Filters (by sarah)

Finially filters have been fitted on the Mills water supply which being fed from a spring through cracked pipes just happens to be full of stuff like e-coli. There is now a partical filter and a UV tube for killing off the bugs. The UV tube will have to be replaced about once a year I don't know how often the partical filter will need to be changed - but still this now means the waters safe to drink 🙂

This is a great relief when dealing with a two year old who loves water 🙂 They made sure especiallly that the bathrooms water supply was after the filter too.

Re the wriggly monsters I found in the cats water (you can read about that here it turns out Barbara gets the cats water from the water butt outside so no wonder it was full of mosquito lavea!

Everything is normal (by alaric)

I'm back in Cranham after another week away. I came back late on Friday, and the first thing we did Saturday morning was go and pick the van up from Holbrook Garage, where it had been in for some minor repairs: the reversing lights had stopped working, the right headlight was being intermittent (sidelight and full beam mode worked OK, but when set to dip, it was merely sidelight-bright, but sometimes it worked OK), and the coolant temperature gauge only ever read above 'very cold' when we were sat in a creeping traffic jam in bright sunlight for a few hours.

All niggling little things that I had wanted fixed for a long time, and had had brief attempts to fix myself, but now we have some money coming in, fixing niggling little problems like that is on the cards once more (before they become expensive problems).

The van was ready and waiting for me, and the first thing we noticed as Sarah and I set off down the M5 for a day out was that the temperature gauge did indeed rise until it gratifyingly pointed to "Normal":

It's nice to know you're normal.

Anyway, we proceeded to visit Bristol for lunch and a walk about, then headed over to explore Weston Super Mare and see the seaside (even though it's not really the sea per se, it's the Severn Estuary), before making our way back home.

Then on Sunday we took Jean out. We tried to go to Bristol Zoo, but all the car parks were full, which lead us to suspect it would not be a pleasant time to visit, so instead we walked around Bristol again with her.

We came across a green square, where some air cadets where dismantling a glider and putting it in its trailer, while some army cadets were taking down a portable climbing wall. I presume there had been some kind of event on, which we had missed, but Jean was entranced by the glider. She demanded to go and see it, shouting "Plane! Plane!". Afterwards, we saw some people doing acrobatic leaps in the square, and Jean tried to copy them, which was rather cutely comical, too.

We had a relaxing weekend, since we'd both had a hard week beforehand (I worked all day and spent most of my evenings in a data centre fixing things!), and we have a hard week ahead of us.

Which I am now starting... with a bad cold. Sigh...

Damp Flags (by sarah)

Yesturaday the Rainbow people for the Mill came and said pretty much the same as was said of the Bakery - its naturally damp the amount of moisture goes up everytime it rains so the buildings at pre-flood levels.

Al asked about the 'long-term' solution and it would be taking up the flag stones and putting a layer undernieth but that isn't going to happen so for now its just getting carpets back in and rugs back down.

Unfortunatly the mill is basically sitting on a spring in the front part by the front door and when the water table rises it comes threw the floor! The water table is exceptionally high still and the guy showed us the visible damp patches on the stones - 'you can feel the damp with your fingers!' he told us demonstrating 🙁

The Disicated Mouse (by sarah)

The Rainbow people came again on Tuesday and pronounced that we were wetter than the previous week and therefore the property though very damp is naturally that way and they have returned the building to pre-flood levels. This ment they removed all the fans and dehumidifiers and will be signing us off so that the builders can begin their work.

However they did warn us that any floor covering we put down will go moulding in about a year and have suggested various things like ceramic tiles and waterproof layers - flag stones would apparently be the best as they would allow everything to 'breath' properlly. I think that what will probably happen is that a water proof layer will be painted onto the floor again even though that just means all the moisture will just go round it into the wall cuasing problems with plaster - sigh.

We really wish we had some spar cash so that we could sort it all out properlly once and for all but I dont think thats going to happen for a while yet.

We also found a little shrivelled mummyfied mouse corpse that had been dried out by the dehumidifier - in fact it was pretty much under the machine - I really wish I had a working camera as it was a photo oppertunity I'll probably never have again - gross but interesting - sigh I'm not sure that artist and scientist is such a good mix somethimes!

The Dipper Bird (by sarah)

We apparently have a dipper bird Albert Barbaras gardener informs me - this is a bird that looks like a big wren with a white waistcoat and dives into the water from low laying stones and then 'walks' under water catching things to eat!

I really really want to get a photo of it - its responsible for the strange sounds I've hearing too!