26^th March 2017

Dear All,

There were two highlights this week: getting the car back and meeting up with Mary, Graham, David and Jen for a meal at Bishops Stortford.

The car was eventually repaired on Monday after 12 days. Fortunately Peugeot agreed to pay for the parts even though it was out of warranty as we had a full maintenance record and it had only done 38,000 miles. Replacing and reprogramming a full set of injectors and diagnosing the fault would have cost £2,055. We had to pay labour cost which were £434 – bring back the Austin A35!

Monday was a busy day as I began with having a wisdom tooth refilled and patched up, continued with a meeting over lunch with John Law to discuss the next trip to Moldova, then off to the doctors for the results of MOT blood tests and ended with the annual chapel outing to Pidley for 10 pin bowling. We had 35 turn up for either the meal or the game and it seemed to go very well.

On Tuesday we visited Oakington Garden Centre to stock up on slug pellets, fertilizer and a few plants and seeds. Later I harvested the last of the Brussels sprouts at the allotment and dug the land. Sprouting broccoli was also coming on stream and needed picking.

Gordon Foster had been to hospital in London to have a cyst removed from a very delicate part of his anatomy; he expected to be kept in for 3 days but was released the same day and turned up for a church meeting in the evening.

We hadn’t met the Browns and the Days for some time and Graham suggested meeting at a venue equidistant for us all so Wetherspoons at Bishops Stortford was chosen. It was a good venue despite the complications of the town’s one way traffic system. We had planned a short walk but the weather was not conducive so we settled for a stroll round the Castle Park.

Venerable Group

Our Thursday walk started at Kneesworth west of Cambridge and took in Melbourn and Meldreth. It was a mixed walk as the section along the River Mel was excellent but it also involved crossing the A 10 four times and the railway line. In the absence of the normal pub we ate at a “Yuva Nepalese Restaurant”. Despite having pre-ordered service was extremely slow and some of our group are not famed for their patience!

River Mel

The U3A term has finished so we had more time free this week which was useful as the weather allowed some serious gardening to begin. On Friday I cut the grass, planted early spuds, peas, lettuce, cabbage and cauliflowers and sowed peppers, aubergines and salsify, declamped the dahlias and planted the earliest tomatoes in the greenhouse.

The magnolia trees in the front are in full blossom and so far have escaped the usual frost singeing.

Love

Mike & Kate