Seeds in A Box

I got some seeds in the boxes.  The tomatoes are doing well but not the cucumbers.  Now I have got tons of tomato plants...

Cheap Gloves

I got some new motorcycle gloves from the charity shop.  The looked okay, but after using them for a while, they are very not breathable, so my hands get quite sweaty.  At the same time, they were not really warm!  Maybe I have to relegate them.

Commercial Sweeping Robot

I have seen robot lawn mowers out in the wild.  I recently saw the robot sweepers in the shopping mall, in the busy hours.  Impressive.

All the (Easter) Eggs in One Basket

We had a repair cafe on the Easter Sunday.  It was adequately busy for the holiday.  Then there was a big basket of Easter Eggs.  We are not sure who left it there, but everyone is enjoying the eggs, especially not having to hunt them down!

Full Price Skiing

Unlike summer skiing discount, we went in the Easter break, and it was full price, some £36 quid, for 1 hour.  That is a month worth of petrol on the motorbike...  It makes the ski membership more appealing, on the other hand, makes motorcycling looks like a really cheap hobby.

They removed the hump, so no jump this time.

Fiesta Maps

The map is fairly accurate, except sometimes the visual maps is a little wrong.  And I hate not being able to setup before I start the motor.

Big Bells Small Church

When we were in Tideswell, Cathedral of the Peak, the bing bong goes all night.  Stoney Middleton St Martin's is quite small, it still bing bongs all night...

Monsal Trail - East Bound

We went back to Hassop, Monsal Trail on the second day, we went into Bakewell, which is very near Hassop.

We walked around some shops, and I finally find something I wanted to buy from the Ginger Butcher, they are less competitive than Chatsworth.  The ladies in the Ginger Butcher were talking about how busy it would be for the Easter weekend, and where to avoid.

The car pack were jammed pack by the time we got back to Hassop.  We just went back to base and started packing.

Monsal Trail - West Bound

This time we brought our little folding bikes to the Hassop, Monsal Trail.  Between my two folding bikes, I bought the single gear bike, it is "smaller and lighter".  And the trail is supposedly "flat".

Unlike an adult bike, we wheels are just too small to get any speed.  Sarah was distracted by her wild flower counting, and I made a wrong turn half a mile from Blackwell into a dead end old track, so I didn't quite reach Blackwell, which was only 200 metres away.

The trail was quite busy already, and full of characters.

Maybe next time I would take a geared bike.

Fackham Hall

We were meaning to watch Fackham Hall in the cinema, but we didn't manage to go to a showing.  We finally watched it with the free Rakutan voucher.  Funny, funnier than Mother's Pride I think.

Derbyshire Oat Cake

We had some lunch at the Chatwsorth Farm Shop, their Derbyshire oat cake were very reasonably price.  Most things are reasonable prices.  I did refrain from getting a ham hock this time.

Plug-in Battery

With all the latest knee jerk reactions, people are thinking the low installation costs options.  I have double checked my understanding, looking up available products.

First of all, the regulations called for their own disconnect, ie it should not be plugged in.

Then I did all the maths.  For the balcony solar, which I won't need, one would have to be very lucky to get a payback within 5 years, even with South facing balcony.  The only saving grace is that micro inverter and solar panel should be good for 25 years.

Not taking into the fact if electricity price is decoupled from gas, electricity price could be a lot lower, hence increasing the payback.

I am more interested in battery, but a small, AC coupled battery has a bad round trip loss, taking depth of discharge into account, it is hardly any buffer.  And in the best case scenario, I could get payback in 3 years, by then, the battery is half dead. I just generated another piece of rubbish...

Also not taking into account of the price is decoupled, that would easily make the payback longer than it's life.

Let's stick with my original plan, in 7-10 years time, when the string inverter packs in, get a hybrid inverter with a battery then.  Hopefully by then the sodium battery technology is matured and cheap.

Danby Vanished

I was just checking on Danby, and realised someone put a personalised plate on her.  I wouldn't able to check on her elderly health from now on.

First Brown Bin

 The first brown bin has been collected.  It took two hours to fill it up again!  Let's the Spring begin!

SNL London

I have watched a few sketches of the SNL London, they are quite funny.  Not funny enough to make me want to subscribe.  The American stuff are "free" online.

