Days off work are sometimes spent chilling and pottering about at home. And some are spent going out and about with Nikki and some are spent on my own. I got the bike out, not a motorbike but my mountain bike and decided to cycle to Ellesmere ten miles away.

My route would take me along the canal path and I set off at 6am on a frosty morning. Less people about at that time and I love early mornings with the sun coming up.

It was cold but so nice to be out. The canal was calm and I saw about six herons trying to catch their breakfast. The boats moored up looked all cozy, some with their wood burners going. You cross the canal at certain points and at one stage I went off down a different canal because I was on the wrong side at the junction. After thinking about it I turned around because I wanted to see where it went but realised I would go miles out of my way. As it was it took me three miles to make that decision.

I got to Ellesmere and I had biked 13 miles, it was still only 7.30 am so I took some photos of the old cranes and buildings, reset my trip computer for the ride home.

The ride home was warmer and luckily still only a couple of dog walkers around. And some good photo opportunities with the calm conditions and the sun being out. My favourite is the canal bridge with reflection and of course I had to get my bike in the shot.

The ride home was ten miles from Ellesmere. I plan to walk this route sometime and Nikki will pick me up at Ellesmere. She will shop at the Tesco and I will have a sleep.

Another thing I wanted to get done was give the car a good clean with some special shampoo but the conditions had to be right. It’s a three stage treatment and I was very pleased with the outcome. And yes of course it will get dirty again but if you knew me you would know I do like my cars and to keep them looking good.

I should have taken a photo of the finished car but forgot so I will save that for you next time. Be prepared to put your sun glasses on with the shine.

A local VW/ Audi car show was on at the cattle market in Oswestry so again off I went to that. As a lover of VW’s i really enjoyed it, especially the T6 vans which I want when Bertie is sold. Lots of ideas and lots of chats were had. Just don’t think my bank manager will chat about it.

We had another BBQ and the next morning I was cooking a breakfast on the BBQ at 7.30am. Nikki was too late for that one but I enjoyed it. The rest of that day was spent chilling in the sun with the hot spell we had. As everything is growing now it looks so nice I love the canal being right in our doorstep. I even jet washed the patio to get rid of all the winter grime.

We wanted a day out so we decided to go to Porthmadog on the coast. The weather was not looking too good but that was not going to stop us and I love the drive from here to there. The drive was dry and for the first 30 minutes it was nice but then the rain came in. Not enough to stop us walking around but it would have been nice to have some photos with sunshine.

I love the harbour area and the station where the steam trains run from. We missed the steam train going but the station is nice and the cafe did a lovely lunch.

Nikki’s sister visited us for a weekend and we had lunch out at a brewery in Oswestry. Sat outside in an apple orchard it was very pleasant and the food was very good as was the beer I had. Nikki was the driver for going home.

The ducks and geese on the canal are now having young which is always nice to see. The ducklings make me laugh because they look like they are powered by batteries darting about on the water.

I have put a bird box up in one of the apple trees in our garden. It’s too late for this year but will be well established by next year so hopefully someone will use it.

I got all my pension info through because in a weeks time I will officially be a pensioner. Where have all those years gone and how the hell did I survive them. Probably because I met Nikki.

The weather is supposed to be warming up this next week so the BBQ will be fired up and Nikki has been busy potting plants and very nice they look. All the pots are different and came from the tip so have been recycled.

So that’s us up to date and I will leave you with some photos of Nikki’s hard work in making the plants look good. Oh I nearly forgot. Nikki has a start date for her job which is on the 26th of this month so that’s good and she is looking forward to starting work and I am sure the bank manager will be happy.