In the '80s when CND was at its height, I read about a man who travelled every month to the Irish Republic on business.Ā He always got called over when wearing a CND badge, but never when he didn't.
I know I'm late posting my Christmas cards from France. I was going to do them last week but the weather was so bad I didn't get out, so I went to post them yesterday but the post office was closed when it should have been open, so i went again this morning to be told there were no international stamps - they are on order and she is waiting for them. So this afternoon I have to find a PO that is open and has stamps. It won't matter if the cards don't arrive before Christmas will it? After all there are twelve days of Christmas - that's the way I'm looking at it anyway. Bah Humbug.
Itās the thought that counts, @floralies - the fewer and fewer cards I send to the UK are always late even when I am not. Spanish post is rubbish and the couriers even worse. Shops and services always seem to be mysteriously closed when you want them. Couriers always come when you are out or canāt find the house.
Went to get the last bags of manure that I bought on Friday out the car yesterday but lazily didnāt unload all at the time. No response to electronic key so used analogue method. Couldnāt start it, electrics totally dead. Boot can only open if electronics are working. Crawled in, opened passenger door from inside, had to haul them out of the boot via rear passenger door.
Didnāt know if it was mice eating the electrics or the battery. Cost us a fortune to fix wiring last time they ate the wiring. Apparently, new eco wiring is very tasty. Now have sonar mice-repellent device, but attached to the battery and not working. Grappled with machine tightened nuts to remove battery (big battery, weighs a bluddy ton too) and took it to the garage this morning in little car - 2 hour round trip. Always pays to have an Emergency Car in the county, but last time we tried to jump start a car with the EC it nearly blew itās tiny engine. And the jump leads were in the recessed footwell of the boot of the big car anyway, which you canāt get into without opening the boot, which I couldnāt from the inside. Aargh, modern cars š”Ā
The battery, as it turns out, was kaput, cheaper than mice if thatās all it is, but they didnāt have the right model in stock. Drove around and finally found a replacement battery elsewhere, fingers crossed this does the trick when I once more grapple to get it in. If the rodents have been at the wiring as well, the not so old car is probably kerf*cked as the garage told us last time they were hanging together on a thread.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I think my oldest boy has all the makings of a gardener. His latest design involved creating a lovely water feature. Sadly it was on my desk and unconventionally he used a cup of tea but we all have to start somewhere. Incidentally how come toddlers are fitted with telescopic arms?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
@Floralies - OH managed to get enough stamps for ours at the end of last week plus a pack of spares for all the new year birthdays.Ā We still had 3 of the old blue for the EU ones left from last year's lot but they're all purple now and worldwide.
@Nollie - painful isn't it?Ā Ā A car transporter whose driver was otherwise engaged wrote off our no 1 car at the end of September.Ā That weekend, OH decided to take out his frustration on the grass but needed our second car to kick start the mower.Ā He then carefully left the key in the ignition with the car in the garage so headlights on.Ā Ā When I came to go out on the Monday, no juice.Ā Our starter cables have, in any case, been eaten by rats so he had to go next door and get the neighbour, his cables and his car.
Within the first few weeks of moving here the local rats had eaten half the insulation under no 1 car's bonnet.Ā New car due for delivery before the end of the month.Ā They'd better not eat it!Ā I shall have to add some precautionary rat poison to the shopping list.
Well the good news is, the new battery was much easier to put back than the old one was to take out and car is functioning again. Phew!Ā TheĀ sonic mouse repellent device whined back to life and I sprayed all around the wheel arches and underneath the car with a repellent spray just in case. I found a load of droppings in the battery compartment, so maybe not out of the woods yet.
We didnāt realise mice and rats ate cars until we moved to the countryĀ @Obelixx. Our cars are parked outside, but the danger point is if the engine is warm after a run in the late afternoon/early evening our mechanic told us, then they will sneak into the warm engine from underneath. Plus, he says, modern wire insulation, unlike the old stuff, contains some sort of edible starch so he sees eaten wiring a lot.
