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Monday 16th October ’17

Posted on 16/10/2017 by Nigel under Bonheur Banter


        Good morning world, suns just coming up……..not that I’m usualy up at this unearthly hour, don’t know what caused that, I’ll try not to let it happen again, promise!

    So……..what do you think of the updated website then?……….wadya mean Errr… you haven’t looked have you?, you’ve come straight to the blog without noticing the changes haven’t you…..all that work our wonderful ‘webmeister’ and tekno guru Madelaine at Lavender Letters has done updating the site with new animals and products and photos and links etc……..wasted on you lot ain’t it!   ……well go on then, have a look….  No, you carry on I’ll just wait here until you’re done, I don’t mind, it’s not like Im busy or anything is it?! ……huh…………

       Apart from messing around with the website and the usual alpaca related work the gardening side is slowing down now although with the nice weather we’re still having stuff is continuing to grow but not so manicaly now so we have just a little more time to catch up around the ‘funny farm’ here with fence repairs etc. Also I need to make time to search the dreaded internet for a replacement van as our trusty steed has been condemned at the last control (mot)……..how dare they!

 

 

She’s only 22 yrs old,a mere strippling, I’ve had her for 20 of those years, cost a lot of money back then so I expect a lifetime commitment here…..22 yrs is what? say about a third of the way through getting my moneys worth from a good van really, not that I’m tight or anything but…..well, one expects a bit more stamina and longlife from a working family member. Mind you…….it’s only a bit of corrosion underneath, so she’s a little ‘flakey’ round the edges……aren’t we all dear!  but the ‘garagist’ at the control centre seemed to think it was more major and terminal than that and anyway he said that the powers that ‘be’ have tightened up the rules on corrossion…….and yours is corroded so there! this will be the last time it passes, you will need to do lots of welding to the chassis for the future.

    Hhhrumph……we’ll see about that,  off to a friendly local garage to have a chat with them as mot centres over here do not do work on cars, just the test which is good as there is no incentive for them to ‘make up’ problems to get money from you for shall we say un-needed work……..does that realy happen?, surely not!

 

     Please sir, can you put my lovely white van up on your ramp in the air so we can have a look under her skirts……..umm, was that crunching noise and the shower of rust one of your jacks going through the chassis lifting point? ok, try a bit further along then. There we go, up in the air she goes, funny how she looks like she’s bowing slightly in the middle as it gets higher, optical illusion I expect caused by the sunlight from that skylight above and the oily film on the ramp posts……aah, that’ll be it then. There follows a short silence as all three mechanics working on other vehicals in the workshop magically cluster beneath my baby and start gently prodding bits with their screwdrivers, ducking and coughing as they disappear in clouds of fine rusty particles descending to the floor, much sucking of teeth and mechanical muttering ensues for several minutes with the ocassional tentative tap with a small hammer,only gently mind, to assertain the amount of metal remaining in certain parts.

    ‘Well?……says I hopefully, what do we reckon good sirs?’…….trying very hard not to look too hard at the near ankle deep pile of rust everyone is now standing in.  ‘Your exhaust is in good nick mate’,says boss man happily, ‘in fact thats a good job ’cause it’s about the only thing holding your engine in still!’  ……bugger!

   So…….time to look for a replacement but this time she’s gotta last at least forty years …………… of course I’ll still be driving then, I’ll only be ninety something and I’ve already got poor eyesight now so I’m ahead of the game on that one, I know how to drive when you can’t see properly…….no worries!

        Alpaca moving time,most are having a change of field, the yearlings and ‘uncles’ have just moved down to Cliff field for some fresh grass,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 much to their enjoyment………

     And for our part we’ve started topping then chain harrowing the used fields to clean them up and airate them for the new growth……looks marvelous if I do say so myself…….proper ‘farmer type’ work for once!

 The five Suri lads getting in some walking practice, they need a bit of a reminder at ‘best behaviour’ but they getting there!  We’ve got: Rutland, Raphael, Roger , Romeo and Velour…………..or in your best Michael Palin Monty Python voice: “Wutland,Waphael,Wodger and Womeo and not forgetting Welor” !

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