The debonair Basil Marigold's

I have a particular skill at being the poorest user of the Coventry City bus network. I am sure this isn’t helped by the fact the network is run by the stagecoach, that company being the worst bus company I have ever experienced. Many years ago they took over Barton Buses in Torbay and then proceeded to, in an impressively short space of time and in the height of irony ‘drive’ the bus provision into the ground. Last year when I came back from Coventry city centre I stepped onto a 16 bus. This bus I saw took me to Binley where my car was. What I didn’t know at the time was it took a rather long and winding route. It took 40 minutes to travel to my destination as it proceeded to take me through all the tiny suburbs on my way, reminiscent of travelling from my house to Mansfield on the 3A where the bus would be diving diving down the side streets. The quicker alternative would be the 3 which goes on the main roads and takes a more direct route. In Coventry these buses are the 13’s. As I h

If you find yourself driving up and down the motorways with any frequency you may notice that German engineered cars seem to have, when purchased, a free pass to choose the speed with which they can go over and above the speed limit. When you pay lots for these cars I guess it is a part of the added extras.  However, as a motorist of a non-German car I do not have one of these speed passes. In the main this is because my car can’t get up to those speeds unless it’s a steep descend!  On the way home from work I was following a very large BMW estate, we were quite contently near 70mph as per normal when another German engineered car beginning with the first letter of the alphabet, flew past. Same old, same old thought I. Today though it was different as once the car had passed me, and the BMW there occurred an incredible transformation. Almost immediately after passing me and the BMW, the BMW suddenly developed lots of flashing blue lights.  Now I’m not sure how many seconds it took for

Yes, they can, because on Monday, Western Power will be digging up our driveway to try and fix an earthing problem. This is basically a metaphor for our life currently. You try and get a tiny job done and then that brings something up that becomes even bigger!! It started when our house alarm was replaced. The fitter tested our earth system. I wish I knew why, but when he did he had a really high reading and suggested that when the electrician came in to fit our conservatory lights (and let me tell you, those are lovely! So bright!!) he also test it, just to double check. The electrician did and he had a high reading too. His advice was to ring Western Power who is responsible for our power supply. I did. She took the message and said she'll pass it across to the team and they'll get back to me. They rang while I was having a pub lunch with a friend. We arrange to meet up at about 2pm. When I pull up at the house the van was already there. I arrived at 1:45pm! He continue

Today was the day I truly noticed that winter is really arriving. The day started out quite grey and dark. As we walked the children to school, I noticed it was remarkably cold as well. Kirkby is not a great looking town when it is grey and overcast above. The shadows thrown highlight the sad decline, and neglect of shops and houses. The walk up through town from the council to the school is enough to view this; the old and tatty shutters still being used; the misaligned paving slabs; the tired shop fronts. We have a new Domino's Pizza store in the old Natwest bank. Personally, I would prefer the bank to be there still as if Kirkby is blessed with one thing it is fast food takeaway outlets. Maybe not with as good a reputation as Dominos perhaps, but it remains one of very many places in a tiny town. We are still waiting ti see what happens to the current eyesores. The now vacant old Farmfoods site and the bar and grill that has been opening soon, it has been for about a year no

It has seemed to have taken a lot more time than we thought, but finally, the conservatory project is nearing its end. When we moved in we knew that the conservatory was not what you would call a job well done. The odd leak here and there soon revealed itself to us. The final straw was a heavy, heavy shower that revealed the odd leak would be better described as raining on the inside.  The roofer was called in first (He had previously replaced the garage roof). Instead of replacing the plastic roof, like for like, he explained we could try a felted roof with a couple of windows to let the light in. This seemed the most practical solution though did involve ripping off the tiled section and joisting the roof underneath our daughters bedroom. This would also increase the pitch which would help with run-off. It was a plan, and can be marked off as part 1. The resulting work looked incredibly messy. As you can see! The roof and tiles were well beyond their sell by date, or

It's the start of the first decade in a few that has a proper name, since the Nineties (and no, I will never acknowledge that awful term, the 'noughties!' The Twenties begin. I am sadly not old enough to remember the last time we experienced this! Many people have been comparing themselves from the start of the decade to the end of the decade, 2010 to 2019. I guess the most important moment in my decade can be summed up in one word; Bubbleman. At the start of the decade we had the one child. By 2011 we had discovered a second. As has been proven ever since he arrived at speed. He has continued living at a high pace. He became the human form of the Duracell bunny. Within a year or so he also began to learn how to make noises and forms words; He hasn't stopped since. He Talks fast, he runs fast, he does everything fast. As the decade has progressed he has gone from a baby all the way to a young boy. There have been some downs as well as ups. He very much decided