Another forecast gone awry - the winds this morning were far from mild, but at least the only washed garment that fell to the ground was a pair of jeans. Spent the day fending off the neighbours' chooks once again as apparently they feel the need to let them run free once more. I will be calling Council in the morning if they are not penned up tonight. They also seem to have been doing odd things with their pigs judging by the squeals that have been emanating from the place. I suspect the sow they had in the shed has been returned to the yard the rest of them are in, and pigs being somewhat territorial, they are giving her a hard time.

At least the washing got done, but it was far too windy to contemplate outdoor activity other than that, and walking the dogs. Once the bank is cleaned I will be home for dinner and hopefully some response from the UK.

It seems the letting agents have once again demonstrated their commitment to working for the tenant not the land lady. In response to my enquiry as to what my rights of access are they phoned the tenant, not me, and negotiated a deal with her, on my behalf, which basically lets the tenant do precisely what she wants to do - with at any time attempting to find out what I wanted her to do (i.e permit two inspections, while she is at work, during the next week).

Needless to say I was ropeable, so I decided to clean the cottage before drafting my response (which was icily politely scathing). We do, at least have clarity as to what access will be possible next week, if not this week, so I suppose that is a step forward. I did point out to the letting agent that the tenant's refusal to play the game had cost us two months of marketting time and that I was not happy at all.

I will await her response with interest.

So the cottages were cleaned and then I went to visit a friend who offered me a soothing beer. So soothing in fact that I bought a six-pack on my way home and am presently enjoying my second beer of the day. I will soak it up with leftover pork and mash to avoid ill effects.

The sunny mild day seems to have deteriorated to cloudy overcast and threatening (but inevitably not falling) rain and a chilly breeze - despite this it is apparently 14 degrees out there - who knew. It is warm enough inside to not have to bother with a fire which is good. And with only 9 degrees expected overnight it is unlikely to get much cooler inside the house.

The situation with the tenant is complicated by the fact that if the agent enters the house prior to the final inspection I will have no leg to stand on if the inspection finds problems with the way the house has been left (who is responsible for what, and all that). I have emailed the tenant and pointed out that she can have no reasonable objection to inspections being carried out when she is at work as this will not impact on her preparations or time with her child - after all, it is she who has set herself this unreasonable deadline, not me. I await a response.

Meanwhile back at the ranch I very much enjoyed my pork in cider, cream and mushroom sauce, and will be having it for dinner again tonight. The three cottages I had to clean today were relatively easy, though one had a missing tap handle (now fixed) and a pile of dirty dishes left for my delectation. This was eased somewhat by watching Antique Roadshow on the telly as I worked. Three more tomorrow as apparently her next door is otherwise occupied. It must be nice to have sufficient money to forego work for social commitments, sigh.

There is to be a function down at the recreation ground this evening and they are busy setting up at present. Fortunately nothing for me to do as they obtained their key from their father and the place was left in good condition by the last users.

Time to put my feet up, once the dogs have their final walk for the day.

So totally over being a nice landlady - the tenant has informed me she just doesn't have the time to make herself available for house inspections (frankly I would rather she was not present during them) and that since she will be removing her possessions by 5 December (lease ends 12 December) she will 'let the agent know' when the house is available after that date. This is particularly annoying as apparently there has been a strong response of interested buyers, but they will all go elsewhere if they are unable to go look at the place properly.

So I have referred her latest email to the agent for his advice on strategy. She has apparently not been returning their calls in the mean time. Cow!

It was another chilly day here today, though no snow!! a total of 3mm out of all the various forms of precipitation. I lit the fire then regretted doing so as it warmed up. So I let it go out whereupon it became cold once more. At least the pork shoulder is thawing nicely, so I will pop the casserole on before heading in to clean the bank, and dinner will be ready on my return.

The forecast was mildly optimistic with 9.7 being briefly achieved around noon. Mid afternoon it was 0.3 which is pretty chilly by most people's standards. The fire was lit as soon as I got home from cleaning the cottages and has stayed on all afternoon - a condition that will continue till bedtime methinks!

I decided the dogs would have to make do on the local dogfood for another week as a trip to Hobart seemed a bit extravagant when that was all that was required. I will get some of their preferred food next week when I am solvent. Meanwhile, I am hoping tomorrow warms up a bit as it is our day in the Garden. Not looking forward to that one bit!

I bought the ingredients for pork in cider casserole, but have not put it on as I had rather a large dinner. It will go on either tomorrow or Saturday depending on my schedule. I may also save the luscious chops I was planning to use and get out a boned shoulder from the freezer so that I use up some of my longer-term stored food. Basically it is pork, mushrooms, cider and a bit of cream with various herbs added in the cooking process. Sounds pretty nice and the Bulmers' cider was on special at $3.99 for 500ml, which means there should be a glass left over for the cook! Tonight I will reprise lamb chops and mash with peas as that was pretty tasty and is easy to cook on top of the wood burner.

Lots of howling gales today but not much in the way of rain, sadly. The neighbour's paddock seems to be migrating to Orford at present with lots of dust in the air. With ten degrees forecast for tomorrow I have to assume this wind will be bringing up said weather as it is quite warm outside at present.

I had only one cottage to deal with today, and that unexpected, so went into sewing and dissected the sleeve seams of a new nightgown to make it a little more comfy. It had a bound edge which was quite tight - so much so that pulling my hand out resulted in the sleeve turning inside out. It now has a placket on each seam so should be more comfy.

Cut some firewood in anticipation of tomorrow, though since i will be cleaning two more cottages and also taking a run to Hobart to get some dog food (the locally available stuff does not seem to agree with their digestive systems), I will not be needing the fire much before late afternoon anyway.

A bank to clean tonight then home to bake one of those yummy pork chops for dinner - the lamb chops are wonderfully tender and I had two of them with mash and peas for dinner last night which was very tasty!

The house in the UK is finally on the market - what with stroppy tenants, ridiculous proof I am who I am requirements and a sales agent going on parental leave it has taken a while, but here you go:

https://www.your-move.co.uk/property/house-for-sale-st-leonards-avenue-chatham-me4-id-528427722/search

Anyone moving over there to work, the house is 12 minutes from the Station, fast train to London and two corner stores depending on which way you walk home from the station. Bus to Maidstone is one street over and there are several greenspaces within strolling distance! Tescos and a fruit market down the hill, Aldi up the hill, and Waitrose delivers. How could you resist?

I made little progress on the room today as I was knackered this morning. I loaded the chairs onto the ute to go to the tip (and loaded quite a bit more onto the ute as well), shifted the spare shelving into the spare room, placed the second new chair in its proper place and then Heather and I set off for Campbell Town for an afternoon out. Lots of window-shopping, and the only purchases were some second hand clothes and some meat from the butcher there. As it was a hot day and I had anticipated this, I had taken my chilly bag to get it home safely. It is now in the fridge and will be in the freezer before bedtime I hope. I will keep some out however as we are anticipating snow to 400 metres now on Thursday and I will presumably be needing a hot meal to keep me going. Meanwhile I clearly have firewood to cut before bedtime tomorrow.