RobL's world of wonder

Gardening...., do what?!?!?

 Neither JJ or myself have ever been particularly keen gardeners, the spectre of grass cutting and tending what seemed like acres of weed infested suburbia have taken their toll on both of us I suppose but recent developments at L'Abri du Cotil have seen something of a resurgence of interest in all things horticultural!!  I suppose its a symptom of having an outdoors that you really feel you can use for things other than just parking the car or aerial rigging and has resulted in 'obtaining' some local stone to build a front rockery and introducing some terracotta (massive) pots for trees and 'stuff' to the front and the rear.  That as well as the steel balls/boules in pride of place on the front gravel and the place is really looking rather good.  Downside (theres always one) is the significantly large maritime pine tree at one end of the drive that drops 'bits' as well as leaves from other neighbouring trees that regularly cover the front and rear areas as well as getting into the gutters.  So a further acquisition has been a leaf blower (and God forbid) garden vacuum!!!!!!!  Those who know me will be aware of my slight vacuum cleaner aversion but this one is quite cool because it sucks up the leaves and shreds them too!  JJ has challenged me on the whole sitting still and enjoying the garden thing though, being an inveterate tinkerer and potterer abouterer (!!) I always seem to be fiddling about with something rather than sitting still.  Better get back into some serious book reading and view admiring I suppose!

Radio Active

Now the radios are useable again its been nice to try and get on the air a little.  The antenna needs fettling and ideally a bit more height though so that is the next task but had some reasonable HF contacts but not quite enough time to sit and try to break the recent pile ups for Saudi, Israel, Cyprus and China (oh yes!!).  Was trying to get through a pile up to a 5/5 expat in Cyprus when two successive chinese stations called him, both a good honest 5/9!!  Unsurprisingly the frequency went haywire and our poor countryman was swamped in the ensuing rush by everyone in western Europe trying to muscle in on the action.  Unfortunately it appears the good manners which used to be associated with our beloved amateur radio has gone the way of much these days.

Still a recent crop of QSL cards from the buro has re-kindled the interest, particularly as more than half of them were from contacts made who I didn't expect to send or want a card so a little catch up to do and it has prompted me to produce a new card now I'm on the island (see photo!).  Hope to get a print run organised as soon as and then hit the airwaves again with gusto!! 73

 

New life, old shoes!!

Well what a change around this has all been.  JJ is now firmly ensconced at L'Abri du Cotil and we are having a great time.  Theres been a bit of adjusting to do obviously and J is now actively job seeking (she says she will be a lot more settled once there is a bit of security in that direction) but I can honestly say that things here are wonderful, life is good and to quote from a wonderful web entry I recently saw (from someone I feel I know though have never met) which I can completely understand and appreciate:-  "When she smiles her whole face lights up.  I am content just to be beside her and breathe the same air as she does.  I miss her even if she has gone for 5 mins and I keep looking out of the window for when she returns."  Lets simply say that J has really turned my life around and I could not imagine life without her now, she is my dream come true and I will never willingly or consciously upset undermine or lose her.

 

Old shoes...?  Yeah the favourite old 'CAT' boots are now close to death and there is little more that can be done for them so better sort that out sometime soon.  They had a good innings though..., about 11 years I think!!

Shack up and running!!

Radio bit time!

Spent Sunday afternoon fiddling about with wires and antennas and it appears with some success!!  I now have temporary 20/17/15 metre antenna in the back garden and HF is once more accessible, first contact using 50 watts to Italy with a solid radio 5 signal 7 (he was 59+20 but admittedly using 200watts and a beam!).  So that particular avenue of pleasure has re-opened.  For the radioheads who get to this page the working conditions are as follows:

Yaesu FT747-GX and Yaesu FT707, 50 watts out (in compliance with license conditions) through a 10 metre waveband 5/8 wave vertical, currently ground mounted but, subject to planning to be chimney mounted on a 6 foot aluminium pole and hopefully pending the future installation of a Hustler vertical.  2 metres is also accessible using Yaesu FT480R, 10 watts out (FM and SSB) through a 'slim jim' folded dipole or a 6 element yagi beam as required. 

Not a lot happening on 2 metres currently but I am admittedly 'in the shelter of the hillside' but facing into Normandy so watch this space!!

 

Momentous days

 

Four months ago (let alone 6 months!) I could not have foreseen just where I'd be right now or how things would be.  There are so many crossroads and options in life.  A crossroads was reached which has led here and while there will be regrets about some of the past that is, and I quote "tucked away in its own little box marked special" and this is where things are now and in all honesty I could not see myself being anywhere else now.  JJ will be moving over at Easter now and we can't wait for our new life together.  I am just very aware that the future has never looked so bright, long may it continue to be that way.  I think I've said before that just maybe there are reasons for everything but sometimes it feels like perhaps my old Nan if she's watching is smiling.  I hope so!

Out and about in Rozel

 Well the house is about as I'd like it but as with anything there will always be bits and pieces to do.  The driveway is in the middle of being re-surfaced with gravel, one ton was put in place by yours truly this morning (Saturday) another ton arrives onMonday for the second half of the drive!!  Looking good.  Other projects to do involve the mundane, cleaning out gutters, touching in/repainting the house sign, putting up a short wave and a VHF (2 metre) amatuer antenna, TV isa bit dismal so we may get Sky in!!  Odds and ends but all going towards making the place home.  I was fairly adamant that the next place (after the flat in Plymouth) should be a house and something that I would choose in the kind of place I could really enjoy living.  BINGO!!  I know its still a rent but the place and its environs is just great.  After shovelling a ton of gravel this morning had a nice long walk out and about in the sun after an absolutely cracking lunch at the hungry man and a good opportunity for some more photography.  Work is good too, busy but better that way than the other, only downside brought some stuff home to do over the weekend but rough with the smooth I guess.  Quite entertaining to see some old episodes of Bergerac now I live in Jersey and see some places that I actually now know!!

