I seem to remember reading somewhere that life is a learning experience, and you should embrace the lessons it sends your way. I have come to realise over the past few weeks that while this is an admirable attitude, sadly it can sometimes be hard to maintain. Let me explain….
Last autumn, having been without a vehicle for some time, I decided to buy myself a little car. Not a fast car or a fancy car you understand, just a little runaround for various trips out and, particularly importantly, collecting Freddie and Florence from school once a week for Grandma After School and Thursday Ice Cream Club!
After much deliberation and endless perusing of Auto Trader adverts (not my normal reading material at all) I decided upon the Fiat 500 in the photo above. It’s quite old, but in good condition with low mileage (apologies, I’m beginning to sound like one of those Auto Trader adverts!) and, as I optimistically thought, wouldn’t be too expensive to run. Both grandchildren and I were particularly impressed by the red wheel trims(!) and we decided to call the little vehicle Beppo. I parked him beneath the horse chestnut trees at the end of our drive and didn’t give a moment’s thought to the tree’s inhabitants. Until….
This happened! After failing to start one morning poor Beppo was ignominiously taken away on a break down truck to the local garage where he was diagnosed with electrical failure caused by ….. and this is my learning experience …. SQUIRRELS!!! Yes, the pesky squirrels that live in the horse chestnut trees had nibbled away at his wiring. Apparently, whilst this isn’t especially common, it’s by no means unknown as modern car wiring is covered in a soya derivative for environmental reasons rather than the previously used plastic. And this soya coating tastes sweet to rodents.
Owing to the random nature of the damage it’s taken quite some time to get Beppo back on the road, but I’m expecting all to be fixed by the end of this week – and needless to say, I won’t be parking under the horse chestnut trees any longer!
Final Twenty Issues
This has been another learning experience for me…
As you may know the Magazine began life in 2011 as a simple collection of three or four patterns, plus one or two short articles. I’ve been producing it (and absolutely loved doing so) for the last nearly fifteen years. It’s expanded to around eighty pages, with each edition containing six patterns, recipes, articles on all kinds of interesting topics from gardening to embroidery, arts and crafts, country life and the natural world. And there isn’t any advertising or sponsorship, just pure content.
As I will be at least partly retiring in September 2027 when I reach UK retirement age (how can this be?!) at the end of last year I decided to offer the final twenty issues of the Bustle & Sew Magazine for a single payment of just US $50. This is equivalent to just $2.50 per issue (rather neatly, this was the original price of the earliest issues).
Thank you to everyone who’s already taken advantage of this offer, however I have received a number of emails from those who for one reason or another were unable to subscribe during December or earlier this year.
CLICK HERE to look inside the February Magazine
I know that a few people had problems with ordering through this website. For others the timing was wrong, and so I’ve decided to reopen the Final Twenty Issues offer for just a few more days. This will be until the publication of the March Magazine on Thursday when the first magazine in the Final Twenty Issues, the February edition, will enter the archives and the Final Twenty Issues offer has to disappear forever.
The lesson I’ve taken away from some of the ordering problems is that I should try to streamline the process as much as possible and so I’ve created a speedy checkout button to make things easier …
CLICK HERE to purchase the Final Twenty Issues Subscription
It is a PayPal button, however you don’t need a PayPal account to purchase the subscription but can enter your card details if you prefer. Your subscription will begin with the current (February) Magazine which will be sent to you within 24 hours of placing your order and will continue until September 2027 when the last-ever magazine will be sent to you.
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