Builders and developers seem to get away with murder and in practice it is best to stop any errors or oversights in their tracks. Certainly, relying on the council or the courts to reverse excesses once they have been 'set in stone' rarely works. Keeping an eye on the builders requires vigilance, and in the…
Public inconveniences
I work out at the gym about five times a week with cycling and some standard aerobics. Whatever the advantages, they are not preparation enough for two real life challenges. Both are ungainly and require contortions, call upon muscles normally untested and are proving increasingly difficult. The first involves getting to (and from) the driver’s…
Home sweet home
Not for the first time our house has been invaded. I am not talking about uninvited mice or ants but about invited builders. It started at the end of March and was to finish in 8 weeks. With all our careful planning this was going to be bearable but, in reality, it has been the…
Questions that rock
Sometimes I get a question that rocks me back. I got one last week. On the bike that morning, I had been puzzling over Shakespeare’s seven ages of man. Mine came to four – ‘development’, ‘reproduction’, ‘consolidation’ and ‘decline’. I presented these over tea and reproduction-going-on-consolidation man asked declining-man (me) - ‘if you were offered…
Granny C and the mosquito
Granny C often came to stay. One evening she had been uncommonly touchy and in keeping, after an hour or so of silence, she suddenly announced that the house was far too dusty and that she intended to vacuum the whole place the next day. Then, she upped and went to bed. As usual she…
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