Disappearing Snoods

I thought I had a loads of snoods, the Suzuki one, the two Bike-it, my orange one.  Now I can only find the orange one.  I might have to break open the Harley Davidson one!  I check the most likely places including coat pockets! Where are you!!! 

Closing Down Sales II

I went to another Factory shop.  It is later in their closing down sale, so although some signs are still not right, they were all heavily marked down.  I did bag a few bargains.  I am looking forward to my chocolates!

Fiesta Maps Update

I finally got a big memory stick for updating the maps.  I read the instructions, it was going to take forever to update.  I was not going to leave the car running on idle just to update the computer.  So after a job, with a long drive home, I start the update.  It was supposed to have a break after 30 minutes, except it didn't come soon enough, so I skipped lunch and drove on.

It flashed at me a few times, I drove all the way back home, and it still wasn't done, do I use the drive-thru and got some lunch.  Just as I was finishing lunch, finally, it did it! 

I will check it every 6 months to see if there are any updates, meanwhile, it was hard work!

Empty Pumps

Fuel situation has not been great.  I saw a very good price pump, but I missed it, as it wasn't too empty.  Then I went back that direction another day, the price was still good, I pulled in, all the diesel pumps were out of service...  They really should just turn the sign off...

Menu Contraction

We went to a popular Japanese restaurant.  The Japanese portion of the menu is quite small, and they added other crowd pleasers.  Business need to do what they need to go.

Twisted Long Island Iced Tea

I was tempted with the happy hours offer.  After being told their frozen margaritas are not frozen, I went for the long island iced tea.

It was Las Iguanas, the menu had not purposefully highlight the Latin twist on the classic.  The drink was indeed in the "classic" section.  When it arrived, I tasted it, they tasted funny, I looked at the menu to see, they used spiced rum rather than white rum.  The second glass had a little less spiced rum.

Either way, I finished both, but I may stick with margaritas on rocks next time.

Japanese Bluetooth Earphone

I finally opened the new earphone from Japan.  The instruction were completely in Japanese, but they were quite standard.  Apart they don't sit snug in my ears, the battery life and sound quality were good.

Seaside Seafood

Seaside Seafood, what a con.  I had a dressed crab, they were clearly frozen.  And when you are at the beach, "in a good mood", you wouldn't want to slash out on them.  What a con!

Sunny Spring Day

It was so sunny and warm that my new plants became very sad.  I had to water them to make them perk up, imagine that.  

Weird Dim Sum

We had some lunch at Oriental City.  They have some new dim sum.  One of which was red cheung fun with fried prawn.  So strange.  There were 6 of us, so we get to share more things.  They have discontinued some less popular dim sum, much to our disappointment.

Planting Out 2026

It is warm enough, and my sprouts are big enough to go outside.  I am expecting great things from my Poundland marked down onion setts, especially they are getting so much of the prime real estate!

First Slug Hunting of 2026

We finally got a perfect damp night to do some slug hunting/killing.  When I said we, I meant Sarah.  Good job!

Supercharger Demonstration

Matt and I went on a long trip, and it has demonstrated how superchargers were indeed very fast.  I did slightly regret not going electric, after the fuel price jumped 10%...

Closing Down Sales

The Poundland in Crossgates and the Factory Outlet in Garforth was having closing down sale.  They know some product can sell without discounting, so they don't apply discount on them.  However, the labelling were not the clearest, considering their staff maybe stressed.  So I ended up not getting much from either of them, and was disappointed when the product was scanned the price was not reduced.

Crepeaffaire

We got a coupon for Crepeaffaire so we tried it. We did not know their savoury pancake is not default buckwheat.  All in all, it was a good deal.

Driving Ergonomics

I took advantage of a coupon and bought a seat cover with lumber support.  Danby had a Lumber support lever, and it did not work well.  Let see if this actually works.

Mother's Pride

We watched another free good movie, Mother's Pride. The cinema was actually full for the showing.  Why are so many silly movies based in the Southwest?

Gripfill Adhesive

It takes a long time to use down a tube of Gripfill.  To be exact, it takes a long time to use down any tube adhesive.  Coincidently, we broke a picture frame, and it was the best adhesive for it, or PVA.  If I had discover expanding foam adhesive earlier, I wouldn't even have bought the Gripfill.

