Mainly snow and water

Lake Tueda, Meribel Mottaret, February 2026

The skiing holiday was another good one, affected only slightly by one of our party (P) falling on the third day. Sitting on the piste, he was in immense pain around the left shoulder and thought it was dislocated; the paramedic on skis (Damien) thought it probably wasn't. Damien called an ambulance which arrived very promptly and delivered the patient to the local medical centre, where an X-ray confirmed a break right through the humerus just below the shoulder. P came back in a brace along with industrial strength French painkillers, including opium powder. We all hoped he would start wearing a smoking jacket and writing romantic poetry, but no, he just winced and went a bit grey and silent whenever the shoulder was disturbed. There followed some discussion with the insurance company, who finally came up with a plan to fly him home, accompanied by his wife, on the same day that the rest of us came home by train.

Aside from that notable event, the rest of the holiday went very well. In advance it had looked as though the weather would be very bad, but actually the clouds came in and it started to snow only on the last day. I went out with JW anyway despite the difficult conditions, and enjoyed his graceful dives into a couple of soft snow drifts. It started to snow again when it was lunchtime and we were just next to a restaurant; when we were ready to carry on the snow had stopped, so that was perfect.

One afternoon I decided to stay out a bit longer than my companions, and confirmed the fact that I have absolutely no sense of direction or navigational skills. I planned a route that would definitely not take me into an adjacent valley, only to find myself in the adjacent valley on a slope that was challenging to say the least. I managed to get myself back, but skied for about an hour longer than was sensible.

Back home I had to return to all the aspects of life that disappear on holiday. I took mum for a CT scan, which she found very helpful and I found very interesting. My main role was translating and transmitting whatever the various clinicians say to mum because they a) mumble and/or speak very fast b) use jargon c) have strong accents and d) don't look at her when they talk. 

At Lola Towers there is still water penetrating through my front wall. Glf (current favourite of all my tradesmen) came and had a look and we have a plan that includes contacting Severn Trent Water to see if it might be a leak around the water meter. The third estate agent visited; his estimate comes somewhere between the first and the second. Before I put it on the market I have decided to get the front painted, if it ever stops raining. I'm still waiting for a decorator to give me a date before the end of February to do some of the interior painting that's needed, and if we get on OK I'll ask if he'll do the outside work too. If not, estate agent 2 gave me a possible lead.

Pointing

April 2025

Glf is a very good bloke as well as a bricklayer and did a wonderful job on my wall on the pub side, nearly four years ago now. So when I needed the chimneys pointing, he should have been my first port of call instead of the cowboys who persuaded me that they could do it without scaffolding.

The job involved a lot of coordination between the Glf and the company with the scaffolding, which led to a few weeks' delay.  They all turned up first thing on Friday to case the joint, plans were made and the scaffolding started to go up for the first chimney, which took all day. It was decided that a separate scaffold tower was needed for the other chimney, so that was erected the following Thursday. 

I actually climbed up to the top to have a look, and sat for a while just experiencing the discomfort of fear. I couldn't manage to take any pictures that time, but I overcame the fear and went up again a few days later and did take some of my own pictures - the weather was beautiful and I had a lovely view of my neighbours' gardens.

Glf appears to have done a similarly good job on the chimneys, and even came to my rescue and fixed things when the scaffold people broke my key safe. He wasn't able to help with a leak that is discolouring the ceiling right next to the front door, but has given me some contact details for roofers who may be able to help.

I haven't yet contacted the roofers because, in time-honoured fashion, I have taken on too much and have passed peak efficiency into a state of frazzled panic in case I forget anything important. I was looking forward to a clear weekend when I hoped to catch up, but sadly a family member died and I was called away. Lola II came with me and made the weekend much better (for both visitors and for host, I think) and we were even able to be useful by helping to look at possible venues for the food and drink after the cremation. 

With a stint of volunteering to come, I am trying to do just one thing at a time. When I remember to calm my mind, everything is fine.

Doing well

Helidon church, March 2024

Looking back, it's exactly three years since Glf the builder did such a good job of restoring and pointing my wall on the pub side. The reason for looking back is that the roofer pictured in the last blog post (newly named Hlf) highlighted that my two chimney stacks badly need pointing. I'm pretty sure that this was mentioned in the survey that was done when I bought the house more than twenty years ago, which just reminds me how far I've come since the time when I'm pretty sure I didn't know what pointing was.

