Racing cars, food and floors

Well, the sun shone for us for the Food Festival - in fact, at one point it was a little too hot (never satisfied are we?).  The Smallholders' stall looked pretty good with home grown/made produce, a beehive, books, posters and leaflets and we had a lot of people to talk to who were interested in the group.  So, we'll see if they all turn up to the next meeting - goats is the next subject.

On Sunday we had a day out at Loton Park just a few miles away.  In its normal life it is a deer park and country estate I think, but for a few weekends a year they hold hill climbs.  This time it wasn't us climbing the hils though, it was cars and motorbikes.  They race (one at a time) up the course which is a little road that winds its way up the hill through trees and grassland for about a mile.  There were all sorts of vehicles there old and new.  Bob was particularly interested in the motorbikes (he has two himself).  There were quite a lot of Ferraris and they were rubbish - the little Peugeot 205 went as fast as did some of the little 3 wheel Morgans (maybe it's because the Ferraris cost so much that they were a bit shy of hammering them).  Anyway, it made a good day out with enough mishaps to keep the public happy without anyone actually getting hurt or really damaging their vehicle.  Bob also took me out for Sunday lunch - what a treat, a cheeseburger and chips from the van with a '99' for pudding (actually it was quite nice to eat rubbish for a change!).

Work-wise, Bob has dug some more holes for the drains from the extension gutters - pretty heavy going with some solid rock to get through (he did work up quite a sweat).  That's all ready for the pipes, we are just waiting for the builders merchant to get some of the bits we need.  We'll be glad when that's all filled in as there seem to have been holes all over the place for ages.  We have actually got a draw-bridge at the moment - Bob's always wanted one, but this should only be temporary so he'd better make the most of it.  I spent yesterday doing more Victorian housework, this time scrubbing the kitchen floor (with the chemical cleaner) then rinsing it and sealing it.  That done and dried, we spent this morning grouting it which is a long job I can tell you!  As you know, we have re-laid the original quarry tiles.  When new I think they would have been laid without gaps and that's the job done, but because they are worn and slightly different sizes we couldn't do that.  Some of the gaps are too small for ordinary grout though (and it wouldn't look right).  So, we have invented our own system (well, it may be used elsewhere, we don't know).  We mix some builders sand which is quite red (seived to get rid of the bigger grit) with some very fine kiln dried sand which is quite pale and some lime.  This makes a fine pinky-colour powder.

We then feed this into the gaps between the tiles making sure it fills them up as much as possible and at the same time making sure the rest of the tile isn't covered with lime by brushing it in with a paintbrush.  Some gaps just fill up really easily and others feel as though you're filling the cellar with sand and take ages!  Once all the gaps are filled we sprayed water along all the gaps so it can go off (that's builder's speak for going hard).  We should then be able to clean up the tiles and apply another coat of sealer.  Filling all the gaps in just makes such a difference to the look of the floor and I think we're quite pleased with it.

I'm off to Scotland on Thursday to visit Laura and the midges - looking forward to seeing Laura, but not the other little pests!  I think a trip to Tesco is planned for her to stock up on essentials and she did mention that some chip shop chips would be nice!  She has a Tibetan lesson on Thursday afternoon, so I may go along to that too and see what I can learn.  Tashi Delek is about all I know so far - that is a greeting.  Bob is staying behind to chicken-sit, but I think he may have a trip out on his motorbike to go to the Harley Davison shop for a part he needs and then to Axminster Tools to look at router tables (we'll need one of them for making window frames).

The plumber should be coming again tomorrow (although he hasn't rung to confirm, so watch this space) - another leaking joint on the solar pipes and to fit a flappy one-way valve so the solar panels don't carry on heating the radiator.  He is also going to bend some copper pipe for us to make a rail for the shower curtain downstairs.  It has to go up the sloping ceiling then straight for a bit and then round a corner, so this seems to be the simplest way to do it.  There is a company on the industrial estate that can powder-coat it for us fairly cheaply, so that should be that problem solved.