The bad news @philippa smith2 is that I have just been bitten by a mosquito - what the hell are they doing here at this time of year? Ā Plus, having spread the bagged manure, one of the dogs rolled in it then trod it all over the house floor and ground it into the sofa. āThings can only get betterā I hope.Ā Apparently now stolen from TB by BJ as a theme tune šĀ
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Glad you're all fixed up now @Nollie.Ā Ā Our garage is actually open to the elements on one side @Nollie and, in readiness for the new car, it has been completely emptied so the only things living it are spiders and other insects which like the stone walls.Ā I'm hoping that keeps the rodents away.Ā Ā Our house in Belgium was also in open countryside and there were rats in the garden and sometimes in the garage plus meeces hibernating in the walls in winter but they never ate the cars.
Not really @Hostafan1.Ā I can think of much better uses for that much money, includingĀ gardens for hospices and hospitals etc, hostels and shelter for the homeless, food and toys for the food banks - unless of course she has other philanthropic ventures.
Posts
Went to get the last bags of manure that I bought on Friday out the car yesterday but lazily didnāt unload all at the time. No response to electronic key so used analogue method. Couldnāt start it, electrics totally dead. Boot can only open if electronics are working. Crawled in, opened passenger door from inside, had to haul them out of the boot via rear passenger door.
Didnāt know if it was mice eating the electrics or the battery. Cost us a fortune to fix wiring last time they ate the wiring. Apparently, new eco wiring is very tasty. Now have sonar mice-repellent device, but attached to the battery and not working. Grappled with machine tightened nuts to remove battery (big battery, weighs a bluddy ton too) and took it to the garage this morning in little car - 2 hour round trip. Always pays to have an Emergency Car in the county, but last time we tried to jump start a car with the EC it nearly blew itās tiny engine. And the jump leads were in the recessed footwell of the boot of the big car anyway, which you canāt get into without opening the boot, which I couldnāt from the inside. Aargh, modern cars š”Ā
The battery, as it turns out, was kaput, cheaper than mice if thatās all it is, but they didnāt have the right model in stock. Drove around and finally found a replacement battery elsewhere, fingers crossed this does the trick when I once more grapple to get it in. If the rodents have been at the wiring as well, the not so old car is probably kerf*cked as the garage told us last time they were hanging together on a thread.
@Nollie - painful isn't it?Ā Ā A car transporter whose driver was otherwise engaged wrote off our no 1 car at the end of September.Ā That weekend, OH decided to take out his frustration on the grass but needed our second car to kick start the mower.Ā He then carefully left the key in the ignition with the car in the garage so headlights on.Ā Ā When I came to go out on the Monday, no juice.Ā Our starter cables have, in any case, been eaten by rats so he had to go next door and get the neighbour, his cables and his car.
Within the first few weeks of moving here the local rats had eaten half the insulation under no 1 car's bonnet.Ā New car due for delivery before the end of the month.Ā They'd better not eat it!Ā I shall have to add some precautionary rat poison to the shopping list.
We didnāt realise mice and rats ate cars until we moved to the countryĀ @Obelixx. Our cars are parked outside, but the danger point is if the engine is warm after a run in the late afternoon/early evening our mechanic told us, then they will sneak into the warm engine from underneath. Plus, he says, modern wire insulation, unlike the old stuff, contains some sort of edible starch so he sees eaten wiring a lot.
The bad news @philippa smith2 is that I have just been bitten by a mosquito - what the hell are they doing here at this time of year? Ā Plus, having spread the bagged manure, one of the dogs rolled in it then trod it all over the house floor and ground it into the sofa. āThings can only get betterā I hope.Ā Apparently now stolen from TB by BJ as a theme tune šĀ
Not really @Hostafan1.Ā I can think of much better uses for that much money, includingĀ gardens for hospices and hospitals etc, hostels and shelter for the homeless, food and toys for the food banks - unless of course she has other philanthropic ventures.