Saturday 15 June 2019

Halfway Through June Already

Halfway through June and we already know that it isn't going to be a summer like last year, when everyday was glorious. I preferred last year but at least there won't be a water shortage and hopefully it means more raspberries  and a good boost to the new trees in the meadow. Thankfully here in Suffolk we've got away without the flooding seen elsewhere.

Last weekend there was a fete noted in my diary and a village with open gardens but I didn't do either. Instead I mostly stayed at home indoors in the dry watching the French Open Tennis Finals, and a little sitting outside in the sunny bits on Sunday, had to twiddle the thermostat for the heating to come on on Saturday evening - when it was just so chilly, seem to have been twiddling it on all week!

Sunday morning was fine so I popped along to the local boot sale, not many boot-ers there, I came home with just a small bundle of Vegetarian Magazines and a purple Perennial Geranium as I'm still trying to get a purple garden in the bed by the conservatory. Every year this plan is foiled by an invasion of a plant with yellow flowers that have yellow sap..............very nasty sap too. The plant is Greater Celandine and it is a real pain, it's definitely a weed but why only appearing in this one bed? It's listed as common but I'd never seen it before moving here and finding the annual invasion. Every year I pull it up as there are too many bulbs in this bed to do much digging.  The soil there is just a few inches deep over the shingle and hardcore that was once part of the driveway so is pretty poor and I've read that it doesn't like rich soil, so maybe I'll pile on some compost.


The grotty weather has made it an uneventful week except for having problems with a tyre on my car - who knew I had a warning light for low tyre pressure?

Tire Pressure Monitor Symbol


 I didn't until a strange symbol appeared on the dash and I had to look it up in the handbook. And who knew that cars don't have spare wheels anymore? Anyway I got my mates at the local repair place (the number of times I've had to phone for help with cars means they are nearly my best friends!)  to come and take the tyre off  and take it away to repair, but they found it was damaged in the side wall so ordered a new tyre and then found that there was also a problem with the pressure sensor in the wheel. Ho Hum!
 In the workshop were 3 wheels and one new tyre, the one wheel that fitted the car had an old tyre on it but Ashley put it on the car just so I could get to the next village for an appointment but I didn't dare use it for the planned trip to Diss to meet up with blogger Rachel so that's been cancelled until next week.
The guys said that there was a spare wheel + jack kit they could get that fits into the space which previously just held a mini compressor and the chemical stuff now used for mending tyres. So now I have a proper spare wheel and everything needed to change it. An expensive event but it's reassuring to know it's all sorted.

Before the fun with the car I did get over to Leiston to see youngest and Florence and also went swimming.While in Leiston I popped around to the fruit and veg shop where I knew they used to have Hostas for sale each spring. They just had a few left, so I got one with golden leaves for the clear-out price of £1.80. I'm not aiming for a big collection of them like I had years ago but they do look good in pots on the patio.

The weather was a bit better yesterday and while waiting for the phone call to go and get the car sorted I got loads of gardening done, mainly weeding  and edging round the rose-garden.



This week I am grateful for
  • Tom and Ashley at the car repair place 
  • A fine day to begin catching up with gardening at last 


Hope everyone has a good weekend, the weather forecast here looks much better thank heavens. Car boot sales and a Church Flower Festival and Art Exhibition are in the diary and much,much more gardening and grass cutting I think.

Back Monday
Sue

32 comments:

  1. An interesting week. Hope you don’t mind me popping in to say hello? Just found your blog this morning. Sally.

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    1. I love people popping in to say hello. You've plenty to read if you want to start my blogs from the beginning!

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  2. Yep, new cars have those pressure sensors. I don't have a new car, but I use rentals every so often at work. Those are pain in the... Here in north we have to change tyres in spring (to summer tyres) and again in autunm to winter (snow) tyres. Enery time you change tyres, those sensors go mad. So it's few weeks of constant playing (there's nothing wrong with tyres or pressure, sensors are poor). And then in winter - oh boy. You know air compresses when it's really cold. So if car has been outside at freezing conditions (I mean -20 to -30), air pressure in tyres is really really low. Tyres will warm up after a short drive (that's why F1 starts with warm up laps), but those sensors just don't understand.
    So, people ignore that warning light, because 99999 times out of 100000 it's a false.
    Tecnology is a good thing when it works, but if it can't adapt...
    And don't get me startet on spares... That filler foam doesn't help much if your tyre is blown in pieces along a motorway (been there).

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    1. I'm glad I was at home when the problem happened

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  3. My car has these sensors too, accompanied by a warning sound and a visual, and when it went off it scared the life out of me as I has no idea what it was (I'd driven over a nail!)!
    It's lovely to have better gardening weather again and some sunshine to bring things on again. We can look forward to some real growth now!
    xx

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  4. Although I can drive I haven't driven the car we have at the moment because I sent my license back to DVLA due to my condition. Therefore I don't know if we have a sensor or not as it's not something we talk about, but I do know that when we bought this car my husband had to have a spare tyre fitted underneath as there wasn't one. In my innocence I thought it was the law that a spare tyre was part and parcel, but I suppose times change.