I just need to use down the foam adhesive now...

Library Random Books

We picked up a few random books from the library, they were quite random.  I started reading a couple autobiography, I took one home.  I got bored of them, clearly I am not as interested in them as I thought I was.  But some may say, reading for reading sake...

Not Stottie

I was in Newcastle and ordered a sausage and bacon stottie. I got a knife ready to cut it up.  When the sandwich turned up, it was NOT a stottie!  It was at best an oven bottom.  I was very disappointed!

Danby's New Home

Since I have been on Carcheck.co.uk checking things away, Danby has already got a new family!  New tax has been applied and all.  I am happy for her.

New Fiesta II

I upgraded the car's console's software.  I had to move some files around to free up a big enough memory stick for the job.  But none of my memory sticks is big enough to update the GPS maps!

When I drive her around some more, and this time, I was not baked in the car.  The climate control is magically working.  Surely it has nothing to do with the console, but what a coincidence!

Reset Connect North

Someone posted Reset Connect North on the chat group, and since it aligns with my interest, I registered and went.  It was quite interesting, I chatted with some people, said hi to another and learnt something new.  I will consider going again if they come back next year.

Free Silly Movies

Our free Octopus Rakuten voucher code was running out, so we watched two silly movies in a roll.  Good Fortune and Ella McCay, I would recommend.

Vacuum Robot Infirmary

It was one of the busiest repair cafe.  The first two patients I saw were two vacuum robots.  There were actually something wrong with them, but just the copious of dirt trapped in them.

The first one was very similar to our Eufy, its sensor lens was somehow loose.  The second one was the super expensive Roomba!  The bumper was jammed in a strange way, I managed to spot it and dislodged it.  I gave them a good clean whilst they were being looked at.  It was very accomplishing!

New Fiesta

The day has come, we went to collect my new Fiesta and say goodbye to Danby.  There were a lot of work before getting to this point.  I managed to put everything, the car, the tax and the insurance all on the 0% credit card, with the added consumer protection!

We were cooked on the way home, we were not sure why we couldn't get the cooling going...

More Groupon Pub Food

I took up the Groupon opportunity to revisit an old haunt.  The food meets the expectation of the Groupon price.  On the other hand, we have some resident expert mac and cheese maker.  I am doing my little bit to help the economy and help their kitchen turn over...

By-election Elsewhere

I am not sure why everyone cared about the by-election that is not where we are living in.  One of my friends is actually one of the candidates.  

Bus Fare Problem

Single bus fair is meant to be capped at £2.5.  Somehow one of the bus company's default bus fair is £3.  I had to ask for a £2.5 fair, and even so, sometimes I still get charged £3.  I just have to try to use alternatives.

Horlicks Tablets

Horlicks put out some tablet candy as Christmas stocking fillers.  I finally came across some of them.  They were pure sugar, pure evil!

Car Supermarkets

Car Supermarket is not really like a supermarket.  It could be like a supermarket, that it only has a small selection of items, and they are in varying condition...

First Time Rail Replacement Bus

I was lucky enough that I don't remember having to take rail replacement bus.  I willingly take the rail replacement bus, as it works out to be cheaper than actual bus rides!  And faster.

Mail Order Salmon

I had to bulk up the order for the fishes and ordered some salmon.  To make it not the same as something from the Supermarket, I got a salmon steak.  Let me keep the bone and I will save the filleting labour.

Mail Ordered Smokies

Mail order Smokies were okay.  We had two dinners, few days apart.  Hot off the barrel is of course the best.

Night King

We went to the cinema to watch a Cantonese film, Night King.  It was a good experience.  It was nice to have Sarah joining me.  I think she was the only non-native-Cantonese speaker in the cinema.

Outgoing Octopus Decrease

It has finally happened.  Octopus is cutting the output rate to 12p.  I have got to start using more of my own generation...

Betty's Brekfast

We managed to visit Betty's for some breakfast for the first time.  It was very nice indeed. 

Colour & Light York

We went to York to see the Colour & Light.  It was very cold...  Castle carpark is full of pot holes.  I am glad we went.

