Driving into town for a cuppa I saw snow on the hills

This morning driving into town for a cuppa and a chat with friends I saw in the distance snow on the hills behind town. Apart. From when I drove back from going to see Paul this is the first time I have seen snow locally.

More timber work in preparation.

I have so many projects on the go but now I am going back to clear the boards so to speak. I want to get on with my master bedroom but first lots of little jobs need to be completed to let me carry on with my main job for the coming few months.

 

Here I have  the kitchen door frame laid out for varnishing and then fitting into place for another job complete.

Driving back home

While driving back from a friends I saw in the distance hills in the direction of a place called Coja. You will see the top of the hills covered in what looks like snow, I suspect that it was really a mornings heavy frost.

Beautiful sunshine yet the hills in the distance look snow covered.

Diving back to the UK

At Christmas i drove over to see family and friends. I had advertised on a number of Forums that i was driving over and i  had room in my car should anybody want something delivered on my route up from New Haven to Liverpool. This time i am also using my Blog so if anybody wants something delivered then just get in touch. I will be going either the 6th May or the 11th May. This trip is to see my Mum who will be 91 years of age on the 13th. Of May. I also intend to get myself a tumbler and bring back my Scooter ready for those sunny days.

Now I am back to normal

The first thing i did when i got home was to prepare to make a loaf but as it takes 4 hours to bake it wasn't ready till 8.30 pm and by the time it cools it won't be ready till morning ready for breakfast. I found by putting a tea towel over the bread the crust goes soft. One thing i don't like is crusty bread.

My bread has 450g flour
1 and a half tea spoons of sugar
1 and a quarter tea spoons of salt
25 g of olive oil
4 g of yeast
320 g of water

Not a nasty E number or additive just healthy bread, OK so it's white and not brown or wholemeal i enjoy it.

A very taxing problem

While i was in Liverpool for Christmas a letter arrived for me at home from the Inland Revenue asking for money. The sum involved i must say was very worrying but all it took was a visit to them when i arrived back last week. Sitting with the tax lady i must admit that i was a little worried until the larger figures where found to be tax i had paid but something the accountant should have done meant that the tax was not allocated to my account. Silly mistake by someone you pay to do his job.

The date he put down for me leaving my business was also wrong but that was soon sorted out. When everything was done the tax lady had a look on her face that had me worried until she smiled. I have good news she said we owe you over £900 and i should receive a letter confirming her finding and i should get a cheque with the letter.

Result

Time to keep somones spirits up

While in Liverpool i was due to see Steve who i went to school with and another school pal Martin. I got the sad news that Steve had been involved in a traffic accident. I arrived home today to an email from Steve's wife. She explained how bad his injuries where and that Steve was feeling really down when he was normally very outgoing. Steve seems to have spinal injuries and his recovery may be long  and painful so she says.

Steve it seems had been excited at seeing me after over 52 years since we left Roscoe Garsfield secondary school.Pity i didn't get the email before i left as i would have gone to the hospital to see him. How do i offer support when i am over 1400 miles away, Steve has got his Iphone with him so where do you start trying to keep someones spirits up.

So Steve when you read this i am over to Liverpool around the first week in May and i am driving over and we will meet up so work hard an get out of hospital

After the wind where did it go

On Monday in Liverpool the weather was as bad as it could get torrential rain and high winds. Flying back home the next morning i was worried the flight would have a lot of turbulence due to the high winds from the day before and the forecast was for more rain and wind. To my great surprise was that the wind was not to bad and after taking off the flight was as smooth as any of the other flights i have had in the past.

The flight even arrived 10 minutes early but when it came in the sky looked overcast till we landed. When we landed it was just a fine drizzle and it never let up even when i arrived home. This has been the first time i have flown into Porto or Lisbon to rain and i hope it will be the last time i see rain when i arrived into Portugal

Cheap flights, Where

Adverts galore on to say cheap flights yes but when. I have to meet my UK Spice supplier sometime by the end of March but where are these cheap flights. So when you see the adverts on tv saying loads of tickets going cheap ask yourself cheap but for who?

I'll still keep looking but it's my own fault I should have seen my supplier early in January but I had to go back to Portugal early.

When I got up this morning I found a message from one of my readers who found flights for and thanks Steve for taking the time to look for me.

When I checked the flight details I found one had gone up from 29.99 to 105.99 shocked at this I took a picture with my IPad. It's so annoying that someone took the time to help me but that's life.