Month: July 2025

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Bench Repairs

John, my father in law : “Darren, could you have a quick look at our garden bench and give it a quick tidy up?”

Me : “Sure, shouldn’t take long”

2 months later :

Every single screw, nut and bolt was rusted. They all had to be drilled out, chiseled out, or angle-grinded off.

The wood was rotten in a few places so that had to be chiseled out and filled with wood filler.

Two of the slats were too far gone to be saved so I had to go out and buy new slats that were about the right size and then plane them down to be close enough to the originals so that it wasn’t too noticeable.

The metal work was all scrubbed down and painted with some metal paint and then the whole thing had to be reassembled. I think Oli and I may have put the back rest on upside down though.

Still, I was pretty proud of the end result.

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Chilli update

After returning from Greece I was super excited [ I wish I could say “we” but it’s really just me ] to find that my chilli fruits were going red.

This is partly due to Charlie and Ellie doing a super job of keeping them watered in our absence. Many thanks!

A while later they started to be properly ready and I harvested a few and put them into my home made bowl that I created on a wood turning course.

We’ve now started putting them in dishes and I’m absolutely loving the results.

It would be easier to just buy them from the shop but as my wise-beyond-his-years-son pointed out “It’s not about the destination – it’s about the journey”

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Greece, is the word

The family Steele boarded an EasyJet flight and traveled to Cephalonia where a not-so lovely car and a rather lovely villa were waiting for us

Just normal for Greece innit
Loved the villa!

Whilst there we mostly took it easy but tried to get out in the car during the mornings when it was a bit cooler.

We saw this lighthouse from land, and then again from the sea when we were out with Denis

We had lots of lovely meals together

and Emma and I had a rather lovely day learning about, and more importantly, drinking Cephalonian wines.

We had a full day out on the boat with Denis, where unfortunately I managed to get completely burned by the hot Greek sun!

and we spent some time in Agostoli

Before finally returning home after one last farewell to the villa

All in all – we had a brilliant time. Absolutely love Greece. The people, the food, the incredibly cheap wine, the blue skies – everything!

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Three stripe dog walk

For quite a while I’ve been suffering from either Plantar Fasciitis or a bit of a bruised heel. No idea which and it doesn’t really matter. It’s bloody painful – sometimes. Anyway, in an attempt to not hobble around like an old man I’ve been taking ze hound for a walk in my trainers for a while. This is fine at the moment in a beautiful British Summer, but I’ll have to go back to my boots in the Winter. Walking in my trainers does seem to have improved things but recently disaster struck.

My sole became disconnected from my heel. I spent the rest of the walk with a funny flapping slapping noise coming from my foot as I hobbled along.

The day it all began

My trainers are currently in my garage waiting for a bit of super glue but I’m pretty sure a bit of plastic or rubber or something fell out of the heel as I walked so I’m going to walk the same route a few times and see if I can find the fally outy bit before committing to glueing the trainers back together