Hlf discussed the options with me, decided that he could do the job without needing scaffolding, and has provided a quotation on that basis (and I only had to chase him twice). I asked Glf to come and have a look too but he wasn't prepared to take it on without scaffolding, and his quote (only one gentle reminder needed) is obviously twice as much as Hlf's. I'll offer it to Hlf, but being accustomed to the ways of the workmen I am very much prepared for him not to follow through, and then I'll fall back on Glf (who can't schedule the job until spring anyway).

Being able to take on workmen and get back to the LTRP has demonstrated that at the moment I am in pretty good shape, physically and mentally. This hasn't been the case for much of this year. Nothing dreadful, nothing specific, but I'd fallen into unhealthy and unhelpful habits which were proving tough to break. Several things have helped: the support of friends and family (often without them knowing about their part in my welfare), but also pulling myself together through meditation and reflection. The retreat in July gave me a really good opportunity to come up with a plan, which was slightly derailed by a couple of things, but is now working quite well. Apart from cutting out the chocolate and Wotsits, I have been seeing a Personal Trainer. Let's call him Muscles.

Muscles is young and fit (obviously) and has been leading me through some fairly gentle preliminary exercises involving what the experts describe as my 'core' muscles - pelvis, bum and abdomen mostly. Having been fairly fit in the past, I now recognise that I had really let myself go, despite playing badminton twice a week. I also recognise that while Muscles is quite an expensive option in comparison to classes at the local leisure centre, it is unlikely that I would achieve the same results under my own initiative.

I feel comfortable paying for Muscles because the payments ended for my orthodontic treatment a while ago, and now the alignment work is complete. It feels very strange to be without the aligners and I now seem to have developed the habit of unconsciously chewing my lips and the inside of my mouth which is very annoying. I have a night-time retainer to wear, and a visit to my new and slightly annoying dental hygienist has resulted in a further plea for additional attention to my night-time brushing routine.

As usual I've been cramming an enormous amount into my days, including the U3A walking and board games groups, a trip to the local Repair Café, my several Buddhist groups (in person and online), and my monthly music group. Leading up to each of the music sessions I inwardly groan about loading all the gear into the car and spending a whole afternoon with the group, but afterwards I'm always on a high for a day or two and ponder whether I've got time to squeeze more music into my life. This term the pieces that have been chosen are really good fun to play but also really hard, particularly for the baritone saxophone, which demands a lot of physical effort to play.

I also went to a comedy night featuring comedian Mark Watson. I was vaguely aware that he attended the same college as I did (many years after my time), but what I didn't know was that Suella Braverman, former Home Secretary and current Evil Gnome, was also there at the same time as him. I rather lost concentration on the comedy material for a few minutes when this became clear.

I'm going to have a bit of time off, with a weekend retreat leading into a week's solitary time. Now it's time to pack.

A lot of Buddhism

From Sangharakshita's collection, Adhisthana

I've been doing a lot of Buddhism recently. Our local group meets every Tuesday evening, my study group with people from Birmingham is every Monday evening, and I've joined another local study group on a provisional basis, which takes place fortnightly on Thursdays. There have been a couple of occasions when I've gone to the Birmingham Buddhist Centre on other days, and we've also been running an introductory course on meditation and Buddhism for newcomers, and a weekend retreat in Herefordshire. And I do most of the admin for the group - things like emails about Tuesday meetings and who is going to bring the milk and planning future meetings.

Thanks to the miracle that is Zoom, we held the introductory course in person while the regulars met at the same time on Zoom, then at the end of the course the newcomers were invited to carry on attending and the regulars joined us in the village hall. I wasn't supposed to be involved with the introductory course, but one of the teachers had to drop out because of illness in her family, so I was asked to stand in. Thirteen people had signed up to attend, and most stayed for all four weeks and expressed an interest in carrying on. It was the first time we'd had to run a course ourselves - previously an ordained Buddhist had always helped us out - but I think it went pretty well.

The retreat was quite a significant event. Retreats can be just a day, or a weekend, or a week, or much longer. During lockdown the idea of online retreats appeared, which are still taking place but don't appeal to me as much as attending in person, because one of the main aspects of a retreat is to take a break from ordinary life and focus on Buddhist practice. Not so easy to do at home, when you can't even turn the computer off because that's how the content is delivered.

