New lodger, further mill developments, panel beaters, geocaching, concert, O and some more geocaching

We planned to come in to BP on Wednesday, but had to wait for the tinman to come and assess the extent of the work on our rainwater pipes. He finally came on Wednesday, so we were going to come in on Thursday. At this point it turned out that Jutka couldn't do Friday for the Gallery, so we put our departure off by another day. Which was just as well, because I had a very late notice of a need for the Bunkhouse being open to receive some lodgers from the mill renovating team. Peter arrived on Thursday and as far as we know is still there.

The mill works have shown a fair number of cockups, but they are so used to them that they fix them without turning a hair. The mill mechanism is apparently going to be commissioned on Sunday with radio and television in attendance, so they are working to a deadline. I went up and had a look, took copious new pictures and was feeling sorry for missing the big event on Sunday.

We left on Friday midday and went to see our favourite panel beater. We have not seen him for about 4 or 5 years, but now we need him due to an old man hitting the front of the car the previous week and another injury caused by a piece of brick thrown up by a lorry onto the bonnet a couple of months or so ago. He was so pleased to see us that we didn't get away for an hour. We agreed the price for the works - about £200 - half of which should come from the old man himself. This we followed by a quick geocaching visit to a nearby town, but could not find any of the details or the cache itself, so we gave up. The box should have been between the wheels of this decaying, large steam engine and while it was frustrating not finding the box, we did indeed admire the old rotting hulk. :-( We also managed to meet up with the old guy and get £100 out of him. En route to BP we found a lovely restaurant and had a blowout. We were very hungry and the cooking was great.

In the evening I went to a fantastic concert of Brahms and Richard Strauss, which was not only brilliant with Isabelle Faust playing the Brahms Violin Concerto, but the fact that I was sitting in the second row in a £40 seat for £3, made it even better. This orchestra - quite wisely - flogs its unsold tickets for a silly price to make sure that the auditorium is full. Long may this habit of theirs last!!

And today we went orienteering and geocaching about a 40 minute drive from the flat, which was great. I still can't run well, but the navigating was OK until the end. There is this steep, rocky, overgrown hillside just above the Finish field which I can't manage to find any controls on. The last time I ran here I wasted about 10 minutes looking for one, thankfully today's booboo took only about 2-3 minutes, but it was annoying all the same. I stand 3rd overnight, we'll see how it goes tomorrow!!

After the O we went to pick up two caches and this time it went OK. Both had an ecclesiastical theme, the first being based on some ancient cictercian monastery ruins, the second on an enormous cross and a chapel half way up a mountain. The view from the latter was grandiose and will need to be revisited on a nicer, sunnier day in the future.`

PS: Had a good run on Sunday. Not without mistakes, but good all the same. Kept my third position, got a bronze medal and a nice T-shirt. Picked up another cache by yet another old monastery ruin and got home to watch the Grand Prix. Now I am off to a concert.