Finally back home after seeing my mum and the journey to and from Colchester went very well despite the inevitable roadworks. Foggy and rain going there, sunshine on the return journey and seeing steam engines and classic cars. The first time I have ever been in a queue of traffic and happy because the steam engines held us up and I could happily observe them.

My mum is well but very frail and sadly, although her mind is as sharp as ever, her body is deteriorating. The last three years has seen a mixture of excellent care and woeful neglect and stupidity. My sister is pursuing a complaint regarding the GP as quite frankly they were useless and continue to be the same. I'll say no more about that but it's a common complaint across the UK. She is comfortable and I will be visiting as often as I can because I fear our time will be limited. I had planned to see her later in the month as I had planned to get the tracking completed on my car before any lengthy journeys. This came home to me as any attempt to drive over 60 mph resulted in the car juddering and shaking so I will contact the garage to get that done. Annoying but it resulted in me enjoying the view when I could as I drove at a more relaxed pace. Seeing my sister and brother-in-law had us talking for several hours about all sorts of topics from politics, travel, the supernatural, health and the state of British comedy, music and radio. They have plans to travel later this year including a possible visit to Lincoln where I can hopefully show them around. We also discussed future tours of Scotland as I spoke about my desire to travel around the Highlands and Islands via campervan and they also have the same desire to do so. I think that seeing my mum has strengthened that desire to do the things on my bucket list and stop putting them off.

Home and after chatting with family and fussing the cats, inevitably I completed an hours work on the FW 189 build which is now finished.

I am happy with the build and it will go on the shelf as it is as I wanted an easy OOB build before I tackle some of the more difficult kits.

I also received another kit in the post whilst I was away...

I like these old LS kits which are no longer manufactured and although available abroad, they do appear to be primarily for the home Japanese market hence they are quite rare in the UK. Surprisingly, the kit was very cheap. As stated in an earlier post I have tidied up the stash and created more display space for completed builds. I have a shelf unit full of old history books I haven't read for years and I suspect I won't read again and the dilemma is do I get rid of them, pass them on to charity shops? I had used them for university including the Open University and I guess I will pass them on. Time to let go of excess baggage although I think Sue might faint when she sees me get rid of them! She knows how attached I am to books. I will keep the detective  and historical novels I have because I do re-read them and I often pick one out despite knowing the story. Comfort reading or connecting with an 'old friend' but I will keep them for now. I also realised I won't be doing any further formal education. I really can't be bothered with it all as the education system appears to have disappeared up its own fundament and I would much rather spend my money elsewhere. I can continue to study informally and use the resources of the WEA, the u3a and future learn as and when. 

For now, I intend to relax and avoid the car, potter around the house and garden. The latter is now showing shoots including the Marigolds and one cucumber showing through. The weather is warmer and hopefully the rain will hold off and we won't have a typical bank holiday Monday.

TTFN