down it can only mean 1 thing – the weather’s better.
That in turn means there’s seed to sow, plants to plant out, mice to expel from the greenhouse, chooks to evict from the herb patch, bunnies to eradicate from the garden, photos to be taken, grass to cut, weeds to pull, walking to be done, pipes to be dug (we have a problem with out soakaway for the septic tank – as in, there isn’t one!!!) oh, and I have to work full time, clean the house (yes, I really must get round to that) and cook!
When it rains, I might get round to posting on a more regular basis, but until then… 
The other day, the OH was complaining what a labourious, time-consuming and boring task it is to hang socks on the washing line. How, no matter how long you’ve been out there and how many you’ve hung up, you don’t seem to make a dent in the pile.
Having just spent the last half hour [cough] hanging out his hankies – of which there must have been at least 3 million – I have to argue that hankies are worse than socks.
At least with sock you get to play matching pairs games.
