Recycling success

The FH has truly risen to the challenge today - a chain of events triggered one another: the enclosure of the verandah to make a conservatory means that the FH wanted to be able to open the French doors from the dining room/office. That was hampered by the fact that the space in front of the doors was the only real space in the room for my big desk.......so I needed to alter the room around if he wanted the doors open. I found a computer trolley in the Argos catalogue which I thought would do the job, so I suggested that he copy it for me. It was £46, and he declared that he couldn't buy the wood for that so it would be more cost effective to buy it. I didn't rush off to Argos, but let him think about it. He thought commendably well, and decided to recycle an old TV stand that we acquired some years ago for free. It is quite similar to the version in the catalogue and does the job really well - and considering that we were given the original, it was free! £46 saved.....good result!

Today the clouds have been in the sky, and they have occasionally been rather grey - but it hasn't rained all day! The chicken runs were liberally strewn with straw today and the chooks have enjoyed scratching around all day outside. I hope that tomorrow continues in the same vein and gives the ground a chance to dry out some more.

I picked more French beans and tomatoes tonight, and we will have the beans tomorrow. UJ has sent more plums - he came to my sister's house today so the FH nipped over there this evening to pick them up. They have been de-stoned and are already in the freezer. Lots of plum crumbles on the menu this winter, I hope. UJ has also been making greengage jam and has kindly sent me a jar - it's my favourite, so I'll be hogging that!!

We have had another complaint about our chimney today. A letter from the council was awaiting us when we returned home at lunchtime - apparently someone on the estate has experienced a "possible odour nuisance". If it wasn't so ridiculous it would be funny - we haven't had the fire alight since May, I believe, so why has this person waited so long to make a complaint?!? The council rep I spoke to this afternoon is the same chap I dealt with over the last episode, and he has done the same thing: the complainant will have to keep a log over the next two weeks of every time they experience the nuisance and then he will act on it. Trouble is, in late August and early September, I am unlikely to be lighting a fire, so they are not going to get much on their log. The chap at the council is very reasonable, and so I am not afraid of this. It makes me so angry that this person is wasting the council's time, money and resources over something so silly. This time she has said that we are burning "old pallets and painted wood" - funny how that corresponds so well to a heap of pallets in the yard, and a uPVC window, which from a distance might look wooden as she will only be able to see a portion of it from her bedroom windows. I doubt anyone else can see them because of where they are positioned.