Dear Reader, this has been a pretty eventful month... I have been writing this as the month progressed, so I apologise now for the inevitability of inconsistent tenses. Here goes... Merstham encountered serious problems when a major water main burst on 23 May. I read a Tweet at about 20:00 or so, and thought little of it until the following morning when supplies were still unavailable. I stayed at Jenny's on the following night as the water supply was still out - it was finally restored on Friday morning, just in time for my going away for a long weekend. To make the most of the Spring Bank Holiday, we booked up a hotel and ventured down to Chichester for a long weekend from 25 to the 28 May. We visited an Owl Sanctuary, beaches and the New Forest, and the weather was very warm and sunny (only one short sharp shower !). Jenny, Layla and I had a great time. <more details here> After the lovely weekend, I wearily got up to to drive to work on the Tuesday, but my VW Golf would not move - the engine was turning, the gear selected, but she was unwilling to move when I released the clutch. A trip to the garage and open wallet surgery was required (£800+ for a strip down of the gear box, new part to sort out the gear selection and while they in that area a new clutch). I was only without the car until the following Wednesday, and in truth it seemed like an age. The bill was large, but my logic is that it is cheaper than a new car and will keep it running for a couple more years at least. Collecting the car on 6 June paved the way for a trip to the movies to see Sherlock Gnomes with Layla and Jenny which I enjoyed - it is set in London and a nice story of gnomes disappearing all over town. We had the pick of the cinema seats and we were the only ones there until two minutes before the show began. On Friday 9 June, Jenny, Layla and I set off on our next Big Adventure to Birmingham to visit Cadbury World. The driving time was a long 3 hours and we reached the hotel at about 21:15. Again the weather was warm and dry, and we had a great day taking in the attractions at the Cadbury World site at Bourneville. On Sunday, we had a nice stroll at Lickey Hill Country Park before making our way back to Surrey. <more here> 13 June - One Year On from an awful avoidable tragedy. Sad and angry that it happened because building cladding acted as a chimney. 15 / 17 June - We are trying to keep the momentum of clearing / decorating rooms at mine to ease the weekend accommodation choices and sort things out. It is is truth un-natural for me, but I am sure Jenny and I will eventually get the place in order. In essence, the furniture is all too big for my current house and came with me when I moved in 2007/8. With the boys leaving and several years of living on my own, spaces and rooms have been used to store kit "temporarily" - tents, camp kit, odd "useful" things. The place is a bit of a mess to be honest, but is generally sound and the house needs a little TLC to bring it back up to scratch. Layla is on a residential trip for a few days during the next week, so we are going to try and do a little more sorting in the evenings. On 22 and 24 June, Jenny Layla and myself (together with Jenny's Mum) and two trips to the RHS Gardens at Wisley. Both were very good and made for a great weekend. <more details here>. The week from Monday 18 June to Sunday 24 June was pretty busy at work and leisure, and my step average over the seven days was 10.5k plus, which is the first in a while. Back to the office on Monday, with a continuation of the very warm and settled weather means that we can look forward to a nice upcoming weekend and it's associated pleasures. Jenny and I are having a couple of restful days on the north Kent coast at Herne Bay, more of which next time. I have not seen too much of the FIFA World Cup in Russia but the results have been very interesting.
The Big Boys are struggling to get going, the mid-range teams are firing on all cylinders and currently just the single goal-less draw (<Shame on you both, France and Denmark>) have made it seem very exciting. England are thriving in the atmosphere of no-expectancy, and I wish them well and genuinely hope that they do well. That is about it for June's installment from this member of the Ratcliffe Federation. Tune in for more next month. Take care out there Good People. Pip pip... !!
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