Meet Fresh

We finally checked out Meet Fresh in Leeds.  It is always nice to be reminded that when you paid for someone else to cook the same thing, they usually make it much richer.

Mail Order Fish

We finally did it.  Mail order fish.  They turned up as expected, in good condition.  We shall do it again.

Quinoa Rice

I have been making mixed grain rice, namely black rice, red rice and quinoa.  It definitely tastes different, and I like the original rice taste.  In the name of health...  And as it turns out, quinoa comes out the other end.

New Glasses

I have ordered some new driving glasses.  These days, the glasses are full to prescription so it is only good for what they are for, distance.  Once upon a time, all my glasses were just "aiding", now it does fully correct it.  I have to take them off whenever I am not looking afar.

Lidl Free Bakery Item

I am making good progress on the Lidl freebies.  It is nice to get free snacks.

Weird Kit Kat

We broke into the flavoured Kit Kats.  They were too sweet for us.  Good to have tried it.

Winter Olympics Drone Noise

So many of the Winter Olympic videos got this annoying buzzing noise...  Very distracting.

February Panettone

We are still working through the Christmas stash of treats.  The chocolate panettone turns out to be quite nice.

Winter Olympics

I am watching the Winter Olympics and saw all the audience there, they look cold... 

Vegetarian Restaurant

We went to an old vegetarian restaurant.  It is everything you would expect, expensive and no meat.  I went to get a bacon sandwich to top up my lunch.

M&S Essential

I picked up some milk and basic bread from M&S, they seem to be fairly competitive in price.

McVities Moments

In the afternoon sugar dip, I would end up buying some random out of date biscuits from the market.  What is worst it that, they are not actually cheaper than the shop!  Sugar dip often affect judgement.

Miso Complete

I finally got to the bottom of my 1kg pack of miso!  A little left on the big bag of wake, I have to go find more miso.  Because of the fermented food fad, it is getting expensive, weird!

Frozen Ears

My hair began to bother me, so I went to the barber, just when the cold front come in.  My ears are cold!

Superglued

Since I remember I have some open superglue, I superglued a couple of things, like the cracked mug handle, and a edge of the shoes.  I should have glued the mug handle long time ago!  How could I just remember to do it!

Freezer Defrosting

I don't remember having defrosted the freezer for 3 years.  It was a massive task, it took a long time, my hand were very cold.  Let's hope it stay frost free for a bit!

Yet More Insoles

I got yet more insoles from another vendor.  These ones are less supportive but quite comfortable.

Winter Die Back

Some of my indoor plant are looking very sad now.  It is just a circle of their life...

More Insoles

I bought some insoles, they seem to be supportive and thick.  I went back want to buy some more, they went up in price.  Then I looked another day, it went back slightly down in price.  Dynamic pricing for insoles?  How stupid is that, I am not sure I can be bothered watching the market price for these people.

Old Songs

So I didn't just add the new songs into the now massive USB for the car, it also loaded all the old songs.  It has so many songs now, I have to occasionally forward the songs that I don't care for.  I wonder how I would weed them out.

And when it first loads, it first refused to load, I slightly panic, then it worked, phew.

Auto-Dub

I was watching a video, and it went into an auto-dub, I was so confused!  I have to find out how to turn it off!

Mystery Quality Street

In a late Christmas sale, there were a lot of Quality Street, in particular the "mystery flavour".  No surprise there...  Always choose crowd pleasers first.

Borgias

Channel 4 is showing some Borgias, I thought it would be the other Borgia.  As it turns out, there was a Borgias craze, two made in the same year.  I watched half an episode and decided I have no interest in the Borgias.

Mexican Tapas

I got a Groupon for some Tapas, so we booked ourselves in right the way.  I worry about forgetting it and wasting it. 

The "tapas" were quite good, I am happy we went.

Patak in a Jar

I bought a jar of Patak as suggested by Coop.  It was very well received! It was very much a people pleaser type of food.

Peasant Wagon

In the new year comes the new train schedules, my usually cheap train has been cut.  I was back on the peasant wagon.

Chain Wax

 I cleaned up the chain and applied new lubricant.  I had this bottle of chain wax for a long while, I am not sure if it is going to be better, I would never know...

