Easter Bank Holiday

We are having a very lazy day here at number 9 today. Amelia has watched around three movies which is doing my head in.. Why do girls have to like musicals so much?!!!!

I know a way to get her attention though. I decided to tie some flies this afternoon ready for the next fishing trip and as always, Amelia wanted to have a go. It's great that she's interested and I gently encourage her, she hasn't been fishing yet but now the weather is warming up she will be able to come out with me on the boat.

I left the house at 7 o'clock this morning and jumped in my van for the 15 minute drive to Eyebrook Reservoir. Jimmy and I bought our fishing tickets, paid for the boat and booked ourselves in. A quick coffee in the fishing lodge and then out we went to tackle up and load the boat. The weather was overcast but calm, a very nice morning in fact - especially considering we nearly didn't go due to the weather forecast...

We had to wait until half past 8 before boats were allowed out and we were the first to leave! Jimmy knew exactly where to take us...

We arrived at our fishing spot and dropped the anchor. I started with a Diawl Bach while Jimmy started with a Buzzer. We both caught our first fish at the same time, within 10 minutes of dropping anchor! It wasn't long before I had another and Jimmy had another 2!
The fish seemed to stop feeding for a while after that before picking up again an hour or so later. It rained on and off during the day but nothing too bad - at least the wind stayed down! In all Jimmy caught 8 fish and I caught 6. I lost 2 fish that managed to spit the hook out as I was bringing them in and I also missed quite a few pulls... Jimmy also missed a few. 4 of mine were caught on Diawl Back with 2 being caught on bloodworm. Jimmy's were caught on Diawl Bach, and buzzers.

At around half past 4 we hadn't caught any fish for an hour or so and it was starting to rain heavily so we headed back to the lodge. We both had a great day and I was impressed with my first visit to Eyebrook Reservoir. I hope to catch many more fish there in the future but one things for sure, if I'm to continue boat fishing I need to invest in a boat seat with a backrest!

My pallet wood workbench.

Last week my dad kindly gave me a number of wooden pallets so that I could use the wood from them. I have several projects which I need wood for including the edging for my veggie patch, a chicken coop and I also need to fix my gate which the wood will be useful for. The first thing I have built though is a workbench. I should really have sanded down each plank before I started but I'm too lazy!! I quickly sanded down the edges only and then got the box of screws out!

First I made the legs and screwed the sides onto them. I reused the blocks from the pallets as well to give the legs some strength.

I then selected planks of the same thickness to use for the top. I screwed them on using four screws for each plank - two at each end. Rather than drilling pilot holes I gently tapped the screw into the wood with a hammer before screwing it in the rest of the way. I also added at this stage a plank at each end between the legs for added support.

Once all of the top planks were secure I simply measured the width and marked a line down each side leaving a 5 inch overhang on either side. I then cut along the lines removing the ends to leave me with nice straight edges.

Next, I screwed three planks on the leg supports going the length of the table. This adds more rigidity at the same time as providing a ledge for my toolbox!

And that's it, my free workbench all finished. It took me a few hours but you could do it quicker if you have a cordless screwdriver.. I don't own one so had to do it the old fashioned way screwing each screw into the wood by hand.

Making progress...

We have lived here at Number 9 for over 3 years now and I thought it was about time we put the back garden to use. We have a garden to the side of our house which we have always used as a back garden, for BBQ's for example. However, there is limited privacy which the back garden will give us, and, there is enough space to grow our own vegetables. It has been hard work but I am making good progress now and am lucky to have good friends who have been willing to come round and help me dig!

This is how the garden looked a few months ago (and how it has looked for the last 3 years!)

Getting started...

Adam lends a helping hand!

Starting to take shape!

I have lots of pictures taken along the way but too many to post them all. These pictures were taken yesterday and show how far the garden has come! I have fixed the fence, dug a veggie patch - Garlic, Onions, Potato's, Broad Beans are in already. I bought ten strawberry plants for Amelia which are also in. Overall I'm very pleased but still have lots to do!!

The Rosemary bush that Adam kindly gave to me.

The Strawberry plants.

So there it is, nearly finished! I would like to say thank you to Adam, Keith, Parsie, and Joy who have all helped me at various stages!

Typing test..

I just found this speedtest websit and thought I'd have a go! Pointless really but there you are!


37 words

Typing Test

A trip to the coast!

I arrived in Morston, a small village on the Norfolk coast, at just after 6pm on Sunday. It had taken me 2 hours to drive the 94 miles from Glaston and I was glad to arrive and to stretch my legs! My friend Adam was waiting for me at The Anchor Inn, and shortly after I arrived he took me to Morston Quay to have a look at the boats. Once we'd had a quick look around we returned to the Anchor for our dinner. We shared a large bowl of Mussels which were without doubt the best mussels I have ever tasted! Once we had devoured those, Adam ordered an Oyster each as I hadn't tried one before. He put a bit of Tabasco sauce, and white pepper on them and a squeeze of lemon juice and then I reluctantly poured it from its shell into my mouth. I swished it around before I swallowed it and was pleasantly surprised, it tasted very good indeed! Soon after we finished our Oyster's our main course's arrived - Mixed Roast for Adam, and Haddock, chips and mushy peas for me. The food was absolutely superb as was the service.

After dinner Adam introduced me to a few of his friends. One of them, Colin, is a sailing instructor. So, I wasted no time in telling him all about the sailing Dinghy I have recently 'acquired' and dashed off to the van to fetch the laptop! I showed him my pictures of it and he was very helpful and knowledgeable, telling me what all the bits are called and what they are for.

Saturday morning I was up very early feeling poorly. I woke Adam at 6am (sorry Adam!) as I was up and down not knowing what to do with myself. We put my dodgy tummy down to the Oyster and the fact that I don't normally eat shell fish. In the end I left Adam in peace and went to the Quay for some fresh air. It was nice to be out so early and I watched people doing there morning jobs with their boats. I saw this man getting some sort of nets from the water and swishing them about before loading them into his pickup truck. I wasn't sure what he was collecting but Adam said later that he was probably collecting Mussels.

Once I was feeling a bit better I headed back to the Anchor to find Adam up and ready to go. So we got into his car and headed to Sheringham to buy some fishing tackle and bait so that we could have a go at beach casting. The man in the shop was very helpful and showed us what we needed. We came away with lug worms, squid, and some ready made rigs and weights.

We then headed back to Morston to find Jim Temple who very kindly spent some time with us tying all the bits on and showing us what was what.

Once we were sorted we headed over to Cley Next Sea to do some fishing. The weather was changing rapidly and withing an hour we were being pelted by hail stones and had no choice but to pack up and get back to the car! The weather improved later on and we were able to go on Jim Temples seal trip boat. We boarded the boat at around 2pm and off we went to see if we could see any seals. It took about 25 minutes to reach Blakeney point which is where the seals usually are. There were no seals on the sand when we got there but we did see a few in the water. Jim was surprised to see so few and said he thought it was due to them going out looking for food. I didn't mind one bit. Whether I saw one seal or one hundred seals, I found the trip to be very enjoyable and Jim was very good talking to us all the whole time explaining where we were and a bit about the seals.

That evening we had another wonderful meal in the pub before going to bed and I returned home this morning (Tuesday) having enjoyed my trip to Morston. I can't wait to go again and highly recommend a visit to anyone who is thinking of something to do for a weekend. Jim Temple's seal trips are definitely worth the money and the Anchor Inn is very friendly and the food is superb!