The summer house still sits proudly atop the re-wilded embankment. This is a view from the south deck now. The slope makes it almost beyond reach for gardening, bar for a bit of spring pruning. It is working out really rather well, leaving Mother Nature to do whatever she will with it.
For years now we have had the benefit of a raised sun deck at the south end of the tower. In fact it was several wooden crates stacked on top of each other, topped off with boards and plastic grass. As detailed in previous posts we have had to raise those end decks in order to enable maintenance access to the fibreglass roof below. That done we were left with two very 'sit-out-able' deck areas bathed in sunshine and with stunning views. Sun and wind direction meant that one or other deck was always pleasant to sit on enjoying westerly views. Here's George enjoying? sitting on top of plastic grass covered crates one winter:
Safety was an obvious issue as was maintaining the tower's rooftop appearance from outside and below. So too safe stair access. Well they are now sundecks.
THE NORTH DECK:
AND THE SOUTH DECK
We are both north of 80 and the tower has a total of 39 steps. We have a lift to all three floors but it has its moments when it breaks down. Right now it is broken down again awaiting a new drop cord (being fitted next week).
The loss of the lift is manageable for us right now but we both intend to reach an even riper old age. We decided to investigate a stair lift for the flight of stairs between ground and first floor. Continuing our bid to find local suppliers we settled on an Acorn 180 stairlift on Wednesday. Today, Friday, it was fitted! They are made in nearby Steeton in a factory which runs 24/7. Their boast is that they can make a custom made stairlift overnight for NEXT DAY fitting in urgent cases. Below is Tommy the fitter in the final stages of programming the stairlift. It is a wonderful piece of machinery which knows where it is on its journey, going faster on the straights and slowly round the Ouch! bend in the stairs.
It folds away at either end when not in use. It will be comforting to have a secondary means of vertical progress in the tower should the lift fail - much as we have two means of heating - electricity and gas.
Hopefully, the stairlift will remain idle for the majority of the time. Meantime I am going for the odd "test" ride. Of course.
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We are contracting from (at one time recently) FOUR cars down to just one - an ultra sensible Honda Jazz automatic 1.5e HEV Mark V. Our motoring these days is mainly to Booths supermarket (1/2 mile ish) and Airedale Hospital. Essentially we needed a shopping trolley of enough capacity to do tip (1/2 mile +) runs too. We have had a Jazz in the past and liked it a lot but my word, they have progressed since then. I think it was a Mk1. All the very latest gadgetry - GPS driven this and that, a numeric (large) speedo which flashes the instant you exceed the local limit, corner parking sensors, rear view camera to a huge screen and a heated steering wheel. The one previous owner had opted for all the extras. Very low mileage too.
Best of all, it is a hybrid. That means it does regenerative braking to a Lion battery in the boot. That powers three electric motors - one for each front wheel plus one other for the rears. The computer decides which to use - the petrol engine or the electric ones. Changes between the two are undetectable apart from an icon on the screen in front of you A trip to Booths and back could be all electric!
The handbook is nearly 300 pages long and it jolly well needs to be. There are features yet to be discovered.
