New neighbours

We used to live up a quiet country lane on the outskirts of a Cheshire village. We still live up the country lane but it is no longer quiet. New neighbours moved in last November who have no respect for the countryside and its' ways.

I am not sure whether he thinks he is David Beckham or Del boy. He drives a black pickup, has a thin moustache and tattoed arms. If he had co-respondent shoes I would say that he was a spiv. His wife has long bleached blond hair and looks like a WAG from behind. I haven't seen the front. She drives a black Audi with a personalised number plate.

Work has been on-going at the house on an on/off basis ever since, sometimes starting as early as 7am and sometimes going on as late as 10pm. He has a quad bike which he rides up and down the lane, making a terrific noise, as his garden is too small for it. The back garden is floodlit so that the kids can play foot ball and the front of the house is usually a blaze of lights.

I wonder how long it will be before they have had enough of the mud?

The day job

Yesterday I worked four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening. In between I came home, had something to eat and managed to sit down for about one hour - so a siesta of sorts.

I have found working up here a bit of a challenge. I do some work for a supermarket and that is pretty much the same as down in Surrey except with different staff and customers with slightly different demands. Also I work for an independent and that is pretty much the same as an independent that I worked for down in Surrey except with different staff and customers with slightly different demands. The challenge has been to understand the colloquialisms and accents without picking them up myself.

Spring must have arrived

Well the clocks went forward at the weekend and we are now on British Summer Time. The days are feeling warmer and the dairy farmer, whose farm we back onto, has put his cows out into the field after over wintering them in his barn. So I guess it is at least Spring.

Neighbours & Coronation Street

The next door neighbour D is building an extension onto the back of his house. We objected to his being given planning permission to build the extension. Every other person that we know who has applied for planning permission has been refused permission if a neighbour has objected. But we object and D gets planning permisssion. We live in an area of 'green belt' and we think that the extension is too big, too close to our house and not in keeping with the surrounding area and houses. Probably worst of all it blocks our view of the farmer's field and we now look out onto his tiled pitched roof. The first thing that we see when we pull back the curtains in the morning is this roof - it's like looking out onto Coronation Street. If we had wanted to look out onto a roof we would have bought a house that did so.

Caught on camera

The next door neighbour who I shall call W is looking for a new window cleaner and a decorator. We are also looking for a decorator and a window cleaner, but we have not had a window cleaner since we moved here because we replaced the old windows then we had building work which made everything nice and dirty and we also have swallows nesting under our eaves for most of the summer. Hence a window cleaner would have been waste of time.

Any way next door's window cleaner cleaned their windows, earlier this week, for the last time for some time to come. Having cleaned their windows he then stole a roll of lead from our other next door neighbour, who is currently building an extension and I shall call D. D was able to prove this because he has CCTV cameras around his house.

Floored

At last after three weeks of waiting we have heard that the manufacturer has decided that the living room carpet is faulty. The salesman from the well known carpet shop phoned with the news and asked if we wanted to re-order the same carpet or choose another one. I replied that we would like a refund. To which he responded that he would go ahead and reorder the carpet. So I repeated that we would like a refund. He didn't know if the manufacturer would do a refund and would have to ask the manager. Today the manager phoned and offered a refund or the option to choose a more expensive replacement carpet. After our experiences over the last few weeks we are going to take the money and run to another carpet shop!

Sunset & stars

Late yesterday afternoon we had one of those glorious sunsets that the north west often sees, with candy floss pink clouds gradually darkening until a the inky blackness of evening descended. As I looked out, alone, into the darkness through the kitchen window, all I could see was the lights of the kitchen and my face reflected back. Even the single light which usually burns at the farm was not there. The wind shreked around the house screaming through the windows and the rain hailed down. Later the sky cleared, the wind dropped, stars came out and I had company.