Island hopping

 

The advantage (one of many actually) I have found with working on the island is that there is more than one island!! Today I had the very great pleasure of getting up at 6am but the good bit was it was a lovely sunny day for the short (fifteen minutes) flight to Guernsey. Never been there before either (apart form looking out of a plane window on a 10 minute stopover) and the first impressions are good. Seems if anything even more laid back than Jersey, St.Peter Port looked lovely, had some nice shops (though I was there for work, honest! ;-) and lacked the bustle and rush of St.Helier. I was there ostensibly to measure up a building for new windows and go and look at some new flats being built. One of the penthouse units there has been sold for three and a half 'big ones' (and I'm not talking thousands here!!) though it did have breathtaking views of the island of Herm and the bay. So for information it seems Guernsey has its fare share of millionaires too!!

 

Finding time to sit at a street cafe for a coffee and a Danish on the way back was a highlight too and I'm looking forward to visiting for pleasure soon with J. The only thing is J is fine with big planes, the smaller the plane the less confident she gets. Potential problem here then, Aurigny who are the best bet for local flights use a Britten Norman Trislander which for those in the know (or not for that matter) is a triple propellor engined 15 seater. about the size of a Transit van but only the width of a small car, noisy, cramped but 'oh boy' you KNOW you're flying!! There's no flight attendant (theres no corridor for he/she to push a trolly along - though I have it on good authority in cold weather the pilot offers his flask around), there's no safety drill (but there is a label next to your seat saying simply "life jacket under seat") but you never go above 1000 feet so its not too far to jump! It was slightly concerning/amusing (not decided which yet) when on the return flight the pilot (there is only one) got his paper out to read!!  The only downside to all of this was getting back to reality on arrival back in Jersey at 2.30pm to then still put in a good honest days work in the office. Still never mind, summer is coming!

P.S. Driving back to the office and did a double take..., Saxon (the great white hound) has a relative in Jersey, not as large but still big white and fluffy, and abolutely adorable!

Update time

Well its high time the long threatened / promised news was publicised!!  In May my lovely lady JJ will be coming across to Jersey to move in with me!!!  We are both dead chuffed and I'm pleased to say the family and friends who have been party to the knowledge already have all been really pleased for us too.  I said that 2007 would be a fresh start, a new chapter if you like and is it ever.  The enforced separation has been hard work, it would be for anyone, but has I'm pleased to say just reinforced what we both already knew, that we want to be together and 'our' little house in Rozel is where we both want to be.  Whatever the past it seems that just maybe these things are all for a reason, I don't pretend to know, we just have to make the best of things as time goes on I suppose but its nice to see things coming together and in a really positive way.

All happening!

Well its Thursday and I've nearly been here for a week!!!!  In some ways it feels much longer (not seeing JJ) in other I don't know where the time goes.  Well Jersey is just lovely, the house is great and improving all the time.....!  Pourquoi??  Ma & Pa came over with me on Friday and have been a great help with all the cleaning, sorting and decorating I wanted to get done and haven't left yet!!  Hopefully the weekend will see a little more exploring than working and we can get to do some of the more touristy things!  The camera is of course taking a pounding forcing me to buy another 1GB memory card and hopefully some stuff will be uploaded soon.  I see my online memory limit is in no immediate danger so it sounds rather like it'll be photo a go-go right through the summer!!!

Oh yeah, the job is pretty good too, builders are just as mad here as on the mainland but I suppose I half expected that!  Surprise out of all of it is that I now commute to work on the bus!! Public transport is cheap and efficient whilst parking in St.Helier is a bit dicey and not cheap!!!!  Ah well more will follow soon, the place is looking quite organised and I'll soon have broadband at home which will help no end!!

Busy old time!!

 Well the build up to Jersey has gone remarkable quickly and the time has now arrived!! As a precursor we went across to Jersey mid January, ostensibly to find me somewhere to live and success first time around! I had seen a small ad in the local paper website for a cottage and it was the first and only property I looked at. It is a small cottage/bungalow just above the village of Rozel in the north east corner of Jersey about 25minutes drive from St.Helier and it is absolutely beautiful. Photos will be posted later onto this site but it looks like it is going to be a great place to live, overlooking the sea with the coast of Normandy about 14miles away and clearly visible. The rest of the time was spent sorting out the nitty gritty of island life (tax, NI, electricity etc.), dodging showers as the weather was grim a lot of the time but for one day (in Rozel) when the sun came out while we had lunch sat on the quayside. Lunch was a bacon butty from what I am advised is the best purveyor of such things in the whole island, possibly in the world!!

Not only all of this but I am actually looking forward to starting work over there (which as my initial workload will be more QS than BS must be saying something). There seems to be plenty of opportunity for photography over there so watch the site for 'new stuff'. I am also reliably informed that it is a good location for radio (HF) being a sought after DXCC and IOTA location and my new landlord says he is happy for me to put up an antenna (or two?!) so some late into the night DX'ing may well be on the cards!

Well, I don't know when the next post will be as I am in the throws of packing everything up, most of it to go into storage (hateful process) but quite looking forward to the setting up and sorting out process as well as a bit of decoration all of which I am looking forward to in a slightly masochistic way! Well thats it for a while as I will need to sort out internet etc. once I am over there and won't even have a PC for a little while (other than the work one but that one may block my site so we shall see. See you soon!!

PS - stop press - only just got around to posting this one and the one way ticket and ferry are ready for the off in the morning, there will be more and in all probability startling news in the offing but that is something for another day I think!