This retreat was specifically aimed at three small groups, each of which would not be able to supply enough people to warrant their own event. The significance was also that for three of our group it was their first retreat experience and for two more it was only their second.

We travelled to the retreat centre through Storm Eunice, but the journey was completely uneventful apart from it being rather windy. We even managed a walk on Saturday with brief periods of sunshine and no rain. The rest of the time there were talks, meditation, a communication exercise, ritual, reflection, and discussion in groups. I had been asked to facilitate a group, which put me on the organising team as well as wanting to make the first timers as comfortable as possible. Usually I return refreshed and energised, but I got a bit worn out with the responsibility. It was still a great experience which I think helped to bring the group together and make it stronger.

So after a rest on Monday I welcomed Glf back to do the pointing on the front wall of the house, which I hope will prevent damp coming through to the Auditorium. I have given up on finding a roofer for two reasons - one is the stormy weather that means many people need a roofer more than I do, and the other is that the leak is so small and intermittent that I doubt we'll find its source until it becomes worse. So I'm prepared to wait until it does get worse. The LTRP isn't over, though - the lawn needs mowing again and it may be time to do something about the garden next.

Glf pointing, February 2022

Boosting and boredom

Witley Court, June 2021

Not much of note going on here at Lola Towers as the winter sets in, and we are approaching a time when we ought to stop socialising due to the ongoing pandemic, but instead we are about to embark on the annual round of super-socialising. Our leaders have nobody's interests in mind but their own and those of their rich friends, and consider the rules designed to keep us safe and the NHS tottering on applicable to anyone but themselves. It is contemptible.

With that off my chest, I can report that the vaccine booster programme seemed likely to need all the people it could muster, so thinking I would be needed I logged on to see what vaccination shifts might be available, and signed up to a few. On the first of these, quite a few people joined me who had not been vaccinating regularly for a few months, and there weren't many of us, so I was ready to be rushed off my feet. During the whole 8-hour shift only 150 people turned up to be vaccinated (at our busiest we can manage between 500 and 600) and I nearly died of boredom. 

The next shift was similarly well-staffed, and even fewer people came. I volunteered to go home early - in the remaining 6 hours there were only 24 people booked in. We think that the main problem is lack of advertising the availability of vaccination boosters, combined with the hospital's notorious parking problems. But we may be wrong. Other parts of the country are reporting 4-hour waiting times. In our little Portakabin nobody waited more than 30 seconds.

Back home Ilf had finished the majority of the decorating except for a couple of bits where the damp was evident, and Glf the builder came to have a look. He will come back in the spring for the pointing, and recommended a roofer who has not yet turned up. The LTRP really is a gift that keeps on giving. I was also quite uncertain about the colour I had chosen for the hall, which ought to be apricot but looks suspiciously pink in certain lighting conditions. I am getting used to it.

There has been a badminton match, which we won, and a trip to see mum and dad in which I battled with the phone and broadband company, and I think we won that bout as well. I dithered about whether it would be responsible to attend various social events, and decided to cancel the Buddhist film night but attend the Mr MXF company Christmas dinner, which was lovely. I even visited Lola II and Mr M on the way, and it's been a long time since I was there.

Christmas cards are written and sent and the few presents I require are wrapped and waiting downstairs. All that's needed now is for the Government to institute further measures to try and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. I wonder if they will?

Retreat

Adhisthana, October 2021

I've been away on a lovely retreat in the Herefordshire countryside. Because the retreat centre is situated close to where Bee Lady and Landrover Man live, I arranged to drop in on them for lunch before the retreat started. 

I was all ready, packed, sorted, had bought some chocolates as a present for BL and LRM, and was on my way home from a vaccination shift when the car started to sound odd. I stopped, about a mile from home, and discovered that I had a puncture.

First I was cross, mainly with myself, because the garage had pointed out the state of my tyres at my MOT but said they probably had about two to three thousand miles left in them and it was two thousand miles since then. Then I pulled myself together, opened the boot and had a rummage. It's been a very long time since the heady days when I considered myself even slightly competent at manual tasks - with relative wealth comes the ability to delegate unwanted tasks to paid help. Anyway, there was a wheel, a jack and various other bits and pieces including a gadget that turned out to be for getting the fancy bolt covers off the bolts, and the special shaped anti-theft lock nut, so I knuckled down and got started.

