Covid 💉
The COVID situation has been up and down this year. It started to look good with restrictions being lifted but only in February. We were in France and decided to stay another month to try and escape the worst of the restriction which we did. Although we still had to quarantine for ten days on return, which we did at the end of February. Currently the situation has got worse with the new omicron variant. Supposedly not has bad symptom-wise but spreads much faster. Currently over 120,000 people infected in the UK and over here in France. We have managed to say clear.
Forest Life 🇫🇷
The Mill has been good to us this year in the main. The Laverie project was actually finished in January and we have put in mats, and furniture. Tracey and Vinnie stayed in the summer and they were pleased that everything worked. We also completed the planking and stacking in the summer which was a great weight off my mind. We still have to decide what we are going to use the planks for. Our summer trip started with a swarm of bees in the studio window. Luckily a nice bloke called Nigel came and took them away.
The rest of the summer visit involved the World Famous Moulin Bleu Duck Race in aid of the Brainstrust charity and a visit to Borbonne L’archamboult with Vinnie and Tracey and a two-night stay at Chateau Boze were we met Prime Charles-Henri de Lobkovitch.
We concluded our French trip by buying a quad off Stuart Swales; a Canam Max XTP Outlander 1000cc and a trailer. We went to Gueret to get the carte gris and everything went well for once!
Our winter trip started with -8C temperatures which froze up the Mill house for an hour or so when we arrived and split the shower bar in the Laverne! The quad started first time (wonders.) The garage door security was reinforced by Tony Horrocks to the tune of €500.
The Mill is officially now called the Moulin de Lascaux Maury with a brand new road sign and the number One on the gate. We challenged the name in the summer when we went to the Mairie. The secretary just shrugged her shoulder when we showed her the IGN and Google map which showed the Lascaux mill on the D992. We also wanted to know the source of the name – but she didn’t know. C’est la vie. It could be a worse name. It will always be the Moulin Bleu to us.
It was a good year for the Mill although busy and hope fully from now on we will slip into ‘maintenance’ mode instead of trying to get difficult projects completed. The tree-house may be an easier project although expensive but we will see.
Acionna ⛴
Our planned boat trip took place from 13th May to the 22nd June. The weather was awful almost for the first two-weeks. We had an agenda ad this spoiled the trip slightly as we were always on the move trying to get somewhere for a rendezvous-nous. London was a nightmare with no mooring spaces at all bother there and back. The further north we went the better it was and I think we agreed that another trip would not be made with Acionna but with a hire boat. we suffered a sheared prop shaft coupling boat which was a bit of a mission but it was fixed within one of the many marinas on the way. We terminated our journey at Kilsby, which was an objective – but the final destination of completing the Warwickshire ring was way out of our scope in the time we allowed. There is a bit of maintenance to do next year and the boat blacking but otherwise the boat is great.
Sealife 🌊
399 has supplied us with a steady income apart for a couple of months maintenance issues including a leaky roof which caused a few wood rot and damp problems. Also the existing tenants have moved out. Luckily they will be immediately replaced by another couple of lads. I think there maybe a shift change as we may bring forward Project LongLife to include moving down there when I receive my pension money.
A final 31 December issue reared its head where the decorator thought there is a structural issue with 399 because of a couple of cracks. This will obviously have to be explored next year.
Elounda 🇬🇷
In September we went again to Elounda in Crete. The weather was perfect and the all-inclusive was OK but it is getting the bit ’same’. The entertainment was still rubbish and they had tried to make a two-tiered system which didn’t work. Nevertheless it was a great holiday for 10 days. We will not be going to Elounda again. We now favour Lafkada and we will be going there in September 2022.
Friends Circles 👯♀️
We met up with V&T for a long weekend in Tixall. We had a great time agreeing on this occasion not to go overboard. We met up with NC on the boat trip. It was a good time and both Ritz and I enjoyed it but NC had some issues with work and personal life so we haven’t pursued any other meetings.
Canoeing 🛶
We bought an aluminium canoe off Bernie at the Island. We went out on a couple of occasions along the river. It has a slight leak which we will fix next spring but it is great to have one at last and all for £50!
