If you’ve been wondering why you haven’t heard from me for a while, it is due to a couple of things. Firstly, my iPhone and secondly, some weird glitch with this site.
I generally spend quite a bit of time writing each entry. After taking into account my typing speed, there is the editing; reading, editing, re-reading, re-editing and so on until I’m happy to post (I’m a bit anal about grammar). With this in mind, you could easily understand my utter frustration when hours of work just disappears. Which is exactly what happened. I spent hours searching for the missing text. I know I didn’t delete it. I didn’t post it or move it to another part of the site. Odd. But then, after a day, it reappeared, only to disappear again! Then, a couple of days later, reappear! Only this time with most of the text missing. I waited a couple of days more to see if the rest of the text would reappear. It didn’t. So, I gave up and started again.
As the title of this entry states, it’s been a difficult few days.....
I noticed a blemish on the lintel I had made, so thought I’d make another. Famous last words!
All started out well. I quickly cut back and shaped the wood.
Then, damn! It happened again. The underside split at the same place as the first attempt. Try again.
I started out on a third piece, but that started to go wrong from the outset. OK, time to stop and have a cup of tea! I was getting wound up. There are times when everything I touch goes wrong, breaks or plain frustrates me, often around the time of the Full Moon. My sleep pattern becomes erratic, too. The street lamps where I am don’t help, either. They are those super-bright, invasive ones I’ve been reading a lot of negative stuff about. With all the technology there is these days, it’s a wonder why they have not been fitted with motion sensors. The light pollution in this town is incredible. I haven’t seen the night sky since I’ve been here. I can’t even make out the brightest constellations!
As I was chilling over my tea, I had another look at the first attempt again. I decided that perhaps I might be able to lose the blemish with some gentle sanding. I find sanding or polishing wood very therapeutic and often get into a state of meditation. So, other than the sanding, I decided to leave well alone for the time being. Instead, I pottered about doing other little jobs.
Michael came over to collect my rubbish and drop off some shopping. We decided to have a go at getting the truck started. I pulled out the temporary battery I was using to charge my mobile power bank which in turn charges my mobile. As I put the new battery that had drained in place, I caught the back of the headlight, smashing the bulb holder and knocking the whole lamp out! Heavy battery versus cheap plastic crap - cheap plastic crap loses! I was really not having a good day! Truck still wouldn’t start. Michael took the charger and battery home. We’ll try another day.
The next day I was up late and feeling tired. Nothing much got done. I lazed around and enjoyed the sunshine.
Since the weather has been warmer, along with the sunshine, passers-by have been saying “hello‘, one or two becoming chatty. I have been asked about what I’m making. With that in mind, I decided to make a little ’introduction‘ sign.
I then decided to service some of my tools and tidy up in the truck. Of my tools, the jump leads needed repairing, the farm, trolley and bottle jacks and the chainsaw needed servicing and the battery charger needed the carry-handle repairing. As Michael took the charger, I couldn’t do that. The jump leads needed new connectors, so I ordered those. All three jacks needed missing circlips replacing. I ordered a selection of those. That left the chainsaw. I bought the chainsaw a few years ago. It was cheap (£83) and came with a three year warranty. I thought that £21 per year was not bad in the event that I had to scrap the thing as soon as the warranty expired. In my experience, generally speaking, if something has a warranty on it of such a short length of time, it will die very soon after the warranty expires. On the other hand, this chainsaw has an engine. Engines are mechanical power units. That means that as long as it is serviced regularly, it should last a lifetime. I took it apart and cleaned everywhere. The spark plug was still good. The switch needed replacing and the wiring had become brittle. I ordered a new switch and replaced the old wiring.
My iPhone is, or more to the point, was an i6. I bought it last year in Street when my previous machine stopped taking charge. That was an i5. At the time, I was in the Gorge near Cheddar on my way to my mate’s place at Churchill. I had to go all the way back to Street as it was the nearest town with a mobile ‘phone shop. I had been having problems with the i6 for a while. I think I mentioned before the trouble I’d been having with the screen; having to tap at it several times before anything responded. There were other issues, too. Well, the screen finally divorced itself from the body.
I didn’t have to wait too long before one of the boys turned up. Daniel found a good replacement for me. It is an i6S, an upgrade of the i6, described to me as sort of halfway between a 6 and a 7. Sadly, I can’t afford anything newer. The prices of mobiles are ridiculous. I cannot warrant spending hundreds of pounds on second-hand mobiles; they’re never worth the asking price. They are flimsy, cheaply put together computers with a very short lifespan. If you’re lucky enough to get one that survives any length of time, it simply becomes obsolete! An utter waste of money.
My absence from the world of the internet was noticed, too. Both Daniel and my sister had received messages enquiring about my wellbeing. I have wonderful friends!
The weather had been glorious and the view of the sunsets where I’m parked is not bad!
While I was waiting to be reconnected to the modern world, I looked at the side of the caravan that the door is on. The door I’m making cannot be hung until I replace the doorway and I cannot replace the doorway until I repair the damage. I also need to repair the wall so that I can fit a new doorframe. The doorframe is very close to the window that was vandalised which now needs dealing with. I may as well replace that, too. The window frame will butt up against the doorframe. With all that in mind, I ought to prepare the surface of the wall, which means bodywork; filling and sanding out all the dinks, etc., then priming and painting. So I made a start on that. I started with what was once the awning rail.
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