We are away on a short holiday again. We moved house on June 3rd and have therefore been living in a virtual building site for the past 10 weeks with workmen coming and going almost every day.
It has been especially frustrating for me because my angina now limits my physical activity and I have to employ tradesmen to do the heavier stuff who sometimes turn out to be less capable than myself to carry out the refurbishment. The tradesmen have also found it frustrating because I cannot resist "supervising" them in order to ensure they don't cut corners and compromise job quality. They have also met their match when they try and claim "extras" - I may well be a 76 year old pensioner but I aint yet lost my marbles.
We have downsized to a small (ish) 2 bedroom house on a retirement complex in a private cul-de sac comprising 10 houses, 3 bungalows and 2 apartments. The estate was built in 1992 and designed specifically for retired folk with integral stair lifts, wide doorways and wheelchair friendly access to all facilities. Although the properties are freehold, owners are shareholders of a dedicated management company to which we all pay a small monthly service charge to cover communal grounds site management, house and contents insurance, minor external maintenance, security monitoring etc. Pets and kids not allowed - hence no pests.
Within a couple of weeks of our arrival I had got to know most of the other residents and had started to pick holes in some of the community rules and regulations. I guess the average age of all residents is in the high seventies and they are stuck in a time warp fuelled by apathy. They have being paying through the nose for group insurance, grounds maintenance, gardening, window cleaning and other services and I have been vocal on the topic. At the annual general meeting two weeks ago I found myself voted in as a director to replace the incumbent who was more than happy to pass on the job.
The house refurbishment is now virtually complete. We have totally refurbished every room, replaced all internal and external doors, installed cctv around the house, replaced the boiler and heating system, replaced all room lighting, re-carpeted throughout and re-decorated as necessary. The stair lift has been removed and stored in the garage - we don't want to looking at our possible future day after day. The patio has been replaced and the rear lawn stripped and re-turfed. a large walled rockery is under construction at the end of the garden and I designed a bespoke shed and had it built to house all MY STUFF. Hence we now have a home and not just a house.
Now you know why I have not been so active on the forum for the past couple of months.
I will confess that all the work has taken its toll and I have been very tired day after day. 4 days ago my wife announced that she was taking me away from it all and had booked a cottage located in Wales half a mile inland facing Cardigan Bay for 7 days R&R. I wondered why she had packed a pair of wellies with her stuff - I found out upon our arrival yesterday when I discovered that she has rented a farm cottage on a goat farm. They have a small manufacturing unit on the form producing goats milk, cheese, soap and various creams and potions. She has gone off to help milk the goats - I declined and therefore have the time to sit at the laptop for a while typing this.
Since this is a Hyundai i30 forum I better mention the car.
I was expecting a slow, frustrating drive here because it was the Saturday of a bank holiday week-end. However, we were lucky - the M42, M6 toll, M54 and A5 were all very busy but except for one long roadworks delay on the A5 we had a smooth journey and able to cruise at 60 mph most of the time.
Just after leaving our home yesterday I brimmed the car and reset the trips 3 miles before we joined the M42. After 14 miles we reached the M6 toll and the the average trip was showing 61.2 mpg. However - it then steadily dropped until after a further 16 miles steady cruising at 60 mph it fell to 52.5 mpg before it started climbing again. You guessed it - the DPF had regenerated. When we reached the cottage the trips were recording 60.3 mpg, 183 miles covered and 39 mph average speed. Not bad really because the final 40 miles were in hilly, twisty narrow roads.
The estate version swallows our luggage, rides well and feels more lively than my previous 2012 hatch as a result of the lower gearing. I am very happy with it.
