Thomas Cook and Sunshine holidays

Two days before the collapse of Thomas Cook I had booked a holiday to Majorca through Sunshine holidays that used Thomas Cook airlines!

I wasn't too worried about it other than not being able to go away as I knew my payment was safe as it would be covered by ATOL plus I had paid by credit card and would have been covered by the card company as well.

However, I am more than impressed with Sunshine Holidays and will certainly be using them again in the future.
The morning after the collapse I had an email from Sunshine holidays informing me I would be getting a full refund on my credit card immediately, this was back in my account within two days. In addition, they gave me a £75 credit as compensation towards another holiday.

Outstanding service!

Isle of Wight 2019 International Classic car show

I spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around the Classic car show held at Newport Quay, it is also held the following day at Ryde seafront.
If you have any interest in cars at all this is a superb event to go to, free to get in although donations to charity are encouraged and should be supported.
Here is a video I took while I was there

Wedding Anniversary

Last Saturday, the 7th of September was our 56th wedding anniversary, I have to say we have had a lovely marriage and 4 great sons and a daughter. I think this has been the result of us both working at it.
My dear wife Avril, will probably never read this but I still love her dearly.

Anyway, I started off on the morning of our Anniversary by stripping off our roof ready for re-roofing!

Not the normal way to celebrate I guess!

However we did go out to dinner in the evening to celebrate, we went to the "Bandstand" at Sandown, this directly overlooks the beach and sea.

A really lovely place and an excellent meal, I would recommend this to anyone!

Live music on the Island

Since coming here to live I have come to realise how much live music is available over here. There are many bands, quartets, duets and singers performing across the Island.
Here in Newport where I live there is live music on a regular basis in a choice of places. I tend to go to the Crispin or the Castle both of which have a live group on a Friday and Saturday night however there is normally live music at the Waverley on a Saturday night, always something going on at the Quay. Plus Jam nights on a Monday at the Crispin and the Ale House on a Tuesday and also in other places.

Last Friday I went to the Castle and listened to "The Moonshiners" Here is a short clip but please excuse the poor quality taken in not good lighting with my phone.

Hospital Visit

Today I had to visit St Mary's Hospital in Newport for a consultation for a cataract operation. St Mary's has not been having a very good report in the press lately but I am pleased to say this certainly wasn't my experience.

Without exception, everyone I dealt with from nurses to the Dr came across as very professional, I was seen on time and every step was explained to me in detail.
The result is that I have a fairly thick cataract that needs removing on my left eye, this involves removing the affected lens beneath the pupil and inserting a new lens. here is a diagram.

I have about a 3-4 Month wait until this is done, the good news is that my right eye is very good indeed in the Dr's words.

Re-Roofing the bungalow

After taking it easy, work-wise for most of August I have decided to get going once again and make a start on re-roofing the rest of the bungalow. to be honest it is quite hard starting again as I seem to be aching all over. Climbing around on rafters is certainly not as easy as it used to be that's for sure but I guess at 76 I'm lucky to be doing it at all.
I have started on what will be the easiest section, the front apex.

I started off by stripping off the old slates, as you can see there is no underfelt of insulation beneath them so the first thing to do after taking off the battens is to put in 150mm of insulation between the rafters.

Then a layer of permeable underfelt, this will provide a waterproof barrier but also allow moisture to pass through it from inside the building. then I have fixed 50 x 25mm treated battens to take the new slates.

I shall probably strip and batten the rest of the roof before starting on the slating. 

I am estimating the whole job to take me 4-6 weeks working on my own