The jacks on the motorhome need refurbing, I know I have mentioned it before and it was booked in on more than one occasion to get them done but the company let me down so I told them to forget it. Or words to that effect.

The guy that looks after the camper MOT and servicing etc is now going to do them when we are back down in Devon. I thought it a good idea to send him some photos so I was crawling about under the camper, like you do when you have nothing better to do taking some photos of the jacks and just having a look under there. When to my horror I noticed some wires that had been chewed. Not by me while I was under there although it was near lunch time. But by squirrels I think. It would not have been a mouse because of the way the wires were hanging down.

We do have squirrels around here and a lot of other sites we have been on have them and rabbits which like to go under the camper so it could have happened while here or at another site. So that was another job to do not on my list but had to be done. I also noticed the brackets that my extra alarm speakers are on were very rusty so I had to do a temporary repair on them while I was under there. The speakers will have to be replaced but at least they are not going to fall off now. I believe in the saying everything happens for a reason and in this case if I had not crawled under the camper I would not have noticed the chewed wires or the rusty brackets and something could have happened while out on the road.

Another day in my life last week I spent five hours cleaning the car, only the outside. I know what you’re thinking …..it must be a bloody big car. It is an estate car. When we bought the car it was supposed to have a paintwork treatment done on it. I was not happy with the way they had done it, or not done it so I contacted the firm. They were very good and sent me out some free products, about forty five pounds worth. As it happens the products are ones I use anyway and have done for years so I was happy. But they sent them to our home address 300 miles from where we are now. Another email to them and they say sorry and post out another forty five pounds worth of products to where we are.

Weather conditions ok, water temp ok plenty of time on my hands so I start the deep clean process. Stage one. This involves washing the car, drying the car. Stage two. spray affected areas with product leave to soak wash off and dry car. Stage three rub a tar remover over affected areas, wash off and dry. Stage three. Wash the whole of the car and towel dry. Stage four polish whole car and buff off. Stage five wax the whole car and buff off. Stage six. Stand back and admire all my hard work. Luckily I actually like looking after my vehicles. Stage Seven wipe the bit of bird shit of the roof from the bird that was sitting up in the tree waiting for me to finish.

I have mentioned the bird feeder in the last post. The feeder is about a metre away from the window of the camper where I sit so I have a great view and they are used to me staring at them. I am sure sometimes they stick their tongue out at me. There are all sorts of characters. The tit family consist of Hoppy tit. Because he only has one leg but he does a good job of hanging on the feeder. Tatty tit named because he looks like he has been on the beer as well as the peanuts and flown through a hedge backwards. Freaky tit, he is weird, something wrong with him he is all puffed up and sits around trying to breath, the other birds pick on him. Think he should have self isolated. Tiny tit because he is so small, he is not getting enough nuts.

The welsh have bought out new rules for exercise, now if you go out on your bike you are only allowed to go as far as a reasonable walk would be. The route I take through the woods and around the lake is twelve miles but includes about a mile of that is on the road. So I have stopped doing that one now. Don’t want to upset the locals even though I never see anybody on that route. I will still do the woods and lake bit but just not go out onto the road. I very rarely see anyone and if I do it’s always at distance.

My bug house is nearly finished and should be in place next week. I built it all from what materials I had laying about. Bugs don’t do new and shiny. When we moved into this compound the whole of the gates were like fort knox covered in wood on both sides, the previous peaple had dogs so didn’t want them getting out. To be honest I don’t think Houdini could have got out. And you had to have arms like Popeye to open the gates. So I took off about 75% of the wood, kept all the screws and that is what my bird house is built from. I am no carpenter but the bug house is supposed to be rustic, that’s my excuse anyway. The bottom part is like a shed which is for hedgehogs to sleep in and hibernate through the winter. There are hedgehogs on site so will be nice if they use it. The size of the bug house is 45 inches high, 15 inches deep and 26 inches wide. It has different compartments with various materials in. Cones, bamboo,slate, twigs and hay etc so it caters for all sorts of creepy crawlys. I will post pictures when it’s in place. I have put a coming soon sign on the location so the bugs are informed and seem to be getting a lot of interest.

We have heard a cuckoo around us the last week or so that’s a good sign. And my garden is coming along nicely. One area on site has a great swathe of bluebells which look so nice amongst the trees. That’s us up to date and we only have two months to go before the site opens on 1st July, that’s if the government let us. We will see. And remember that if you have a little argument with your wife, kids, partners because your all together all of a sudden because the way the world is at the moment. It’s not their fault. Stay safe.