Week 3 Unpacking

I am still unpacking weeks after the holiday.  I just remember I got more snacks that I had not found, then I decided to go through the pile again, and found them!  I wonder if I am done done unpacking yet.

Butter

People sometimes says "Lurpak is the best butter", when they say that, they are usually refers to the spreadable, which has a significant portion of vegetable oils, and a bunch of other chemicals.

Just stick with butter and use some effort to spread it.

100th Years Old Birthday Card

Someone told me their parent's 100th birthday card from the king is hand delivered.  There are so many what-ifs follow-up questions!

Insoles

I have loads of insoles at home.  I finally decided to put them in.  There is no reason why they are only called when the original insoles are worn.  Both protecting the original insole and provide additional cushioning, there is no reason why they should be left to deteriorate in the cupboard.

Electric Toothbrush Postmortem

A toothbrush suddenly died.  I found some tutorials on how to take it apart.  As soon as I tried to take it apart, it started leaking, water.  It was a quick repair turned post mortem session.  

MP3 Player

My MP3 player is full, so I cannot add my new Mr Children albums on.  Then I remember, my car is the MP3 player, I only need the USB.  So I moved my music across to a bigger USB!  I cannot wait to add the new songs in.

Meanwhile, the old MP3 player is now free for the dance music!

Brie Everything

We are still working on our Brie stash.  Brie in burrito, certainly.  Risotto, might as well.  They thicken the Bolognese nicely.  They melt and disappear, just stick them in!

Peak Time Groceries Shopping

I have not done groceries shopping at peak time for a long time... It was very congested in Lidl, it is so busy and loud that you cannot think.  The trolley was too big for the situation.  I will remember to avoid peak times.

Christmas Clearance

Just when we thought the Christmas Clearance would have all been cleared up, we spotted some goodies, by now, the prices are very good too!  

English Conveyor Belt Sushi

We thought we would go to Yo! Just to experience the English conveyor belt.  It is very different to the ones I have.  This conveyor is on table level. The sushi has met the English's expectations... The miso was extremely disappointing....

Multipurpose Wrap

I got some marked down chapati.  I thought we can make some burritos, but someone tries to tell me not all wraps are the same.  They are, really...

2025 Solar Review

It has done exceptionally well 2025, beyond expectations! Keep it going!

Big Freeze 2026

We came back from unseasonably warm Hong Kong to the big freeze.  I am very grateful with my heated screen.

Cold Tyres

I often remind people to check their tyres as the season changes.  The temperature has dropped some 10C, Danny's tyre warning popped up to remind me.  At least I feel like I did get £1 worth of air this time.

English Curry

We met up with some friends in the outskirts of York. I thought we should go for curry than the pubs.  Those were probably the most English curries I had... Maybe we should have gone to the pub...

Dryer

We are so grateful of our dryer! Maybe it is something I need to consider...

Gofuku

So when I was looking at the directory for Kimono, I found Gofuku instead. It is very interesting.

Arithmetic

Now I don't need to learn a new language, I added some maths into the app.  So far so easy, it is a good brain exercise.

New Year's Day Shopping

Some of the supermarkets are not open on New year's day, so we went to the nearest supermarket.  We were glad the roads were quiet.  

We were exhausted, so we did the basic shopping and didn't dig into the new years' sale. 

We managed to get two loads of washing done.  Otherwise, it was a simple rest day!

Journey to the East: Day 19 Travels

We boarded the plane, we decided to watch The Roses and had another dinner before going to bed.  We slept relatively well. Before we landed in Frankfurt, we managed to have a warm egg tart and the breakfast dim sum.  

When the announcement came saying we are arriving late, I asked the flight attendance if there is anything we can do.  They moved us to the business class empty seat for the last hour of the flight.

When we landed in Frankfurt, we rushed to the other gate.  We arrived at the gate as indicated in the boarding pass.  When we were boarded, it started snowing, and the plane has to be deiced.  Eventually we took off.

Despite the delay, we arrived back in London in good time.  We bookended our holiday with an M&S lunch.  We boarded the coach and went back to Leicester.

Coincidently, the same taxi driver took us home. At last.  We unpacked, showered and had dinner.  Just when we went to best, the first fireworks started popping, I found my earplugs in the dark and went back to bed.  Let the resting begin!