GATR and Office kit 🧯
GATR has been quite stressful with conflicts with the EQA. I nearly gave up the HOC role but decided to carry on after having a think and a chill. I have succeeded to chill regarding the other directors but I must also chill regarding the other external influences and just work through the problem without reacting. The earning bought quite a few things for the Mill and a new, long-awaited MacBook Pro which is awesome.
Health 🩺
I am maintaining my HIT sessions and the Qi jong. My weight remains stable at 73kg and in general I feel fit and healthy. I am still drinking too much with one bottle of wine in Friday Saturday and Sunday. I also have a few hobgoblins during the week. Too much I think. I have had a couple of high heart rate notifications but I think that is excitement and nothing to worry about, My blood pressure is a little low sometimes.
Writing ✍️
I have published three Myners books now on Kindle publishing. Ritz enjoys reading them but we haven’t advertised any yet. I am bust looking at Aurrad Book of Light as a research project (see Aurrad) and I will be finalising Master Tracker book proof reading for the Apple or Kindle publishing version at the end of this year beginning of next.
Family 👩👩👦👦
I’m sorry to say I fell out with Mummio in December when we visited. I was getting so frustrated with her ignoring our advice and treating Daddios like an invalid. The doctor said there was not reason Daddios could make a full recovery as the tumour is receding. His speech is generally improving and so is his mobility – but they seem to have given up. They are just living day-to-day and are just sitting around waiting for the next appointment or scan. It was sad to see. I spoke to daddio and we had a good motivational chat. only to be ruined by Mummio pushing my arm away when I tried to stop her following him. It was obvious that he doesn’t want this level of supervision and had already snapped at Ritz and Mummio for this. Unfortunately, I snapped and spoke to her in a way I shouldn’t have – but I was furious! It ended in tears and I subsequently wrote and apologised. I won’t take what I said back – only the way I spoke. It’s time I took a big step back from and not give out any advice or comment on their situation. My anger and flailing up under stress and pressure is an issue which I will try and address.
Woodlife 🐾
We eventually managed to get back in Hatfield Forest in October with three clients including Pete Griffin, Nigel Curnew and Mike Perry – all doing the Forest Tracker. It was a good weekend with Ritz doing the camp logistics and Troops and I teaching. It was a great little gathering. We should have paid £300 for the weekend to the NT but they haven’t asked for the money. I can’t sustain this if they do insist on the money in the future. There doesn’t seem any interest in the courses despite advertising. There’s also no interest anymore in the Master Tracker programme again despite advertising – therefore I think the weekend tracking courses have had it’s day. I might take up a suggestion of a day course or nature walk in Hatfield.
Aurrad
At the beginning of the year I started researching paan pathways and came across Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism (CRP or CP). This approach to paganism really inspired me. I started studying this and researching Celtic paganism with a view to making this my belief. Some CRP community (what little is left) are slightly off-centre with their approach but I am structuring my belief around this. I have started a research book ‘Aurrad – Book of Light’ and a journal Book of Mirrors (Day One and Blogspot.) I have carried out a couple of ceremonies but have always felt a little self-conscious. Like all things CRP – it is quite flexible and I am enjoying the research. It nice to tie in the health (Qi jpg, breathing, and meditation) to nature and wildlife.
Wildlife 🦡
Apart from a short weekend in the Hatfield where I sat out and saw a badger, and a few trips into Rushy Mead I am lacking slightly in wildlife sightings. I seem to have lost the reasons for wildlife watching and bit like Woodlife and I would like to reconnect. This is something I had on my list for this year but never quite got there. Again I will put this on my Action Plan for 2022.
State of the Union 💰
Our investments have been up and down mainly because of Brexit and the COVID situation. Nevertheless we 20k on the investments and up a total of £64k on net worth. That’s taking out approx £10k for the quad and trailer.
Self 🧘
I seem to have been quite busy last year doing things which have been quite stressful. I shouldn’t feel stressed and anxious. I think the circumstances of these large projects like the Laverie, the wood planking, and the boat trip seemed too much. I think that it is time to relax a bit more and do things that make me smile. I am grateful for the projects as they keep me going but perhaps not so much all at once. I must also stop myself becoming so despondent when things go wrong. I notice that I am getting better at this on this trip to the Mill. which have seen a couple of things go wrong – but instead of getting despondent, with Ritz’s help we’ve worked through them. This I will take over to the new year.