    I don't comment much on the weather as it doesn't really affect me, unless it is unbearably hot as it was last year. It's always uplifting to see the sun, but not to feel the heat, which is no good for me at all. Mind you, I never did like the hot weather even when we went abroad, as I just wilt. My observation on it today is that although it was dry an hour ago, it is now raining.

    Anyway have a lovely weekend Sue, which I'm sure you will, whatever you're doing.



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    1. The weather is way up there on my 'important to know list!' So I know when I can enjoy some sun!

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  5. We had a puncture in Scotland last time but do have a spare wheel - but then couldn't get the wheel nuts off by hand - so had to find a garage, who didn't charge us to undo them and put spare wheel on. When back at home we took the tyre to be mended and luckily it was under the guarantee so no charge again. How lucky were we!
    Have a lovely weekend whatever you decide to do.

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  6. Sorry you have had car troubles Sue, the road in our little close is full of pot holes and I know several people have had punctures, I don't drive now but it must be worried for people.

    I did quite a lot gardening yesterday I wonder if you might know about the little plant I have Sue it has a very tiny purple flower and the leaves lay quite big and flat on the ground (sorry I cannot describe it easily.). I have look in several books but cannot find it.

    Have a nice weekend everybody.
    Hazel c uk

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    1. Sorry, not really enough info to guess the plant

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  7. Ha! I've done today's gardening and it's so windy I think I've had the best of the weather.

    I was horrified when I bought a new car and found that a spare tyre wasn't included in the price but had to be paid for as an extra. Those sensors! My light came on when I was driving one day, so I took the car straight to my friendly local garage (I have one, too!) on the way home. They found there was nothing wrong at all!

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    1. This is my second visit to the lads this year. So expensive!

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  8. Half way through June, and half way through this year too. We have had enough rain, thankfully not the deluge the rest of the UK has had, which for once makes a change. Sun shining here today, so a pretty day with everything washed clean! Enjoy your weekend.

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    1. Forecast is still nasty for most of next week here - unfortunately

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  9. I bought a spare wheel and jack and brace for mine too. At least it had a proper place to put it, some new cars do not even have a stowaway place for the spare any more. Then the next Citroen I transferred it all to the new one, same wheel size, same model. Even if you are going to call out assistance at the side of the road with a flat tyre, you still need a spare. My brother has now kitted his wife's Fiesta in same way. Beware readers. I am not sure that we knew in June last year what a beautiful summer we would have, but it would be rare if not impossible to get two in a row. See you next week.

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    1. I was glad the tyre thing happened at home.
      Yep see you next week -

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  10. I'm VERY familiar with the tire symbol on my car...a metal recycling center opened near by and we're apparently dropping little bits of wire all over the roads and causing numerous flat tires to me and many others....a few calls to thelocal council ended up in the business being required to clean the road several times a week..it has helped...

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    1. Thank goodness the council got them to clear up

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  11. I am waiting for the day when you have to pay extra for a steering wheel, or maybe the brake pedal for a new car. Can't be far off! Glad you have such a good garage nearby to help you.

    Hoping the weather improves for you (and the rest of the UK). Enough with the stormy weather. Have a good weekend, Sue.

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    1. Luckily my BiL knows the owner of the repair place and the younger bloke who works there and told us about them

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  12. Yes those little pictures take some getting used to. Living in Saskatchewan our tire pressure goes up and down with the temperature.

    The picture that scares me the most is the wrench and the bottom of the car, telling me that my steering/all wheel drive needs fixing.

    If you could send some rain across the pond to the middle of Canada it would be greatly appreciated. We are extremely dry.

    God bless.

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    1. I think the people flooded out in parts of the country would gladly send some rain to you if they could!

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  13. I have a new-to-me car, and I had to look up a symbol that popped up on the dash about a month ago. They're so serious and scary looking with that exclamation point! Mine only meant the drivers side speaker wasn't working correctly. It flashed on a couple more times in the next few days and I haven't seen it since - and the speakers are all fine! Hope the second half of the month brings you glorious weather!

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    1. I could manage without a speaker!
      Forecast is still a bit iffy

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  14. thx for the heads-up on that yellow flower; i've got it too and have been pulling out huge wads of it - it seems to grow really quickly and drowns out any nearby plants. it has just appeared in last couple of years and gradually spread itself around. My only theory is that my neighbour scattered one of those multi-plant boxes of wildflower seeds, a couple of years ago - maybe that was the start. Very annoying!

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    1. I lost a Hosta and a couple of other things due to that plant creeping in during early spring two years running

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  15. Cars these days are clever buggers, yes I have sensors that tell me if my tyre pressure drops even a smidge, I also get told to close my boot, have the car serviced ... and it lets me know if someone has undone their seat belt in a bid to make a quick getaway :-)

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    1. I've never had a car with so many complicated things going on.

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  16. Rain seems to be a common thread through a lot of blogs at the moment. Like you we have had to put the heating on again. All these symbols in cars these days I have to look them up in the handbook.

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  17. We bought a new hybrid this past winter and it doesn't come with a spare either. I am going to get a spare because I get nervous driving distances without one. If you damage the sidewall that little can of whatever doesn't do a blessed thing. I wonder what car companies are thinking?
    Here in SoCal near the ocean it's grey and over cast and a balmy 18C.

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