Aga Saga

Dragged myself through the last few days with a horrible cough - and now it appears the Aga has come out in sympathy. It’s a long standing family joke that my good humour (or not) is weirdly linked to the cantankerous old coal fired range which heats our house and hot water. When it’s low...

Powerless

The repair man is shaking his head and giving me ‘the talk’. The generator may not be worth mending. He’s speaking in grave tones about running hours and the cost of parts. Head in hands, I’m not really listening to details. There is no need to point out that everything has a shelf-life - but...

Life in a Battery Powered House

I was asked the other day “How off-grid are you?” The answer, in short, is completely, but the question has prompted me to write an explanation of how everything works here. The UK National Grid is the network of high-voltage power lines delivering a seemingly endless supply of electricity at the touch of a button....

Our Swallow and other Stories

The Swallows are back and despite an exhausting week fraught with off-grid technical problems, the sight of these acrobatic flyers darting in and out of our dilapidated barns is a joy to behold. One year we hand raised a chick after the nest was abandoned. It thrived on mealworms and crane flies, which we captured...

Six on Saturday 28.4.18

It’s been a fraught week plagued with domestic disasters and concluding with us losing power to the house altogether. There has been progress in the garden, not as much as I’d hoped but here’s an update in the style of the weekly meme Six on Saturday. If you enjoy it why not have a nosey...

Six on Saturday

You haven't met before so let me start with a brief introduction. Regular readers of my blog this is Six on Saturday, a weekly feature where garden bloggers across the globe write about six things in their garden, usually in the form of a numbered list. Six on Saturday readers welcome to Giving Up The...

Still Waiting for Spring

ONE day. One paltry single day, that’s all we had between the last deluge of snow finally melting and this fresh lot dumping. I’m starting to feel a little victimised. The beast from the east took forever to release its grip here. Huge snowdrifts built up across the track, which is the only vehicle access...

Lost in the Woods

Lost in the woods The police came knocking on our door, at 1.30am. Really, no joke. They left the squad car at the nearest road and trudged through the woods and over the footbridge. Apparently they wanted to know if anyone was lost in the woods. Woken by the dogs barking like mad, hubby stumbled...

In Need of a Pickup

  The car is stuck and I am not going anywhere - figuratively and literally. We don’t have 4WD vehicles, despite living in the back of beyond, down a muddy track (now covered in snow). Poor budgeting; poor planning; probably a touch of hubris there too. Trapped alone at home I can’t shake the feeling...

Digital days

I am ill - again! After a brief respite around Christmas I’m back to coughing like an aged coal miner; sleeping with a spit bucket by the bed (yuk) and leaving a trail of snotty tissues everywhere I go, which is not far in this state. I blame it entirely on living here, in a...