It's been one day sun and then rain here this week, with occasional glimpses of sun late afternoon but mainly grey skies. There should be a rule about the number of dull days allowed in a month. I get quite fed up with them and they don't inspire me to do anything outside - although it's much too wet and boggy underfoot anyway.
I've not been swimming for a couple of weeks for various reasons and next week is half term when they have a different schedule so thought I'd better get some exercise and took my bike out for a short ride. I went off cycling over a year ago when the bike went from under me as I was getting on it. Not sure how it happened but it was very off-putting. Just cycled a couple of miles this time and it was hard work. It's 3 years since I was doing the 6 mile ride around my old village, but not sure I could do that now.
Yesterday I had a professional oven clean, would never, ever have had that years ago but it seemed like a good idea at the time. A better idea would have been to keep the oven clean myself! but I needed a new bulb in the big oven and couldn't get the cover off. The previous owners left me a note saying the bulb had "only just gone" and I've been here nearly 3 years, so it was time it was done. I have to say it was worth the money as the oven looks like new and as the guy said, having a clean oven is more energy efficient and I have light in the main oven at last and opening the oven won't set off the smoke alarm any more as it had been doing occasionally.
This week I've been grateful for
- A good day spent with the MG here. I need to gen up on Marvel Heroes!
- Meeting my friend from school days again for a coffee
- Finding a couple of games in a charity shop for the older grandchildren
You do manage well to keep the exercise going. I havnt ridden a bike in over 10 years but it is nigh on impossible to find a gearless one these days and that's my preference and what I've ever ridden on. I have spent several days in the last week's swimming at the beach with young grand daughter and had great fun together. A nice shiny oven is a pleasure to cook or bake in, I.must now go take a better look inside mine !
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to go swimming in the sea. Seems a while until summer here
Deletethe world is a safer place for all if I keep away from bicycles.
ReplyDeleteOh dear!
DeleteI think the professional oven clean was a good investment. Perhaps the cycling stamina would slowly build up (like walking stamina after you've been ill and not able to get out regularly). I can't recall the last time I rode a bike - probably as a child!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed After the Flood too. Well written and acted. I have, ahem, only just discovered Silent Witness, so only have 27 previous series to catch up on!! That should keep me going a bit. Waiting for Monty Don to come back though.
Wow - all of Silent Witness to watch - what a treat.
DeleteI have my oven professionally cleaned about every three years. In between I do it myself but that triennial treat is worth every penny!
ReplyDeleteI need to be better at oven cleaning!
DeleteI really enjoyed Bones, I hope you do too. After the Flood - I never really trusted any of the characters, so wouldn't bother with a sequel. Haven't caught up with Silent Witness yet. I rode my bike once in January, to the village Post Office and back. I had to get off and walk up the steepest bit of the hill! I'm really out of practice. I too have been considering a professional oven clean. I must ask around and try and find a good local company.
ReplyDeleteI have to walk up even small hills nowadays I think
DeleteI had my oven professionally cleaned a while ago and I thought it was well worth the moey. As you say, it looked like new! All done with the minimum of inconveneince to me, too.
ReplyDeleteA very good job done here. I need to look after it better
DeleteWe've watched most of Bones. Husband bought the DVDs as they became available years ago. Love the series, hate the books. The stories are fine, but I found the books so poorly written they were annoying.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I won't bother with the books. I've only watched a few so far so plenty more to see
DeleteMy husband and daughter are fans of Bones although I’ve never watched it. I’ve always wondered about a professional oven clean and I would include the microwave in that too. I have a new induction cooker and it’s a breeze to keep clean after many years of gas hobs. I’ll still be tempted by the oven clean though because the new oven is almost on the floor and my knees protest these days. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI always do the microwave. Put a cup of boiling water in and heat up to steamy then everything is easy to wipe off
DeleteI quite enjoyed the Cathy Reichs books. A bit similar to Patricia Cornwall but maybe not quite as good. All about forensic anthropology I believe it’s called 😀. Carol … Life of Pottering
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to get into Patricia Cornwell books but always plenty to read here
DeleteConnect 4 that's a blast from the past! Many hours spent playing that with my daughter! Kathy Reichs books are good.
ReplyDeleteIt was one of my favourites to play with the children as I could win!!
DeleteI occasionally have a cooked clean. It's eye wateringly expensive but it looks like new afterwards so I don't feel guilty. Maybe it's about time I started thinking about it again . . . xx
ReplyDeleteIt seemed expensive but for just over two hours work and a sparkling clean oven it was worth it
DeletePlease Mother Nature bring us some sustained sunshine soon...we need it!
ReplyDeleteIt looked promising here first thing this morning but then clouded over. Forecast for lots of rain next
DeleteOh Yes PLEASE to some sustained sunshine - no wonder Mental Illness is rampant when we have never-ending grey, wet days.
ReplyDeleteI watched "After the Flood" too - and suspected several of the characters! Yes, I'd like to know what happened afterwards. It ended on quite a cliff-hanger, didn't it?
Why are so many police people in TV series corrupt? that's what I want to know
DeleteWe quite enjoyed After The Flood, some good actors in there.
ReplyDeleteProfessional oven cleaning is a marvel - I certainly wouldn't want the job of cleaning my oven 😀
Alison in Wales x
It goes against my self-sufficiency principles to have it cleaned! so I really should keep it clean now.
DeleteI only have a couple of Madame Blanc episodes to catch up on -- I think! Unless another season slipped in when I wasn't looking. I'm pretty much just starting on Silent Witness -- it will be a long time before that one is finished!
ReplyDeleteI think it was season 3 here
DeleteI have never heard of getting your oven professionally cleaned.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been on a bike in years but I am still walking most days. the past few I haven't it has been so cold and windy
Cathy
it's quite common here(although I've never had it done before) like getting window cleaning done by a professional which I understand isn't a thing in the US either.
DeleteWindow cleaning is an industry here, at least in California. And paying for it inevitably brings rain.
ReplyDeleteOh that's good to know. I remember mentioning window cleaning and someone somewhere in the US said they'd never heard of such a thing.
DeleteIt is overcast with light snow showers here. The dim light (little sunshine) impacts us all. That said, the birds are back from the South and they are chirping/singing at sunrise when I am outside with the dog. Like us, they know Spring will be here soon. I've never had my oven professionally cleaned and was not aware of this service. My oven is 3 yrs. old and I wipe it out regularly so it should be okay. I'll take a closer look today.
ReplyDeleteYes the birds are singing here so spring will arrive eventually
DeleteI wouldn't bother getting the Kathy Reichs books. I bought all of them for my daughter who was a fan of Bones, but it turned out the books and the TV series had nothing to do with each other.
ReplyDeleteOh thank you, I'll probably not bother then
DeleteSounds like a not-to-bad week. I'm looking forward to getting the new series of those shows. I like the first few series of Bones, but haven't watched the ending ones. I got rather tired of them to be honest lol.
ReplyDeleteI think I might find them a bit repetitive after a few seasons
DeleteWe have a cooker cleaner booked for this week, well worth the money, they get into all the nooks and crannies! And you haven't been swimming for 2 weeks??? Shame on you!! Ha ha
ReplyDeleteI used to love Bones, the early series are definintely better than the later ones, but I watched the whole lot out of a sense of completion a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI've had a couple of ovens professionally cleaned in the past and it has always been really good value for money. The cleaners have all the right chemicals and trays to soak everything properly, and it's just amazing looking at the lovely clean oven afterwards isn't it.
It was half term last week in our area, so they are back to school on Monday ... thank goodness. ;-)