Blogs from Sleaford , Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

The maintenance and modifications department has been very busy recently, rumours abound that a little trip is coming up. So here a few of the things which have been happening. The Heki rooflight has always had a small leak, probably something to do with the fact that they are designed to be fitted to flat rooves and our roof is curved, I do like a challenge. The rooflight was also damaged and had an orange mist over it, so it was time to replace it. After shaping pieces of hardwood to compensate for the curve, I used non-setting mastic to stick it all together and to the roof. It really is very sticky stuff and seems to be working well, there have been some heavy showers recently and no leaks have appeared. I previously used Sikaflex ... read more

We have struggled settling back in again after our return from our Greek Oddysey. Ok we are back to swimming in the morning and a visit to the gym. Shopping is back on the menu weekly and it feels at times as if we have not been away at all this year. The house no longer feels large, the bed small, Suzy has had a clean and spruce up inside. Her walls cleaned and smelling of Jasmine, her cooker gleaming although a new one would be a welcome addition, her window replaced . We re-ordered the correct one and it arrived fairly smartish in three days. Glenn fitted it easily and Suzy looks the part now. The fridge seems not to be working but that could be the close proximity to the laurel hedge which forces ... read more

Hi All, We went in search of the remains of a church of The Knights Templar. It is supposed to be one of the few places left in Britain to have any ruins from the Templars. The Templars were big landowners in Lincolnshire and all of their Lincolnshire holdings were run from the church. The church fell into disrepair after the dissolution of the monasteries. After passing through RAF Cranwell, which is the officer training and pilot training college, we went to Byard's Leap. The story goes that an old witch lived on the crossroads of Ermine Street and Newark Road and the locals were very afraid of this powerful and ugly old crone. One day a knight was passing by, returning from the crusades, and the locals asked him to help them get rid of ... read more

It's just gone 3am and I am sitting up blogging. It will be my last day contracting today before I take a week off to pack the last bits and chill out before flying off. It is getting real now as the day gets closed and is really exciting. I have my headphones on and am learning my Thai. I seem to pick up the words so slowly although Helen is finding it just as hard so I'm not so stupid :-) We have a hotel booked at Gatwick the night before and was going to drive down in my car but it seems to have developed a water leak so that is being looked at, it means we have had to re-insure Helens car instead of selling it, but its just one small glitch in ... read more