A Rotten Return

It's never nice coming back from a break is it? Especially when you've had as good a time as we had over the past two and a half weeks in St Andrews. But being retired, we are not returning to work and we have a great lifestyle at home so coming back to Southport should be nothing to moan about. And it wasn't. Until I opened the door that is. "Smells a bit musty" I remarked as we entered the hall. "Probably just the lack of air and the weather" was Marion's response. Sadly, as we reached the kitchen, the smell became overpowering and we realised that there had been a power failure and the freezer had defrosted. An hour later and maybe a hundred quids' worth of stuff in the bin and we were back to normal. Certainly not the best welcome home. The circuit breaker had tripped. No idea why. It has done it once before a few years ago but it hasn't tripped out frequently enough for us to discover the cause. Next time we're away we'll empty the freezer as a precaution. We were looking forward to catching up on the programmes we missed on the Sky Plus. We'll probably be able to work out the day the power went off from what we've got recorded.

This morning (and every other day at the caravan) we had only rabbits to keep us company. There are scores of them there and, although they scatter if we get very close, they aren't very scared of the caravaners. I said I wouldn't mention the weather again but should just note that our local weather station in Leuchars recorded three times the annual average rainfall for the whole month of August in just ten days and in some places the rain was the heaviest it has been in August since records began. We're going back again in just over two weeks so maybe we'll be a bit luckier next time.

The weather stopped me getting out with my detector in Scotland. Not only was it too wet to detect but it delayed the harvest although on Friday I finally found a stubble field to try. The stubble was very long and I had to walk crab like between the rows so it was very difficult. The field was on a steep hill and I headed for the top which was on a busy crossroads on the edge of a very old village. I guessed that this would be the area that had seen most use and it proved the case as I got signal after signal to prove that activity.

Unfortunately it was that peculiar British activity of hurling rubbish out of car windows at junctions and anywhere within chucking distance of the road was full of empty drink cans. After digging about half a dozen up I moved further away and found these few bits and pieces.

There's nothing very interesting there - few scraps of lead, two Victorian coins and a buckle a couple of buttons and an old key but at least I got out and about. I was made very welcome by all the farmers I visited and when I go back I've got hundreds of acres to try. In fact I've so many fields it will be difficult to know which to choose. Let's hope it's the one full of gold next time and not the one full of beer cans.

Playing Catch Up

Far be it for me to complain about the luxury of being able to take a three week holiday but one thing that has been difficult has been catching up with everything that's on the Sky hard drive. Before we left we set series links on all sorts, The Good Wife,  The Shadow Line, Modern Family, Spiral and a lot more and now we have to decide wether to watch or to delete.

I'm certainly glad that we didn't delete The Shadow Line. We've almost caught up now and I have to say that this is a TV cop show that's a cut above the rest with beautiful cinematic direction an excellent soundtrack and an abundance of outstanding performances from a first class cast. The "baddies" played by Stephen Rea, Rafe Spall and Anthony Sher are as sinister bunch as you would ever imagine and terrify me even in the safety of my armchair. It's rare to find TV drama that is the equal of a cinema visit but this one must be in line for a bagful of awards.

 
We've also been catching up on The Hotel, the fly on the wall documentary about The Damson Dene Hotel in Cumbria. I had to watch this as my dad and I stayed there forty years ago and had a few days fishing in the Lakes. For the eighteen year old me it was the height of luxury although luxury would not be the word of choice for most reviewers today. The documentary has certainly been entertaining and we have grown to love the cast of eccentric characters from the hard working Welsh general manager and the moustachioed chef to the united nations of Eastern European staff. The show comes up with some classics. For me the highlight was the customer who complained to the receptionist that the toilet seat was "literally the most worrying thing I've ever seen". Now I don't know about you but if I had got to my mid fifties and the most worrying thing I'd ever seen was a wooden toilet seat with a couple of rough splinters then I'd think I'd had a pretty cushy life. Another wonderful sequence showed a shrewish woman who had brought her daughter on a last minute break (£50 for one night dinner bed and breakfast  - for 2!) complaining about anything and everything. For fifty quid you'd be lucky to get a three course meal for two never mind a room and use of the spa as well.

I don't know wether to love or hate the iPhone weather app. Without it we would have gone to Gresgarth Hall today and seen the wonderful gardens which open to the public just once a month. But we would have got soaked as the app seems to be uncannily accurate most of the time and it seems that it's p*****g down today at Gresgarth as predicted. Great pity as we can't go in July and may not be able get there in August either. The app is certainly a great aide to planning but does it spoil life's unpredictability?

Two weeks on from the cycling holiday we're missing the bikes. There aren't too many interesting cycle routes around here but there is a BMX park. Perhaps we should try this.