"At your age!"

Saturday.
"It's too good to stay indoors."
Trouble is there are jobs to be done.
Kill two birds with one stone: up on the flat roof with views over the countryside to clean out the guttering. Have to do this by climbing out of the bedroom window because of warnings from a family member about "climbing ladders at your age!"

Summer view - flat roof and cladding

"Why are you on the roof cleaning the guttering at your age?" I hear someone say.
I have to say, the phrase "at your age" becomes a quite common remark from just past middle age, and covers every kind of activity.
"I hope I shall be able to do that when I am at your age".
"You are not still doing that at your age?" with a look of incredulity from a grand-daughter who thought life finished at 29.
Back to the guttering. Because it's on my list of jobs to be done and the Odd Job Man is so good and in demand you have to join his queue to get things done, or even join the queue to get onto the waiting list of people who want things done, someone has to do it!
There's wood cladding on the back of our house. Not having been up on the roof for some time the next job for the list becomes apparent: a bit of attention and a coat of Sadolin are called for.
Might as well do it while I am up here, although 'up here' involves a fair amount of in and out the window, with a step ladder inside and another outside and a cill to stretch over which can be quite a stretch when you are "at my age".
Nevertheless, a little effort and a reasonable amount of bad language gets us to the position where staying indoors was avoided and a job was done.

Sunday.
Having taken up part of my gutter cleaning job time with treating the woodwork, the guttering on the front flat roof was left undone. The worry is, what else shall I discover needs doing when I get up there?
"It's too good to stay indoors"!
It really is, although I am not sure if this is an extension of the Indian Summer or just a glorious sunny winter's day? But out on the roof the sun is shining, the guttering is done, the only extra being a minor piece of brickwork pointing.

All done; indoors; had a sandwich, sit down: "it's too good to stay indoors"; down to the nearest bit of canal; join a few others ignoring the roar of the adjacent M1 and main line railway.
"I'll put my handbag in the boot in case we have time to go into the Garden Centre".
I knew there was a reason why it was "too good to stay indoors".

Here you are then; more canal pictures, but with a slight difference. I suppose I could have called this blog post 'virgin on the ridiculous', but I leave you to be the judge.

This is a Virgin train at speed crossing the canal just short of Whilton Locks.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         To the right just through the trees we have the M1 guarded by pigs!

And if you are quick you may just glimpse a whole Virgin train whizzing through what was once a quiet  picture of English countryside.

And, with a little patience, 'It's too good to stay indoors' approaches bridge number 14 on this stretch of the Grand Union canal.

On of the jobs on my list is to clear out the cupboard off our bedroom. If you live on a narrow boat on the canal there is obviously a dearth of cupboard space. Now I know what I could have used the flat roof for.

Didn't meet the owner: perhaps he was off seeing who had left the gate open?