I’ve done some stuff

Where to start? First, well done Gareth Southgate (what a top man) and the England team. Fabulous result.

the smiles hide a desire to get out in Doris

It’s been a busy couple of days. First, I have finished the 360 degree reports and have drawn a line under new work. Having said that one of the deputy heads, who acknowledges that I am restricting my work to 121s, asked me if I’d be prepared to run some leadership seminars on a 1-10 basis, like webinars. I told him that I’d think about it and get back to him in September. Currently I am unsure … whatever, I think I will have 6-10 folk who want 121 support next academic year, which is nice.

I have also incorporated my proofreader’s comments into The Belmonte Paradox‘s script. It is, from an e-book perspective, ready to go. The difficulty, as always, is prepping the paperback. And, having given my Windows laptop to a charity, getting the typesetting right and preparing the cover is almost impossible on a chromebook. I’m thinking of options. One of them is expensive. I’ll see how it goes.

I did something

And, hats off to me. Today I changed Doris’s oil. It was a task undertaken with some trepidation. It’s not a difficult job if you have the right tools and all the bits that screw off (the sump plug and the oil filter) screw off … and you buy the right oil and filter. That’s easier than it sounds. Fiat are v particular about which actual brand of oil you use, and if you get it wrong your warranty can be invalidated (Doris doesn’t have a warranty). They mandate an Italian oil (no surprise) which is tricky to get in the UK. The actual spec does offer up a number of oils, but neither Halfords nor Europarts had the stuff I wanted, so I went for a Mercedes Benz recommended oil – Petronas – which is from Malaysia (we had a flashback to the Petronas Towers, which we visited in 2019). Anyhow, all the bits that needed to come off, came off. All the bits that needed to go back on, went back on. And all seems well.

The bill was £104, which meant I probably saved £50. So why do it? Well, getting Doris too and from the garage is not uncomplicated. And if you do the work yourself, and provide your own products, you know what your getting. I like that. Garage owners will be laughing at me when we break down on the M6 with oil issues, however. We’ll see.

we love Brissol

For the record, running is going well. I spoke (on my v dreary running blog last week) about using my benchmark 4.6km run around here as a gauge. My ambition was to break 20 minutes (I have run under 19 minutes five times, but that was in the early years). Well, I went out earlier and made it round in 19.25, which I was really pleased with. Whether I can keep that up remains to be seen, but at least I’m not as slow as I thought I was.

I’m meeting up with my mate Richard tomorrow. He and Caroline are down this neck of the woods visiting family. Richard and I are going to walk a bit of the Avon way … and definitely moan a lot about everything. And then on Friday we’re on our family tour, back mid-week and then, hopefully, out in Doris for a chunk of time. We re both really looking forward to that (C needs a break; she has spent the last couple of days in the kitchen making stuff for our visit(s) – bless her).

Stay safe everyone.