No fewer than three people stopped to offer help, and I expect more would have done so except that when the third one turned up I was having a bit of trouble getting the wheel off, so he did it for me and then put the spare on and tightened the bolts and recommended his preferred tyre place in town. Except that it was now 5.02 p.m. and they shut at 4.30. Kwik Fit, however, was still open even though they shut at 5, and I asked them very nicely if they would mind helping, and they did. So I gave them BL and LRM's chocolate, and wrapped up some flowers that had been in my house for a week or so to give to BL and LRM instead.

Bee Lady and Former Landrover Man are very well, and living in a new place with different walks, so we had lunch and did a walk and it was lovely. Then on to the retreat which allowed me to turn off all electronics for nearly a week - no social media, internet, email, nothing. It was like taking life and pressing pause. My only responsibilities were to try and keep and eye on the time and turn up for things like meals and talks, but if I hadn't even done that it would still have been fine.

Coming home and plunging straight back into the modern world after that sort of break can be jarring, so I didn't turn the phone or computer on for a day, but manage to get jobs done in a meditative way, like more pruning, laundry, cooking. While I'd been away Glf had finished the pointing, which looks very fine and makes me happy that there's only one job left in the first round of the LTRP - decorating the porch and downstairs hall.

And then I turned all the gadgets back on, but tried very hard not to go down some of the rabbit holes that suck time out of my life, and I've done quite well so far. I have another retreat booked (at a different centre) in November, to top up my level of chill.

Let the Games Begin!

Birmingham, September 2021

A busy week after the week's holiday, starting with a trip to see mum and dad that incorporated a Zoom interview with Guide Dogs. I thought it went pretty well, and they sent me a lot of information to read afterwards. I will be invited to the centre in person to meet a dog handler next, but haven't heard anything yet. On a subsequent visit to mum and dad I helped them get to their Covid booster jab appointment. The chap who was checking appointment times and supervising the 15-minute wait recognised mum as the person who had taught his daughter 13 years previously. Just like at the cemetery earlier in the year...

I was intending to do lots for Mr MXF this week, but kept finding more pressing things to do, including another walk with the Leamington History Group, taking another 10 bags of garden cuttings to the tip,  and cleaning the house from top to bottom (it really needed it). But I did get round to a bit of work, and by this week I'd really got to the bottom of one of the problems I was having. Progress at last - Mr MXF always seems delighted at what I've managed to do, even if I do get the impression that he would have been able to achieve the same results in a tenth of the time.

Thursday badminton has started again, and hasn't gone too badly despite the fact that a whole lot of members have decided not to return. I'm one of the younger players in the Thursday club, and I think during the prolonged break many older members found better things to do, and they also are more aware of the risks of returning to serious exercise in an enclosed space. In contrast I'm one of the older players in my Monday club, which seems to be thriving, but I'm still doing the Buddhism class on Mondays so can't go.

I signed up to a whole lot of lectures as part of the Cambridge Alumni Festival, including subjects as diverse as punishment in Victorian workhouses, the treachery of Edward VIII (the Duke of Windsor), the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, the latest thinking about Calories, the role of the statistician during a pandemic, the gut microbiome, and the history of computing at Cambridge University. All very interesting, with the oddest thing being the nature of actually listening to a live talk. All programming used to be like this - you can't pause the talk if the phone or doorbell rings - but it's been a long time since I've listened to anything live.

The next phase of the LTRP continues with the pointing of my wall on the pub garden side. While I was away camping, Glf was digging out the old decaying mortar, which generated a vast amount of dust. While in the wilds of Yorkshire with no phone signal I missed several calls from the pub manager followed by a very cross message saying that the dust was all over his pub furniture and he was going to charge me for cleaning it. I managed to get hold of Glf, who was very apologetic and agreed to get in touch with him, after which I got another message from the pub manager asking me to ignore the previous message as he'd calmed down a bit now. Glf was back this week to do the pointing, and it all looks very lovely.

The most interesting thing to happen recently has been my interview for the role of volunteer at the Commonwealth Games next year. It started badly due to the train sitting at an intermediate station for a whole hour ('a fault on the track'), but the kind volunteer at the venue (Birmingham's Central Library) fast-tracked me through so I didn't miss my time slot. 

