Good news, bad news week

It has been an interesting week this week in both good and bad ways. Early on in the week we found out that a friend of a friend was interested in coming to visit our place to see what we are doing and so at the last minute we ended up with an unexpected guest over the Easter holidays. We have had many chats with our new friend over the time he has been spending with us and one chat lasted for around 7 hours around the kitchen table. We did wonder how many folks these days even eat around a table, never mind sit for hours just chatting but it was good fun anyway.

We have finally been having some lovely spring days, plenty of sunshine and a warm wind which has been great for spring cleaning and getting the washing done as well as drying the ground out and melting the remaining snow. The rivers were running very high as the ice melted and snow ran off the fields but it would seem that the culvert that the local council put in last year on the road next to our land has meant that the snow run-off from our fields have not flooded the road this year, which is a relief (you can see the pictures from last year here). We still might try and dig out a pond a bit further back and see if we can make use of all that water for fish but I guess that may be a project for another year. Talking of ponds Ian has been using his digger attachment to dig out a pond near the poly tunnel - or rather where the poly tunnel frame is, so that when it is eventually finished then we have a source of water. There is some progress on that front for anyone following that particular 6 month saga, as the workers have been back and finishing off the frame but they are up to their ankles in mud - not good news from their point of view I guess.

Thursday this week was a rather difficult good news bad news day:-
Firstly I got to the hairdressers okay in the nearest large town - which is good news as the roads are diabolical at the moment and therefore this can be considered an achievement, the potholes are quite alarming in places
While I was in the hairdressers Ian went to get the technical inspection done on the car which cost less than we thought it was going to - so more good news!
The car, however, failed the technical inspection- bad news, the front suspension was wobbly for some reason.
We do have 30 days to sort it though- good news
We fitted in a trip to the accountants and found we might not have to pay tax on a house sale - very good news (I will qualify this and say our accountant is still discussing this with the tax service and so is not a done deal yet)
We went to the supermarket and found some beef which is a very a rare find where we are - good news for an Easter weekend treat

Got home and found a certificate from OU in the post for a module I passed in October so my merit for that is now official - good news
Ian decided to change the tyres on the car to even up the wear and found that the wobble on the wheel was worse than he thought - bad news
Went to see our Swedish friend for a second opinion and he suggested going to the local garage to have a look and everyone agreed the car is not safe to drive because for some reason the wheel bearing on our two year old truck has gone- very bad news - we then had just an hour before we were due to set off to pick up our guest for the weekend at the airport.
Our American friend and neighbour then offered to drive us to the airport to pick up our guest- good news
He then offered us a spare car for the weekend- very good news

After all that it was a good job that the holiday weekend has been one of relaxation and lots of talking. Unfortunately we had more good news/bad news trying to arrange transport for the truck to Riga. With some help from our neighbour Ian thought he had managed to arrange for the truck to be transported into Riga on Tuesday but due to a little miscommunication it turned out it was arranged for Monday and we only found out after the arranged appointment - bad news. With a bit of to-ing and fro-ing our neighbour eventually managed to sort everything out - good news but it does mean Ian has to set off tomorrow at 5am - bad news (well it is for Ian, I am going into Riga later with our neighbour - good news). All bit of a palaver really.

Photos
Photo 1: Some last remaining snow in a barren landscape
Photo 2: White water rafting on Bank Holiday Monday down the local river
Photo 3: One of the numerous potholes that have sprung up after the ravages of winter
Photo 4: On the left hand side of this building is the local police station and on the right hand side the water and heating supply company (thought you might like to see some local landmarks).
Photo 5 & 6 : The weir where it has burst its banks
Photo 7: Some of the washed up wood on the side of the weir.