First there was an exhibit all about the different venues that will be used, with cases showing things like medals and videos showing highlights from the last Games. Then there was a ridiculously over-the-top video which stated that without question the Commonwealth Games would be the greatest event that the world had ever seen and would end all disease and war and bring together the whole nation/Commonwealth in a frenzy of joy and positivity. I'm not joking - at that point I truly thought that if they wanted me to reflect this level of enthusiasm I would have to withdraw my application. 

Luckily the interview itself was much more sensible, and all I had to do was come up with some examples of times when I had e.g. been interested in sport, showed some initiative, communicated within a team, put myself forward for something a bit challenging etc. Running a conference for RNIB, being thoroughly obsessed with badminton and volunteering to be a Covid vaccinator provided plenty of satisfactory material. Then I was measured for a uniform (including hat), had my photo taken, and that was it. I'll find out in the New Year whether I've been picked, and if so, for what role.

Odds and ends

Leamington Spa Food and Drink Festival, September 2021

The 'lawn' (perhaps more accurately described as 'scrubland' or 'prairie') has 'grass' that is now short enough for a dog to survive, but there is much more to be done in keeping the 'garden' ('nemesis') under control. If moss and wisteria prunings were a cash crop then I'd be pretty wealthy. It will take at least two trips to the tip with the car full of bags of green waste.

I went on a walk around Leamington with two gents from the Leamington History Group, another lady from Leamington and some tourists on a lovely hot day last week. I didn't learn a whole lot of new information, but we wandered down a street with beautiful old buildings which I had never seen before. There are a few other walks scheduled in the next couple of weeks which I'll probably sign up to. This flexible working arrangement is brilliant.

The actual work for Mr MXF, however, is rather frustrating at the moment. I have now established what the triggers are that cause the platform to seize up and refuse to work any more for about 12 hours, and I have an idea or two about how to get round it, but have to wait until it untwists its knickers before I can try.

Glf has come round to look at the wall and share the annoyance of unreliable plasterers that get full time jobs when you want them to work for you. We also shared a love of 70's and 80's music - he is a collector of vinyl and recommended a website where he goes to augment his collection. He was very impressed with my vinyl collection (which I am looking to diminish rather than augment), and suggested it might be worth something. I had a quick look at the website, but it's a bit like selling stuff on ebay - I could probably make a couple of hundred pounds, but the effort involved may not be worth it.

And Leamington has hosted its annual Food and Drink Festival, after having to cancel last year's, and apart from less free food to taste (no more dipping crackers into vats of different curry sauces) and a few more face masks in evidence, it is as good as ever. Except that since two years ago I no longer eat meat, so it takes much less time going round all the stalls. The weather was kind, and I stocked up on some treats for our camping next week - yes, the last camping trip of the year is about to happen in a northerly location that could bring pretty cold weather. I'm taking a hot water bottle with me...

Summer ends

June 2021

August has come and gone; that's the end of the summer and there has been even less 'summer' weather than in most years. September sometimes brings pleasant sunshine, so that's what I'm hoping for. I don't mind clouds as long as it's not raining, and it hasn't rained much, but it would be nice to wake up to blue skies once in a while.

Enough of my complaining, there's a small amount of interesting material to present. Firstly, dog news. As requested, I sent off photos of my house, garden and car. Ten days later I received a message informing me that they hadn't received any photos, and could I send some if I was still interested in fostering a dog, so I sent all the photos off again. The next message said that unfortunately the grass in my garden is too long, making it difficult to pick up poo and potentially leading to risk of disease for the dog.

Cutting the grass is actually quite an enterprise. It's much too long for the lawn mower so I had a go with a strimmer, but made little impact and eventually the strimmer packed up (probably overheated, but it is very old). I carried on using ordinary hand shears in sessions of two hours so as not to cripple myself, and it's nearly ready for an attempt with the lawn mower. I'll be sending off new photos when it's respectable.

I spent August Bank Holiday weekend camping at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival, with my phone turned off and no camera. Covid precautions meant that instead of being in marquees all the stages were in the open air, and we were incredibly lucky that it didn't rain at all. It would have been pretty miserable if it had rained, as well as being cold - it was very cold in the open air at midnight anyway. By the last evening I was wearing all the clothes I'd brought - two T shirts, fleece and jacket and two pairs of trousers as well as my woolly hat and scarf. The music was great as usual, but not as much of it as in previous years because of extended changeover times, during which I understand they have to sanitise a load of equipment (e.g. microphones).

The English National Lawn Bowls Championship is back in Leamington, and this year for the first time they offered local residents two free tickets to one day of the event. I invited a friend who also used to be a Dietitian, and we installed ourselves on one of the greens for an afternoon. We happened to watch the Senior Singles semi-finals (men and women), and then came back for the finals. There are a myriad of competitions divided by age, sex and number of players, and the whole event lasts more than two weeks. It was nowhere near as interesting as watching badminton, but I can see the attraction of playing. Spectating is a fairly dull affair, though, and all the other spectators appeared to be players and their spouses.

Quick LTRP update - the pub wall has been drying out, and as planned I got in touch with Glf's plastering mate who was going to put on more permeable lime render. After a prolonged delay he came to look at the job, and gave me the news that the price of lime render had gone up a great deal, but he would let me know what would be involved. After another prolonged delay I called him, and discovered that he's taken a full time job, but wouldn't mind doing my job at weekends except that I would have to buy and store two tons of lime render. I expressed some dissatisfaction about this situation to Glf, who has arranged to call round so we can work out what to do next.

I continue to provide my services to the vaccination clinic, where we are mostly vaccinating 16 to 20 year olds along with a handful of older people who weren't able to get vaccinated earlier because of pregnancy or allergies but have now been given the all clear. The clinic is still only operating three days a week, but after a break is due to come back full time at the end of September when it will be giving booster shots to front line workers - or at least, that is what is suggested. What actually happens is anyone's guess.

And lastly, my work for Mr MXF is getting on quite well, as long as I don't imagine that I can do more than four hours (and sometimes less) before hitting the buffers. Either there's a problem I can't get around, or something fails, or most recently the website slowed to an impossible crawl for no apparent reason. But I'm really tantalisingly close to actually achieving some useful results.

The pub wall

Glf getting started, June 2021

The last leg of the LTRP (first pass) is under way! The side wall of the house, which forms one side of the pub 'garden', and which has been showing signs of damp on the inside since at least 2015, has at last received the attention it has been craving for so long.

The wretched Flf and sidekick who abandoned the shower restoration had been very scathing about how wet the wall was when the old tiles were removed. I'd engaged Clf and Clf 2 to make sure the roof was watertight back in November 2019, and Dlf and the Damp Men installed the damp proof membrane on the inside of all the accessible walls in September 2020, and Flf himself built a gully along the foot of the wall to prevent rain pooling there, so it should have been safe from water from above and below. The last part of the jigsaw was to investigate what might be underneath the cement render. So please give a Lolatastic! welcome to Glf, who arrived to carry out the investigation.

The idea was to take the render off only the bottom half of the wall, but when Glf reached the back of the house, which is where the shower is, he found the soaking wet bricks and we agreed that he needed to uncover the whole height. He did find a cracked gutter as well, which wouldn't have helped, but our best guess is that the old shower was probably putting water into the brickwork and the cement render was giving it nowhere to go, so there it stayed. Now that the new shower really should not be getting the brickwork wet, leaving the render off for a month or so should allow it all to dry out somewhat.

Buoyed by this vision of dry walls, I allowed some 'mission creep' to take place by adding an extra back wall into the equation, which had also been rendered with cement when damp started to show on the inside of the shower room in 2008. Looking back to the picture taken at that time, the exterior wall appeared to be in great condition despite the interior damp. As Glf removed the render that had been applied, the wall emerged even wetter than the side wall, and not in very good condition at all. This just reinforces my view that taking the render away is a Good Thing.

In between frequent hot drinks (Glf never failed to accept a drink when offered) we pondered the situation and what might need to be done next. The brickwork of the damp areas is in a poor state, but covering it up with impermeable cement is not the answer. Either it needs to be repointed, or rendered with lime mortar which is flexible and permeable. Glf reckoned that repointing would be the more expensive option, and has put me in touch with someone I'm going to call Glf's mate, who can do the rendering after the wall has been given a chance to dry.

Can you see the area of damp brickwork?